MUSICAL partnerships do not get much better than Christine Collister and Michael Fix and a packed Ruby marquee at the Australian Celtic festival showed their enthusiasm for the duo from the first note they played.
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The duo have only played a handful of shows before tonight’s gig, but their chemistry belies that fact, they seem like old friends and musical allies, trading vocal and guitar licks and warm and comfortable stage banter with each other and the audience.
Tonight’s set opens with ‘deeper water’ and Collister’s soulful vocal sets the tone for the set.
Fleetwood Mac’s s ‘never going back’ showcases Fix’s vocals and delicate guitar playing and by the time ‘skin n bones’ is played three songs in, the crowd is hanging upon every word the duo sings.
‘Skin n Bones’ is an early set highlight and the tender soulful harmonies of the duo and some intricate guitar fingerpicking from Fix get a hearty round of applause at the end of the song.
When you get a crowd singing words they don’t even understand, you know you have them onside, which Collister did with her acapella Manx hymn.
Not to be outshone though, a Michel Fix original Instrumental has the crowd riding his fingers with every touch on the fretboard.
However, this is not a duo that tries to one up each other, they have their solo moments, but they really do play like a well-oiled machine, perfectly complementing each other’s talents.
This is demonstrated perfectly with their reading of ‘the first time ever I saw your face’, which brings the house down.
The woman next to me was in tears after the performance, and a man two seats in front of me kept shaking his head and repeating “brilliant, brilliant”, that is as good a response as you’ll hear at a gig.
A well-deserved encore is played and then the show is over, short but sweet.
Collister-Fix were the highlight of the festival, which is not only my opinion but that of many of the people I spoke with afterwards that witnessed tonight’s show.
Glen Innes was fortunate to have such a world class act playing at our festival, I certainly hope they come back next year, and play a longer set.