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Last night (13 April 2005) Missy Higgins played the Royal Theatre in Canberra. Higgins is a 21 year-old Australian singer/song-writer who plays piano and guitar. My exposure to her is quite limited: this is the first time I've seen her live and I don't own her #1 album The Sound Of White. However, I own her Scar EP, have been meaning to buy her album, and have heard some of her songs on the radio and over dinner while visiting friends.

After the support acts (Serena Ryder and David Ross Macdonald), Higgins provided an immediate breath of fresh air. She sounded confident and in control. Missy Higgins possesses a great range of vocal dynamics - sometimes she barely whispered over the sound of her piano, and at other times she roared and growled to get over the top of the 4 piece band that was backing her. In fact, the strength of her voice contrasted strongly with the humility she showed between songs. This is her first headline tour and, even though her album debuted at #1, she seems genuinely surprised at her success. At this stage of her career, this is certainly a plus - her feet seem firmly anchored to the ground.

Speaking of feet...

Higgins played an electric piano that didn't hide her legs and feet. This is starting to sound like a weird observation, right? Let me explain: Higgins stomped her feet around, sometimes alternating between floor and sustain pedal, and she often ended up with her ankles wrapped around the base of her piano stool. This wasn't just a measured performance by someone being careful to avoid mistakes. This was an emotional performance involving someone who loves music.

Looking at the track list for Higgins' album The Sound Of White, it appears she played most songs from that album, with a reasonably amount of new material thrown in. She opened with what appears to be a very good unreleased song, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and was soon joined by a cellist. She then switched to piano and was joined by the band. Later she switched back to guitar and Josh Cunningham (of The Waifs) stayed on stage to provide additional guitar - very nice. Before long, the rest of the band returned to help finish a strong set. I'm not sure every song hit the mark, but the ones that didn't hit it landed very close to it. My favourite song of the evening was The Sound Of White - a huge performance delivered with the support of the entire band.

So, where does a 21 year-old, with a #1 debut album, go to from here? Given this performance, hopefully a long way. She's a very talented song-writer, singer, pianist and guitarist. Hopefully Missy Higgins has a lot of good songs left in her and we'll see a lot more of her... and I think her humility will help her "keep it real".