Entering Street 2, Street Theatre on Thursday 15 October, was a bizarre step through time.

I was intrigued to see that the space had been transformed into an intimate 30’s club; ambient with lanterns and soft chatter.

Old leather boots and other objects were hanging from the ceiling, and the audience area was decorated with little round tables adorned in purple table cloths.

My guest offered me a gin and tonic and I was perplexed yet delighted that for this evening only, the gin was served in tea-pots.

We took our seat in the half-full venue, musicians from ‘The Band Broke Up’ were already in full swing.

On stage, the musicians were relaxing on sofas in what appeared to be a cosy lounge room setting. 2 guitars were being passed around and the musicians were casually chatting to each other, the side-stage pianist and the audience.

At first, I felt as though I may have gotten the performance time wrong, was I intruding on a rehersal? But I began to relax and warm to this improvised, and most of all ‘intimate’ format.

The ‘Band Broke Up’ not actually a band, but a collective of Canberra musicians hailing from other bands and groups, consisted this evening of Matty, Blair, Michael and Cathy.

The mood, although intimate, was sombre, with an acoustic performance from Michael, setting the mood with his fragile falsetto. He sang original pieces of melancholy and hearts broken, the music, touching, his voice – chilling.

The musicians casually poked fun at their depressing song choices. Cathy set out to lighten the mood with a short poem about eating a peach and piano solo making reference to Canberra’s Capital Hill. The audience chuckled with relief.

The storytelling qualities of these musicians, both in song and out of song, gelled the set into a cohesive journey.

Next up on stage, The Canberra Cannibalism Cabaret began with loud shirts, melodicas and the promise of a good time.

They turned the mood up a notch, delivering a mix of parodies and their own covers of songs by Canberra bands including; Jason Recliner, Bec Taylor and the Kits, Hashemoto, The James Fahy Trio, Cathy Petocz, Little Sister, The Haunted Attics, and Big Score.

The evening proved to be a successful and entertaining celebration of Canberra’s unique and quality singer/songwriters.