Victoria Lonergan

Switching the lights on when revisiting your childhood bedroom can stir a mixture of emotions – nostalgia, disillusionment, and that strange but relieving feeling that you’ve outgrown the box that was once your entire world. Watching the Opera House Concert Hall light up for José Gonzalés’ 20th anniversary concert for his breakout album, Veneer, felt a lot like that. The grammy-nominated artist first earned acclaim in 2003 with this indie folk album, a quiet and hypnotic acoustic collection of songs, many of which Gonzalés admits to the audience of not having revisited in more than a decade: “I feel like I was a different person then. The album is about relationships, hard times, inner struggles – the theme is of illusions and pretending to be something you’re not. It’s a veneer.”  Playing three shows over the opening weekend of Vivid Live at the Sydney Opera House, this marked the Argentinian artist’s first visit to Australia since his sold-out Opera House show in 2018. Fittingly, he commenced his set with ‘Deadweight on velveteen’, bringing to life the album’s theme with the repeated lyrics “It’s not what it seems / Vulgar when brought to light”. Much of Gonzalés’ lyrics have this mantra-like aesthetic, and as a result feel much like short, half-finished songs even when their long instrumental openings don’t suggest so. Most poignant were his performances of crowd (and personal) favourites ‘Crosses’ and ‘Heartbeats’. These two proved to be the most melodically adventurous,