ARTISTS: JAMES BAY, MATT CORBY, JOHN BUTLER, THELMA PLUM, KITA ALEXANDER, MIA WRAY
VENUE: SANDSTONE POINT HOTEL, BRIBIE ISLAND
DATE: MARCH 23RD 2024
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANDREW TREADWELL PHOTOGRAPHY
REVIEWER: HAYLEY TREADWELL (REALWOMAN_REALREVIEW)
From the moment Summer Salt was announced, I have been excited! What a great festival
line-up of new and seasoned Aussie storytellers to support UK Award winning artist James
Bay on his return to Australia after a 6 year (somewhat pandemic induced) hiatus. We arrived a the beautiful Sandstone Point Hotel as the gorgeous Mia Wray was taking the
stage. This young singer song writer firmly planting her feet in the Aussie Music scene with
a phenomenal performance to open the day. Her voice is insane live and her stage
presence and performance made her one of the highlights of the day for me. Which was
certainly helped by her inviting fans over to the merch stand after her performance, even
though she didn’t have any merch, she wanted to meet her fans and give us all friendship
bracelets! I got my first ever friendship bracelet at a concert at 42 and I couldn’t have been
happier! Mia you were amazing with all your fans young and old, I was simply in awe of you
watching you so genuinely giving your time to your fans. You are exactly the type of artist
Australia needs!
Kita Alexander was up next and filled with excitement off the back her of her debut album
release the previous day! Her excitement was infectious and saw a building crowd of
dancers down the front.
While a little over produced for my liking, especially in this setting, I found her set to be fun
and I could see fans a plenty singing and dancing along. I loved the story Kita told us about
getting her Vinyl’s there with her as carry on luggage and her excitement to be able to have
them for sale at the gig. Kita also took time with her fans to sign as many Vinyl’s as she
could and say hi before having to rush off for her flight to the next destination where she will
no doubt delight more fans.
A large crowd started to form as we waited for Thelma Plum to take the stage. This young
lady has established herself in her craft over the last 10 years and I was excited to see her
for the first time. She sang songs old and new, and not yet released and we lapped up every
moment! Large cheers and more fans running towards the stage as ‘Homecoming Queen’
started, and again with ‘Backseat of My Mind’. I loved hearing last November’s release ‘We
Don’t Talk About It’ and my favourite Thelma song, ‘Woke Blokes’
Closing out with ‘Better In Black’, Thelma was clearly emotional at the reaction she was
getting from the crowd and seemingly turned that inward and into her performance as she
delivered her most energetic performance of the set.
Taking the stage next was one of my favourite ever Australian Artists, John Butler. And my
first words are simply WOW!!
Starting his set with 2 sticks and his voice, John Butler sang ‘Cold Wind’ and led us on a
spiritual journey from there. Stories of boys running around in the bodies of Men,
government corruption and corporate greed all included in John’s set and I loved every
moment of it! The crowd lapped up the classic songs and passionate speeches and I just
stood in awe of this incredible musician and humble human. What a performance! I have
listened to John Butler for half my life and only saw him live for the first time today and I just
want to do it again and again!
When Matt Corby took the stage we saw the standing only section at capacity! The
Australian storyteller, clearly very popular. Matt took the stage a bit early after a weather
warning but did not let the howling wind and impending rain worry him. Song after song the
energy from the band was palpable and Matt delivered with every lyric.
The crowd went wild for hit songs ‘Resolution’ and ‘Brother’ and were delighted to be treated
to Matt’s Triple J Like a Version song, TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’, Matt Corby’s is an incredible talent
and one I appreciated seeing live, delivering his stories in song.
Light rain started at the end of Matt Corby’s set and continued right up until almost the
moment James Bay took the stage. It was like the universe saying, ponchos off, lets party!
James took to the stage like a bat outta hell and showed us how happy he was to be back in
our country! His energy lifting the crowd out of the dampness and into the high vibes coming
from the stage. James’ voice is outstanding and his guitar playing equally as good as he
performed a catalogue of songs old and new and had the fans screaming with excitement.
The crowd gladly joined in clapping hands or shouting out lyrics when called upon and
James and his band kept delivering with each new song.
And then as the night drew to a close, the stage went black…. Silent….. There was no
power! And here we got to see all the signs of a true professional as, lit just by a torch,
James still delivered us an acoustic version of his most loved song ‘Hold Back the River’.
And while the power outage had some people annoyed, I think it created a beautiful moment
for us to share, in the dark, singing along with our star for the evening. Our evening star if
you will. He lit up the stage purely with passion and I am 100% here for it!
James Bay, outstanding performance! Thanks for giving us your all!
Summer Salt was yet another well run amazing day out filled with friends, families and
laughter, a touch of rain and some absolutely brilliant music!
To all the folks at Face to Face Touring, Menard PR, Sandstone Point Hotel (your staff are
always amazing) and all the bands for having us along, we had a great day on the hill with
you!
Until the next gig
Hayley
