BRUNO MAJOR

I adore the Spiegeltent.

I spend my Brisbane Festivals ensconced in its welcoming bosom, lapping up all manner of cabaret, circus, song-and-dance and variety shows – big productions with big personalities, big acts and big bands.

This is the first time I’ve seen a stripped-back solo set within its wooden and stained-glass walls and what a revelation!

UK singer-songwriter Bruno Major sauntered casually to a small stage in the centre of the Spiegeltent, accompanied by nought but a couple of guitars, microphone, a piano and the voice of a goddamn angel.

He delivered a pitch-perfect, blissed-out 50-minute set of songs centred on love, life and loss – particularly loss.

His tales of heartbreak and love-gone-bad, perhaps surprisingly, never felt morose.

Major’s easy banter with the audience and jokes between songs ensured the mood never plummeted.

The Spiegeltent proved an ingenious venue for such an intimate show.

My only suggestion to organisers to improve the experience would be to have staff or security ‘shushing’ the obviously drunk and very screechy occupants of the booth behind me who were far more interested in gulping white wine and gossiping than listening to Major – or any of the audience who ask them to pipe down.

Either that or crank the sound louder to drown them out!