LIVE REVIEW - James Morrison @ The Forum
James Morrison took over Melbourne Forum theatre in style on Tuesday night, bringing his signature style of blues/jazz and light rock fusion. He brought along this year's entry into his discography, the album You're Stronger Than You Know. Yet since he hasn't been in the country for a couple of years, Morrison was more than happy to expand his set list to include many of his fan's favourite tracks, keeping the Forum alight from the time he arrived on stage.
Morrison brought aspiring artist Hein Cooper on tour with him, the singer songwriter hitting the right feeling early to rev the crowd up for the following act. Of course, Hein brought a lot to the stage personally, seeming to carve out a sound of his own to fit quite well opening for Morrison. The growing crowd was brought to a standstill halfway through his set as the young artist ran through a spine-tingling rendition of his 2019 Triple J ‘Like A Version’, covering Lily Allen’s “The Fear”. The cover was a brilliant merging of a soft singer/songwriter and Lily Allen’s punchy, yet deep lyricism.
James Morrison’s set was a brilliant celebration of new and old music, expertly weaving a setlist that was able to stir the hearts of both new and old fans. After the beautiful set previous thanks to Hein Cooper, James Morrison was able to back it up, with a memorable hour and a half long set.
James' voice is an incredible thing to hear live, as per his recordings you can easily gather his talent and hard work as a vocalist but hearing his expressive, yet abrasive vocal tones give his music an entirely different dimension for the live shows. It was a theme that was felt across his entire set, with not a single song being lost in the crowd; they felt everything along with Morrison.
While James was celebrating the release of his new album You're Stronger Than You Knowhe happily threw in many of his fan's favourite tracks moving along "Broken String", "You Make It Real", " I Won't Let You Go" and the massive "You Give Me Something". Of course, these tracks were interspersed amongst a rousing catalogue from the newer album including the new hit single “So Beautiful”.
James closed on "Wonderful World", the powerful number off of () was the perfect way to see out the crowd, not only did it brilliant capture James Morrison’s music sense one final time, but the upbeat and positive song left people bobbing their heads with a smile on their face on the way out of the door at the finale.
James Morrison’s tour continues around Australia Heading to Brisbane and the Gold Coast this weekend before flying across to New Zealand for a one off show in Auckland.