- The house icon debuts a revamped live show featuring Fatima and Parisian jazz pianist Paul Cut.
- Sydney's nightlife woes are well documented by now, but each year when Vivid, the city's dazzling winter festival, comes around, it brings a vibrancy and romance to the streets, inspiring joy in even the most cynical residents. As usual, Sydney Opera House's Vivid LIVE programme was fairly monumental this year, including top-tier legends like The Cure and Herbie Hancock, as well as a finely curated series of electronic nights in and around one of the world's most iconic venues. The opening night presented a heavenly scenario: Larry Heard, right on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, debuting his new live trio featuring the Eglo powerhouse Fatima and the Parisian jazz pianist Paul Cut.
Sydney's own house music royalty, Simon Caldwell of Mad Racket, warmed things up in the early evening before longtime Larry Heard-collaborator Robert Owens stepped up and declared to the half-filled courtyard, "I'm here to play music." Dressed in a metallic silver shirt, suit vest and wide-brim hat, he stated the obvious a lot, reminding the crowd countless times that he was playing house music. Despite rousing renditions of his best-known tracks—"I'll Be Your Friend," "Tears"—and some incredibly spirited dancing that belied his age, his selections largely fell on the wrong side of cheesy and, towards the end, were just too high-octane and commercial for the occasion.
Caldwell returned to restore order for 30 minutes before Heard walked out in his signature baseball cap to a gleeful cheer. He was quickly joined by his new sidekicks, Cut and Fatima, and together they launched into a sequence of tender and deeply groovy cuts. The first time Heard performed in Sydney back in 2016, he did so with vocal partner Mr. White, and they did a spectacular job of banging out the hits, albeit in a way that was very faithful to the original recordings. This time around was an altogether different animal. Each member shone in an understated way as a broader cross-section of Heard's catalogue was explored.
The first half of the show exemplified the group's chemistry, with Fatima and Heard harmonising beautifully on tracks like "Dreaming Of Better Days" while Cut, at one point evoking the spirit of Roy Ayers, injected tasteful solo flourishes on the keys. "Qwazars" acted as a bridge between the set's melodic section and a more pumping passage featuring plenty of 303s. On "The Sun Can't Compare," Fatima excelled, while Heard, clearly moved, filmed the performance on his phone. Ending with "Can You Feel It"—because, of course—the band engaged in a euphoric singalong with the audience, conjuring up a moment of remarkable intimacy given the expansive Harbour and towering Opera House surrounding the stage. For the trio's first public outing, the flow could hardly have been better.
Photo credit /
Jordan Munns