It’s rare for an opening act to deliver a set as strong as the headliner. Ullah and Billie Marten both gave distinct and dreamy performances at the Corner Hotel as part of Marten’s debut Australia/New Zealand tour.
With an almost full house for Ullah’s opening set, the Perth-based indie-folk artist showed her gift for storytelling through lyricism, delicate melodies and shared tales about each track.
In describing her 2023 release Slow Motion, Ullah spoke of the song starting with her addiction to Monster energy drinks and morphed into describing the feeling of continuing to put heart into relationships that only cause harm. Performing the track without her usual band, Ullah took the extended guitar solo on herself, singing along haphazardly and joking with the crowd. She was undeniably adorable throughout and no less powerful for it.
Headliner Billie Marten, a UK-based indie-folk singer-songwriter, timed her Australian tour with the release of new, live-recorded single ‘Crown’, but worked through her albums in an unspecified order for this performance. While the recorded version of ‘Crown’ utilises a fuller ensemble, including Núria Graham on harmonies and Mauro Refosco (David Byrne) on percussion, the pared back version with only Marten and her guitar was nothing short of magical.
Other songs from her repertoire were equally captivating. Considered lighting choices amplified the impact of each track, with rich shades of blue washing the stage for ‘Aquarium’ and moody reds and purple for ‘Cartoon People’.
There were some audio issues throughout and the show was halted partway, with Marten’s ‘trusty stead Will’ to the rescue. While the issue was resolved quickly, it interrupted the flow of her set.
Equally jarring was Marten’s occasional loss of control in song transitions, leaving some prolonged silences and awkward pauses – however this could have simply been a result of a frequently shouting and rude crowd.
Partway through the set, a crowd member shouted out ‘when are you coming back with your band?’ to Marten, but neither Marten nor Ullah needed a band. At such a small venue, just having each woman on the stage with their guitars was intimate and moving, and showed off their prowess as songwriters.
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One can only hope that Marten’s subsequent crowds in Sydney and New Zealand proved a little more respectful, and that we can keenly anticipate another tour – with or without her band.
Billie Marten played at the Corner Hotel, Melbourne on 2 January, Sydney’s Oxford Arts Factory on 3 January and at The Tuning Fork, Auckland, NZ on 5 January 2025.
