Angie McMahon took her show to EartH in Hackney, London
The Australian brought her show to London.
Photo: Isla Kerr
With only a few nights left of August, Angie McMahon brought some much-needed harmonic peace to the sweaty basement of EartH in Hackney. The Australian singer-songwriter has been touring the US and now the UK all month before heading off to Europe.
Fellow Australian Hannah McKittrick started the evening in beautiful fashion with a lullaby. The entire room listened in an amazed silence as her words floated across the crowd.
Hannah shared her newfound love for the area of Dalston as she walked us through her eventful day exploring the area. The warmth in her character as she chatted away was refreshing to witness. Switching between keys and guitar throughout her set Hannah held down the stage alone impressively well.
Before the second to last song, she shared that it was a “Very quiet” one. Some audience members understood their assignment and let out a massive “ssh” to others as Hannah laughed and commented that there were “some librarians in the house”.
An incredibly talented musician with a beautiful voice, Hannah McKittrick is an artist who really deserves to go far. Before leaving the stage to an eruption of applause she thanked the audience again and called out, “F-cking free Palestine”.
By the time Angie’s set time had approached the venue was packed to capacity. Sweat beaded down foreheads but nobody seemed to mind, after all they were about to see one of the greatest songwriters on heartbreak and growth of this generation.
Angie took to the stage and requested we all “Take a deep breath” to start. Much needed moment of calm over, it was time to begin an emotional journey.
Smiling faces looked up at Angie and her band while holding back tears during early gem Divine Fault Line. The beautiful ballad tells of emerging from a period of darkness.
In a lull between tracks, Angie confessed, “This is bigger than any show I ever imagined I’d be able to play in London”. Yet, looking out at tonight’s crowd and seeing their clear love for her it’s hard not to imagine her playing to even bigger venues soon.
Slow Mover was written about someone Angie was making out with who she didn’t want to make out with anymore. At the time she didn’t know how to communicate that so wrote a song instead. Its oh too relatable lyrics are sung word for word tonight by the crowd who clearly have had similar experiences in life.
Emotions ran high from start to finish with such transformative tracks from two powerhouse musicians. Hannah and Angie held the space perfectly and created something special at EartH on Thursday night. It felt connecting despite their lyrics often talking about isolating journeys. We were unified in grief, loss, love and learning to live again.
All photos by Isla Kerr.