I missed out on the duo’s 2025 run at Hamer Hall, so I was stoked to see them return so soon, and playing at my favourite Melbourne live venue.
I last saw Gillian Welch and her musical partner David Rawlings almost exactly ten years ago, soon after I became a fan of their music. Their show at the Forum Theatre stuck to pretty much the same format: no opening act, no frills, just a bare stage, a rug, microphone stands, and a magical duo who can create so much from so little. Sometimes all you need is palpable musical chemistry, warm banter, and songs that feel like they were written decades ago by some folk troubadour. The vibe of the night was both friendly and relaxed, and quietly intense.
Sometimes I’m a bit wary about standing too close to the stage at the Forum, where the sound can get a bit muddy, but there was little danger with only guitars, harmonica and banjo in the mix. Speaking of the latter, I learned that Welch and Rawlings refer to their vintage banjo as Sexy Beast, a name coined by a fan that stuck. I managed to sneak in even closer during the show’s interval between the sets, another unusual detail I remembered from the last concert.
I was only familiar with the The Harrow & the Harvest album (still my personal favourite) last time around, so it was nice to actually recognise nearly all of the songs. They of course included cuts from the duo’s recent Woodland album, but other records also got a generous look-in, as well as a few traditional and folk covers; as Gillian explained, they didn’t want to perform exactly the same material as on the last tour.
The show opened with I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll, one of the more upbeat songs in a repertoire that tends to veer more towards dark, sorrowful and bittersweet. Another toe-tapping moment was Six White Horses, with Welch using her own body as percussion and slapping her sides for a rhythm, then taking a break to do some lovely clog dancing. Everything Is Free was performed as a personal request from a person who had moved the traffic cones for their car earlier in the day. The biggest surprise for me was Look at Miss Ohio, a song I always overlooked but clearly one of the songs the fans adore the most, going by the singalong it received. It stuck in my head more than anything else from the concert, and I of course went and re-listened to the whole Soul Journey album.
David Rawlings handled the vocal duties on a few songs, including What We Had from Woodland. His voice has a sweet, somewhat timid quality, very different to Gillian’s tough, weathered, old-as-a-grave vocals. The duo’s delicate, interweaving harmonies meanwhile was pure manna for the ears. It was also amazing to watch Rawlings’ mastery of the acoustic guitar, which at times looked like it was an extension of his own body as he swayed and danced on the spot. Many of his soulful, intricate solos got rapturous mid-song applause.
I was pretty happy with the picks from my favourite album: Dark Turn of Mind, The Way it Goes, Hard Times, though they gave a miss to Tennessee, hands down my favourite Gillian Welch song. Happily Revelator, my other favourite, closed the night during a very generous third encore. The haunting heartache of this song just goes straight to my heart.
I was so tempted to splash out for another gig at the Palais Theatre, but this was a week when I was out nearly every evening, and my bank account also needed some rest. Oh well, till next time.
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