News and Updates

by Phillip Wells

A musical tribute to the life and times of Tim and Jeff Buckley, overseen by the man who co-wrote 'Mojo Pin' and 'Grace', will close this year's Brisbane Festival.

Produced by legendary New York Guitarist Gary Lucas, A State of Grace: The Music of Tim and Jeff Buckley will head to Brisbane as part of its world premiere tour for two performances at QPAC's Concert Hall on the 25th and 26th of September. Lucas not only helped write some of Jeff's most iconic songs but was also a close friend and confidant to the 90's crooner, making this concert a definitive portrait of two of the most beloved voices in alternative music.

The show brings together images and stories of the pair and will include performances from folk songstress Martha Wainwright, The Church frontman Steve Kilbey and Casper Clausen of Danish indie-rockers Efterklang, all backed by Lucas' own band Gods and Monsters.

Brisbane Festival Artistic Director David Berthold said the concert was sure to appeal to a very wide range of music lovers.

"The opportunity to experience the matchless music of Tim and Jeff Buckley, through the remarkable gifts of the artists we've gathered, is one many people will be thrilled by. It will be a profoundly poignant show," Mr Berthold said. "The artists we've assembled are legends in their own rights. Martha Wainwright is a glorious singer with her own complex family heritage, and Irish-French chanteuse Camille O'Sullivan and Australian rock legend Steve Kilbey are unrivalled in their fields. It's not hard to see why this show is set to create a stir".

The cult status of both father and son's careers has only grown since the release of Jeff's Grace in 1994, a masterpiece which cut through the sea of mid-nineties Grunge and introduced a whole new generation to the Buckley family's charm. While never quite gaining mainstream recognition during his lifetime, Tim produced 8 studio albums between 1966 and 1974 with the most commercially and critically successful being 1969's Happy Sad.

But the father and son legend was sealed once and for all in 1997 following the tragic drowning of Jeff at the age of 30 – just two years older than his father who died of a heroin overdose in 1975 aged 28.

A State of Grace joins the Brisbane Festival alongside Congolese musical theatre productions Coup Fatal and Prize Fighter as well as Simone Young, Renee Fleming and Paul Lewis. The festival runs from September 5 to 26 and will culminate in Brisbane's ever-popular Riverfire event.