The Punch Brothers are one classy bluegrass quintet
Adelaide Guitar Festival headliners The Punch Brothers earned a standing ovation at the Town Hall with their smooth bluegrass tunes and ridiculously entertaining showmanship.
When someoneâs awarded the MacArthur Fellowship (otherwise known as âThe Genius Grantâ), youâve got no choice but to take them seriously.
Punch Brothersâ member Chris Thile plays his mandolin very seriously, so itâs a deserved honour, for sure. In fact, he plays it so seriously that itâs an embodied thing, an impossible thing to look away from once youâve caught on.
So is he the draw to this US group? Maybe, but their harmonies are pretty special, as is Noam Pikelnyâs semi-duelling, laid-back banjo and Paul Kowertâs constant bass, Gabe Witcherâs violin that stings you along in the depths of each song, and Chris Eldridgeâs guitar.
Damn, theyâre a smartly dressed bluegrass quintet, but whatâs really worth mentioning is the standing ovation in the Adelaide Town Hall. What a perfect venue for this band, with its intimate seating (you can sit anywhere and see them well) and firm acoustics and pipe organ background and blue-lit (red-lit, green-lit) ballroom  lighting â it was all just so classy.
Aside from the music, which blew me away in its varied rhythms and origins (Debussy! They played Debussy! They said he was mad for bluegrass and his dying words â in English â were âBoys, you gotta pick it solid!â), I loved the showmanship.
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Thile is ridiculously entertaining, occasionally bordering on theatrical, but what nailed it was the single microphone. This sole prop had the musicians huddled round, which was a wondrous thing. In such close proximity, they played off of each other and with each other in such a way as youâd imagine they did back in the olden days of early bluegrass, when a single mic was all a band needed to be heard on the local radio station.
Honestly, I couldnât stop swinging my cowgirl-booted feet or stretching my neck like a freaking chicken caught up in a beat, it was just that good. Sorry, but it was a one-off show. But next time theyâre in town: now you know.
The Adelaide Guitar Festival continues until Sunday. Read more InDaily Guitar Fest stories and reviews here.
The Punch Brothers were recently nominated for a Grammy for their latest album The Phosphorescent Blues.
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