Switching the lights on when revisiting your childhood bedroom can stir a mixture of emotions – nostalgia, disillusionment, and that strange but relieving feeling that you’ve outgrown the box that was once your entire world. Watching the Opera House Concert Hall light up for José Gonzalés’ 20th anniversary concert for his breakout album, Veneer, felt a lot like that.
The grammy-nominated artist first earned acclaim in 2003 with this indie folk album, a quiet and hypnotic acoustic collection of songs, many of which Gonzalés admits to the audience of not having revisited in more than a decade:
“I feel like I was a different person then. The album is about relationships, hard times, inner struggles – the theme is of illusions and pretending to be something you’re not. It’s a veneer.”
Playing three shows over the opening weekend of Vivid Live at the Sydney Opera House, this marked the Argentinian artist’s first visit to Australia since his sold-out Opera House show in 2018.
Fittingly, he commenced his set with ‘Deadweight on velveteen’, bringing to life the album’s theme with the repeated lyrics “It’s not what it seems / Vulgar when brought to light”. Much of Gonzalés’ lyrics have this mantra-like aesthetic, and as a result feel much like short, half-finished songs even when their long instrumental openings don’t suggest so. Most poignant were his performances of crowd (and personal) favourites ‘Crosses’ and ‘Heartbeats’. These two proved to be the most melodically adventurous, standing out amongst the rest of the half-hour tracklist.
It isn’t a surprise either that Gonzalés’ performance was painted with red and blue lights, a design that embodies the theme of Veneer – perhaps a nod to The Matrix’s red and blue pill, or a pair of Anaglyph 3D glasses.
Gonzalés is undoubtedly an acoustic master. Yet, even with a buzzed crowd of loyal fans screaming and stomping their feet in praise, the singer appeared to be too outgrown for his Veneer setlist. It was only towards the second half of the show where the muso truly came into his own, putting his eclectic spin on Kylie Minogue’s ‘Hand on Your Heart’, Joy Division's ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’. His true colours shone even brighter during his 2021 Spanish ‘El Invento’ and Swedish ‘Tjomme’ from his latest album. In these more recent hits and reworkings, José Gonzalés appeared to truly, and proudly, shine as the musician he is now.
A combination of nostalgia and playful new territory, Gonzalés kicked off Vivid Live in a fitting fashion. It’ll be interesting to see what illuminating directions the series takes over the course of the festival.
This concert was reviewed on Friday, May 26, 2023.