Sarah Blasko – I Awake: Live at The Sydney Opera House (2014)

Live albums are generally appreciated most by people who attended the actual gig as they provide a memento from the performance but also deliver the opportunity to relive the experience. Not to say that those who weren’t in attendance can’t enjoy such albums and in the case of Sarah Blasko and I Awake: Live at Sydney Opera House , even those who weren’t front row centre can appreciate what must have been a theatrical event.
The presence of the Sydney International Orchestra is immediately obvious in the big sounds and heavy percussion on “[explain]” giving the album a somewhat larger manifestation than previous Blasko offerings however the track still shows off the clean and crispness of Blasko solo at the piano.


The opportunity for artists to play with songs in a live setting is never better illustrated than on the original album’s first single “All I Want” where Blasko draws out lyrics and demonstrates her full vocal range. A possible future direction for Blasko is hinted at on the jazzy “Bird On A Wire” while the interplay between “Sleeper Awake” and the title track “I Awake” gives the listener an insight into the songwriting process with the feeling that the latter almost rebuts the former.