![[REVIEW] Skipping Girl Vinegar at AWME 2015](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae27bee365f02e732d57bdc/1539584541005-M1ITQWFAWEMHCQFG0PM8/Skipping-Girl-Vinegar-Live-Rev-620x408.jpg)
The AWME opening night ushered in the start of three days of great music and networking opportunities. Set at the Playhouse Theatre in the heart of Melbourne, a moving Welcome to Country took place, before up and coming talent Pirra took to the stage for a blues based rock set. Point Lonsdale locals Skipping Girl Vinegar featured, and they blew the audience away with their otherworldly sounds and catchy hooks.
Their last show as full band for 2015, the five-piece drew us into the world of their most recent album The Great Wave. Depicted through their incredible projections, exploration of instrumentation, and the minute details found in the stage set up, you came into the theatre as a stranger and leave feeling as though you had spent time with old friends.
From their lead single, ‘Making Our Way’, to the intensity of ‘Refugee’ – where lead singer Mark Lang took the opportunity to talk about welcoming refugees onto our shores – the layering of melodies and immaculate timing from each member of the band made it a gig that stands out from the rest.
Stripping it back in the ‘Lost In the Heads’, so Lang could sing a Capella, the crowd was silenced in awe, and Skipping Girl had us in the palm of their hand as they touched on the personal tragedy of ‘Here Comes The River’. Unafraid to use different techniques and instruments to form the sounds of the ocean (surf coast locals would be proud), they communicated both the power and beauty of nature effortlessly, allowing you to experience the story within each song.
Lightening the mood with sing-a-longs and their infectious love for the melody, you couldn’t help but feel good through SGV’s set. Managing to fill the theatre with their sound and production, yet still making us feel as though we were in an intimate gig, they truly showed the depth and quality of local music. If you haven’t caught Skipping Girl Vinegar yet, please do. It will remind you of simpler times, and drive home the fact that even in the darkness, there is always light.