Touring with the release of her recent EP The Best of Kate Miller-Heidke: Act One Kate Miller-Heidke and her husband, Keir Nuttall, performed in Canberra alongside The National Pops Orchestra. Kate Miller-Heidke was heavily acclaimed as a classically trained singer through the early noughties and her remarkable vocal skills feature highly throughout her work. Opening to a booked out Canberra Theatre, Miller-Heidke moved straight into the slow lilting tones of ‘Bliss’ using her characteristic opera highs to full effect. It’s these stylistic tones that have carved a stand-alone place for her, placed high in the halls of Australian Indie Pop.
The orchestra set a rich undertone for Kate Miller-Heidke’s best and most well-known singles. The highlight of their contributions to the night was undeniably the moving performance of ‘Sarah’, an echoingly beautiful song in itself, only enhanced by a full set of strings and wind instruments making it truly moving piece. The conductor’s enthusiastic jubilance complemented Kate and Keir’s emotiveness, even dancing along to a few of the songs performed without the orchestra.
Despite some awkward moments of technical difficulty the show was a much more polished performance than some of the singer’s other tours. This may have been the reason for an uncharacteristic awkwardness on Miller-Heidke’s behalf where she might have in the past laughed it off with the audience. When things got back on track the night’s richness came together with each song accompanied by stunning visuals projected against the stage wall. Miller-Heidke’s shout out to International Women’s Day with ‘You’ve Underestimated Me Dude’ showed her music video tying in with the singer’s intense highs.
With the exceptions of Keir’s applause-rending guitar solo and a final standing ovation, the audience sat mostly silent through the night, choosing instead to quietly enjoy everything Kate Miller-Heidke had to offer.
It’s no wonder why Kate Miller-Heidke fills theatres everywhere she goes. The National Pops Orchestra paired beautifully for a wonderfully rich experience, and Kate consistently puts on an incredible display of skill making for a night of vocal excellence.
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Woroni, Woroni Radio and Woroni TV are created, edited, published, printed and distributed. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that the name Woroni was taken from the Wadi Wadi Nation without permission, and we are striving to do better for future reconciliation.