On Wednesday night I made the happy trip to the Troubadour to see Loren and Co. play a pre-cd-launch gig. It was the perfect kind of gig…here’s why -

Luke Foran opened the night with his mellow guitar and fantastic singing. The songs ranged from soft ballads to birthday songs to country banjo-pickin’ good times. He was joined by a fellow “Galleon’s Lap” bandmate for a song and Loren came up and played some (stodgy) banjo and sang harmonies. My favourite part of the set was the birthday song to his little sisters which contained and concluded with the lyrics “I’m just glad that nobody wanted you”. Storm and Casey were in raptures.

Loren’s set was lengthy and wonderful. Bedgie (who played with Carus, is touring with Bernard Fanning and helped record BF’s Album) had come up to Brisbane early to make a special guest appearance on the night (playing mandolin, fiddle and singing harmonies). Luke Foran also did vocals for a fair part of the set (until the red wine kicked in).

Loren played mostly songs from his new album ‘Community’, which goes on sale next week (with, surprisingly, only 1000 discs cut). He also put out some old faves. Some highlights of the night were the renditions of “Sad Lisa” and “Under African Skies”. After the concert, all of the artists were more than obliging and stood around chatting with folks from the crowd. The whole concert had a feeling of friendliness and a familiarity that makes the Troubadour such a fantastic venue.

Quote of the night – “Country is like Folk: it’s a dirty word but everybody loves it” -Loren