2018/02/28 - David at Nex, Wests City in Newcastle, Australia

[Live Review] DAVID DUCHOVNY (Newcastle)

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Roger Killjoy



City Wests, Newcastle
Wednesday February 28, 2018 :

Part of me was afraid of going tonight in case it ruined David Duchovny for me forever, but onward we must go. Duchovny playing a concert here in Newcastle is surreal to the extreme. Attraction enough for a quarter-room full of punters prepared to take a chance, many like myself on the promoters dime.

The show gets off to a rewarding start with two piece acoustic troubadours Winterbourne opening the show to a receptive crowd. Their sound draws from the palettes of Simon and Garfunkel, and Mumford & Sons retaining the mall busking feel from the duo’s early life. Their songs are warm and tender with a subtle power, and they are disarmingly charming to allay my aversions to their influences enough to thoroughly enjoy their set. The strength of their performance is testified by a raptured silence from the crowd as they performed a song, sans PA and filled the cavernous room unamplified. A great start.

Then after a brief polite interlude in the still mostly empty room, Fox Mulder is standing on stage with his band performing the first of many numbers from his new album. Again, the experience is surreal on a personal level being such an obsessed X-phile in my youth. Also satiated is the grotesque desire I felt to be able to say I was in the same room as Duchovny once, no matter how bad the band turned out to be.

On a musical level, the band playing behind Duchovny is beyond qualified and play with as much heart as the simple compositions allow. The songs are decent enough that the right front-man could easily make a vast fortune on the back of them. But for all the brooding charisma he exuded on television in the ’90s and the sexy cool he oozed on Californication, he doesn’t have the front man charisma or voice to front an international touring band. He is sexy cool, charmingly jovial and a bit of a dag with his dance moves, but his sincerity was beyond question. The lyrics can be clunky and simple, but his voice is one dimensional and doesn’t really shift gear throughout the set of dreamy, country tinged, pop rock tunes all delivered with earnestness that’s hard not to appreciate.

Without the television pedigree of their front man there’s no way this would be an international touring act, but it’s a decent night of entertainment and nostalgia hit to boot. I have had at least one song stuck in my head since listening to the album before the show and on the night itself, and there’s nothing horrendous about the way they are performed, so it’s hard to fault anything other than to say it’s somewhat un-compelling because of the lack of that X factor and much needed front man charisma from Duchovney. Worth the attendance, but I don’t know if I’d go a second time.

Reviewer : Roger Killjoy

[Live Review] DAVID DUCHOVNY (Newcastle) https://t.co/pTHg6rvDYN @davidduchovny #DavidDuchovny pic.twitter.com/yiikvDt3ex

— Reverb Online (@reverb_magazine) 7 de março de 2018

chris_frape_photo
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NEX - Newcastle Exhibition & Convention Centre

David Duchovny @davidduchovny #davidduchovny #blackandwhite #livemusic #livemusicphotography #blackandwhitephotography

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chris_frape_photo
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Novotel Newcastle Beach

Me and me mate Dave @davidduchovny @camp_cope

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David Duchovny - Teach yourself (Newcastle)

Maja Ozbolt
Publicado em 13 de mar de 2018

For Miller

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bethannehh
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Wests City

I forgot to commemorate this once in a lifetime event that I couldn't not go to, right? A time. #davidduchovny

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danakas1985
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NEX - Newcastle Exhibition & Convention Centre

Happy Saturday 😃😎 #davidduchovny #australiantour #newcastle #australia 🇦🇺💙#davidduchovnymusic 🎸

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