When Sara Berki released her debut single, ‘Fallin’ Off the Heartline’, in 2022, it was immediately clear that she had something. THAT something. It was the song, the singer, and that indefinable quality that indicates a true artist.
‘Heartline’ was one of the last songs Berki played in her second of two sets at her headline show at Waywards in Newtown, in inner-west Sydney, last night and, as she said, it’s the song that started everything. That everything now has Berki signed to @warnermusicaustralia and releasing song after memorable song. How memorable? Well, the crowd last night ranged from late teens to around eighty years of age, male and female, country and city, and pretty much all of them were singing along to her songs, word for word.
Berki’s first set was acoustic, and she played some very strong unreleased songs which hopefully she’ll record. Her second was a band set, where she could show her range as a performer as well as a singer and songwriter. The set went from soft to loud and fast to slow, and through it all Berki looked like she was having so much fun, which meant the audience was too.
The acoustic + electric sets structure worked beautifully and the audience was as enthusiastic for both, and partly that’s because Berki adapted for both. That first set drew the audience in, and primed us for the second. It was stagecraft done to perfection, especially as the dynamic performer of the first set was differently dynamic in the second.
It is now abundantly clear that Berki is a standout performer in Australian country music. With ‘Heartline’ and its successors it was about the songs; now it’s about the whole thing. The SOMETHING. And that something is star quality. She has it in abundance, she knows what to do with it, and if you love music and love performance you need to get yourself along to see it for yourself.
Sara Berki plays Howlin Country in Newcastle tonight, then:
Friday 21st February – Four5Nine, Perth, WA
Saturday 22nd February – Grace Emily, Adelaide, SA
Friday 28th February – The Workers Club, Melbourne, VIC
