Lior - at the Spiegeltent

Lior had just come from the World Music stage performing for a crowd 20,000 or so at WOMAD, and then to the Auckland Festival AK07 at The Famous Spiegeltent for a very intimate performance. One man with one guitar - well not quite, the guitar changed nearly every song. Lior quipped that his guitar collection had been shipped back to Australia at the beginning of the show. Lucky for Auckland, this was a joke, however his encore was a Hebrew hymn - unaccompanied.

His guitar was intricate and crisp. Songs that stood out were Bedouin Song, Blessed and Grey Ocean from his CD Autumn Flow, nominated for 3 Aria awards, and Sonya which may be part of his about to be recorded second CD release.

Lior's music is gentle folk songs with intricate melodies - his voice sometimes was reminiscent of Paul Simon in some, with qualities I have not heard since Cat Stevens and when he let it pour out in full voice it reminded of Jeff Buckley. He included a wonderful story about the only cover in his set by Nick Drake.

**** Stunning.