Wainwright readies for Bendigo show

ECLECTIC Canadian-American singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright will be coming to the region next month as part of her first Australian tour since 2017.

Wainwright will round out her upcoming nine-date national tour with a show at Capital Theatre and said she’s excited to play to Australian audiences for the first time in seven years.

“It’s been a long time,” she said. “Before 2017 I came as often as I could and quite often. I’ve had such a long and important relationship with Australia.

“It’s part of my life, coming and playing here so I’ve really missed it and I’m excited to reignite and return to these towns and see some faces I haven’t seen in a long time.

“We’ll definitely do some songs off the newish record but there’ll probably be some songs from the last bunch as a bit of a retrospective. It’ll be a mix.”

Wainwright will introduce her 2021 LP Love Will Be Reborn to Australian audiences as well as songs from the record’s expanded release which followed a year later to accompany her memoir Stories I Might Regret Telling You.

She said she’s looking forward to bringing new material yet to be heard live on stage in the country.

“It’s been almost three years playing these songs and two years reading from my book which I’ll definitely be doing for this show,” she said.

“It’s a return to some of the edge of the first record and some of the confessional and open songwriting from that. It’s very personal so I thought
there was a connection there.

“This record is really the first time where there’s more time behind me than ahead of me.

It’s a truly in-mid-life album that came out in the middle of a divorce and other very stressful things but also new love, so it’s something of a new beginning.

“That’s the theme and that’s how it’s felt to tour this.”

Wainwright will be backed by pianist Edwin de Goeij, saxophonist Nicolas Deslis, bass player Morgan Moore, and drummer Tommy Crane.

Her Bendigo show is slated for Saturday 18 May from 8pm.

Tickets are $89 and can be booked at bit.ly/3U23wuS