The Spiegeltent is a wonderful venue but I couldn’t help feeling this gig would have been more suited to the outdoors where one could lay on the grass and soak up the tunes whilst drifting away.

The songs were pleasant and Lydia has a gentle voice that suits the style of folk but she also has a distracting habit of waving her arm around like she is conducting a choir.

Interestingly, my plus-one didn’t notice this at all.

I enjoyed the backstories to the songs and there was a relaxed mood both on stage and off. 3/5 stars.

Lydia Fairhall and The Black She Oaks presented a wonderful afternoon of easy listening vocals and music with a blend of folk, pop and country sounds.

Lydia interacted and connected with the audience right from the outset beginning with a song written for especially for her son.

She introduced her songs with stories of personal moments, thoughts and life experiences resulting in a very personal and intimate performance.

This was further enhanced by the stage set, circular seating, lighting and the general atmosphere and ambience of the venue making for a very relaxing and enjoyable performance.

Lydia and the band members worked well together as they incorporated various combinations of instruments and vocals to produce a perfect easy listening blend.

Overall, an excellent performance that was perfect for a relaxing Sunday afternoon in the Spiegeltent at Brisbane Festival.

The act was performed in The Courier-Mail Spiegeltent and the audience numbers were relatively low on Sunday afternoon.

Lydia Fairhall writes and performs her own material and takes the time to explain the background to each song before she performs.

She talks about her Aboriginal heritage with love and pride and explains the concept of country and community.

As an audience member, I always appreciate when an artist provides this insight into when she wrote the song.

Two of the songs were written for her children who were in the audience on Sunday.

To be honest, I felt that to truly enjoy this show, you would need to be a fan of that particular genre of music.

If you love this genre then you would love the show and if you did not, then it was more difficult to appreciate the performance.

This genre of music is not on my Spotify playlist and I did struggle a little to be engaged and enjoy the performance.

On the other hand, I do love poetry and her lyrics were so poetic that I enjoyed how she had crafted the words into songs.

She talked about her Aboriginal heritage and the concept of country and community and this provided further insight into songs.

Lydia Fairhall and the Black She Oaks put me to sleep.

As Lydia’s sweet voice soaked into every corner of The Courier-Mail Spiegeltent, I succumbed to her lullaby and found myself drifting in and out of a welcome rest from the glitter and excess of the Brisbane Festival.

Over a short fifty minutes this group, in only their second performance in the lead-up to the release of a debut album later this year, drew the crowd into their family.

Lydia’s children played a prominent role in the show, starting with a love song to her son before he turns 13 later this week.

We were then introduced to Lydia’s 4-year-old daughter, a performer in the making who puts on song-and-dance shows for the snakes out in the bush – and isn’t afraid of letting her mother know when her moves aren’t up to snuff.

The sounds of the bush and the environment that has shaped Lydia Fairhall also featured heavily, and there were moments as my eyes fell shut that I felt I was sitting around a crackling fire and listening to stories that played out in song.

With a voice that shifted over our time together from sweet melody to strength through heartbreak, Lydia Fairhall and the Black She Oaks left me curious to see how this family she has created with continue to grow.