On Friday I went to see my long time favourite female singer, Renee Geyer. I didn’t really discover Renee until about 16 years ago. Growing up, I’d known of her and saw her singing “Say I Love You” on Countdown, but it never really occurred to me that she was a fantastic singer, especially not the type of singer that I’d eventually develop a lifetime admiration over.
In the past 16 years, I must have seen Renee sing live about 25 times. Every so often in life, I am incredibly thankful for my luck, and with Renee, I am thankful that I discovered her in time to see the great lady sing.
Going to the gig on Friday at the Brass Monkey in Cronulla, I’d hope I’d get close enough to take a couple of good snaps on my iPhone for keepsake.
Her set was a mix of hits, medleys and a couple of jazz standards including Fly Me To The Moon. Her three piece band on the night consisted of Jex Saarelaht on keys, Hamish Stuart on drums and I should know who the bass player was, but I am afraid to say, I didn’t know him, or catch his name. One thing I will say about Renee, she does wear her heart on her sleeve. That’s a good thing for me. At least you know where you stand, good or bad. I could see some frustration as she was performing. Tempos too slow … it’s a hard job being a muso, with probably little rehearsal, if any, and trying to get it right on the night according to the singer’s wants. The sound guy was quite obviously not giving enough fold back as I could see her irritation building looking over his way as she motioned to her mic at him. However, I must say, Jex and Hamish impressed the hell out of me! There was one little spot where Renee did a rhythmic motive in an improv and Hamish copied it. I noticed. Very lovely.
One of the reasons I love Renee so much is not just the voice, but her passion and musicianship. She has an incredible feel for the music and I can see it ooze out of every pore. You see so many singers these days who can sing quite well, but they just don’t feel it. For me, music is all about the feeling. There are so many feelings hidden in one little note. That’s powerful. Without music, life just wouldn’t be much for me.
After the show, Renee said she was going to sign some CDs. Thrill ahead! I thought this might be might chance to say hello after all these years, and sure enough it was. After I headed back to my old seat, she sashayed past and I said “I’ve loved you for so long Renee!”. Yes, that was probably a bit crazy fan talk, but sometimes you just have to live in the moment. She grabbed my hand and said “I’m just a normal person silly!”. PS. She had incredibly soft hands. Alas, I’d spent all my pocket money on the ticket and some wines, so I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t splash up some cash on the spot for a signed CD. However, I DID manage to say hello again to Renee (yay!) and even got a photo with her. Double yay!
I would have loved to mention that I was also a singer plodding away, trying to live my dreams, playing with some wonderful musicians, blah blah blah, but sometimes it’s just better to be the fan. 🙂
If you have the chance, I urge you to go and see Renee while she’s still touring. I think she has plans to retire from singing live soon, so hurry up! While she has lost steadily over the years, a fair bit of her higher range, she still has that fantastic richness in tone, and she delivers every song with a passionate conviction. Then of course, she’ll never lose the awesome stage presence and cheekiness of hers either. I pity the foo’ who try to heckle her…
Would love to hear your comments! Feel free to reply below. 🙂
Anne-Lise