Anna Calvi, described by Brian Eno as ‘the best thing since Patti Smith’, put on an absolutely blistering show at Dark Mofo this year. A combination of a mesmerising wild stage presence, virtuoso guitar shredding and an operatic voice that mixed scaling dizzy heights with impassioned screaming, Calvi was the complete package.
Covering mostly songs from her new album ‘Hunter’, co-produced by the legendary Nick Launay and featuring Adrian Utley from Portishead and Martyn P. Casey from the Bad Seeds, Calvi’s set was incandescent, explosive rock laden with attitude and cool.
At times her command of the guitar and the noise she wrenched from it reminded my of my much worshipped guitar hero, the late, great Rowland S Howard, while her stage presence had the same passion and aggression as Nick Cave in full flight. She prowled the stage like an imprisoned Tiger, sank to her knees screaming at the front row and threw herself into wild, abandoned guitar solos. She flounced, she danced, she twisted and crawled. This was rock’n’roll, this was entertainment.
Calvi was another example of the perfect lineup this year’s Dark Mofo put together. The festival just grows weirder, wilder and more outlandish every year and continues to delight. May it continue long into the cold midwinter night at the edge of the world.
Photos: Arun Kendall
