Billy Davis & The Good Lords | Adelaide Festival 2022 review

Having a pianist front and centre makes for an unusual concert experience, with a focus on Billy Davis’s brilliant keyboard technique and his magnetic stage presence.

Billy Davis and the Good Lords. Picture: Supplied by Adelaide Festival 2022

Billy Davis & The Good Lords

Contemporary music – Australia

ADELAIDE FESTIVAL

The Summerhouse

March 3

Melbourne-based R&B and “neo-soul” muso Billy Davis has been well-described as “relentlessly upbeat” and his first Adelaide gig in a long time, on the opening night of the Adelaide Festival’s Summerhouse program on the banks of the River Torrens, was bursting with vitality.

An hour-long set dipped in and out of Davis’s impressive catalogue, from the 2017 debut release A Family Portrait (the funky Goldfish) through tunes like Headspace from 2021 to a new number, and ending up with a standout performance of I Ain’t, featuring PJ Morton.

Billy Davis and the Good Lords. Picture: Supplied by Adelaide Festival 2022

Davis is in the spotlight with his keyboard, with a fair number of the up to 11-strong Good Lords supporting him on instruments and vocals.

Having a pianist front and centre makes for an unusual concert experience, with a focus on his brilliant keyboard technique and his magnetic stage presence.

The only downside of an otherwise great concert was the sound. The vocalists were inaudible, and for anyone not familiar with Davis’s music, even his introductions were barely intelligible.

The Summerhouse is an unusual venue, and the mix wasn’t up to the challenge.