15 September 2023 – The Princess Theatre, Brisbane – words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi – pictures by Hope Morgan
The Princess Theatre in Brisbane’s Woolloongabba is a beautifully restored 1888 building and is now hosting some very fine musicians in intimate shows. It was an amazing setting for Gretta Ray’s first concert of her first headline “Positive Spin” tour of Australia. It was just made for the great pop music on display. Gretta Ray brought with her two amazing support acts Heleina Zara from Melbourne and Cate Canning from Canada via the UK.
Heleina Zara kicked off the night with a great solo set of songs. What impressed me was the level of the lyrics and song writing of this young musician. Her songs should real insight and depth of the dating game like ‘Wait’ and ‘Convenience Store’. She demonstrates lyrical humour in ‘Cardboard’ and ‘Alphabet Soup’.
Cate Canning straight of the plane from England via Canada took to the stage. Dressed simply in black with her guitar – her performance was amazing. The voice, the songs and the guitar were in unison and what an amazing solo set it was. Her song writing and humour on show from the new single ‘One Hit Wonder’, to boyfriend put downs like ‘Rocket Science’, ‘Groupie’ and ‘Girlfriend’. And her cover of Swift’s ‘Crazier’ was just wonderful. The best songs were ‘Funny Story’ and ‘Can’t Wait To Be Pretty’.
Gretta Ray’s ‘Positive Spin’ then came to the stage with a very tight band of professional musicians. The musicianship and song writing skills on display was terrific. It was big pop fun. Sing along tracks such as ‘Positive Spin’, ‘Upgraded’, ‘Drive’, ‘Cherish’, ‘America Forever (with Cate)’ and ‘Don’t Date The Teenager’. The joy was hearing ‘Dear Seventeen’ that the audience really loved and ‘Light On’. The crowd were really into the music and performance and it was a positive spin. It was great to hear musical exploration through pop, folk, country to give it a unique voice.
The pandemic might have sucked – but if this the music that came out of it – hooray. It was a great night of high quality performance and fantastic song writers. If you haven’t seen these amazing musicians – you should try and catch the shows or at least explore on Spotify. Great pop music with really classy song writers. A real joy!
