SAHARA BECK, HARRY JAMES ANGUS AND KASEY CHAMBERS AT WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL

Making her Woodford debut, Sahara Beck is an emerging artist who blends jazz with pop, creating a unique, fun sound. Referred to as a brissie bombshell, Black's voice had such warm and soulful voice that had a bounce to it, which was shown through her aura on stage. Her set consisted of songs stemming from a plethora of themes including falling in love, climate change, self reflection and empowerment; a testament to her powerful voice as a songwriter. Each song had a different story to tell and a different performative element to it. Thus, I think it's fair to say that most (if not all) of the audience members at her gig today would listen to her stories, new and old, over and over again.

As a massive fan of Cat Empire and having seen them live twice in the span of twelve months, I was overjoyed that I would be seeing Harry James Angus again at Woodford. His set demonstrated not only what an incredible jazz musician he is, but the skill of his band members, whose improvisations were what created the electric atmosphere of the set. It very much had a Cat Empire vibe, which makes sense after all the years that Angus has been touring and making music with them. As always, the immersion of jazz and funk was bloody brilliant. The band had so much energy and passion for what they were playing that you couldn't help but be reenergised, even in the scorching heat. Angus was, without a doubt, a crowd pleaser.

Kasey Chambers has to be the most bubbly singer that I've ever seen live. Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of her debut record Captain, her set included most songs featured in that record, including a few divine acoustic covers. Her performance was filled with endless amounts of love and enthusiasm, which the audience bopping in their seats. She was so welcoming to the Woodford crowd and built such a lovely rapport with the audience.

WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL | 27th December - 1st January