Walking into the entrance of the Enmore Theatre in Newtown you can’t help but feel the chilled and funky vibe that seems to co-exist with the place. 

Once inside I grab myself a beer and join those in the standing section at the front of the stage where the vibe is still the same.  The majority of men are dressed in red flannelette shirts and the women in casual jeans and t’shirts as they sip on their drinks and chatter away like they would at their local pub.

Bright blue lights fill the stage and the crowd erupts in applause and a few distant wolf whistles from women in anticipation of the Byron Bay sensation that is Pete Murray.  

In his own flannelette shirt, Murray looks at ease as he steps onto the stage with his band.  With their long hair and laid back attitude I’m reminded of the local bands that fill pubs all over Australia with their beachy tunes and relaxed attire.

Then You Pick Me Up, the first single from his latest album Summer At Eureka, comes on and the crowd instantly starts singing and dancing away.  The track is upbeat and almost balmy, like many of the songs on his latest album, reflecting the laid back attitude of its vocalist. 

While some may have been expecting the brooding and melancholic artist that we came to know from his first album Feeler, Murray specifically chose to keep the majority of his songs upbeat and fun to coincide with his latest No.1 album. 

Of course it wouldn’t be a Pete Murray concert without the slow stuff and a huge crowd sing-a-long.  Stand outs included Opportunity, where everyone in the room was taken into their own worlds, or the latest single Saving Grace that is reminescent of the slower melancholic tracks from Feeler.

Another plus was the amazing setting that was created to resemble the front cover of his latest album where Murray sits with his guitar in front of a large bookcase full of old and battered books, tying in with the fact that Murray recorded Summer at Eureka in a studio he built at his own home.

While the focus was on Murray, his band also stole some of the limelight on stage.  Most of the entertainment was provided by the keyboard player, Ben McCarthey, who was completely in tune with the crowd by pointing, singing and dancing to them throughout each song.  While bass guitarist, Jonathon Zion, provided a spectacular solo performance mid-show. 

The only downside of the night was that the gig simply wasn’t long enough with Murray and his band playing a little over an hour and a half, and that’s including the encore. 

Having said that, the encore where Murray finished with arguably his biggest hit So Beautiful was a fitting sing-a-long to end the show as the crowd sang every word and swayed with their cans of beer and cups of wine in the air.