"But that day ain't here yet"

Last night a mellow but merry crowd filled the Palais Theatre in St Kilda to celebrate what folk-singer M Ward was presenting as the "2nd anniversary special" tour of his album "Hold Time", probably his best album to date. Performing entirely by himself, with only a guitar, harmonica and piano, the sound was much more stripped-back than is typical of "Hold Time", which contains some of his most lively and experimental songs. But the sound worked. Some songs became much slower than you would expect, but the pace encouraged you to slow with it, to accept the gentleness and peace of the music instead of wanting it to rush along with you.

Of my five or so favourite songs of his, he probably only played two or three. My three absolute favourites did not get a look-in, possibly being too upbeat to fit with the mood of the night. But, knowing all of his albums fairly well, I found many of the songs feeling comforting and familiar, having been gently in the background of my life at so many points. This meant that it was a show with few standouts, but carrying with it a general feeling of consistency and beauty.

I was particularly impressed by his humility and professionalism. When one of his fold-back speakers started playing up towards the end, he continued playing the song with barely any hesitation, and ended up finishing the song with his acoustic guitar unamplified. We could still hear him where I was sitting. There were no prima-donna antics. He was quiet but not aloof. He joked occasionally with us, and in the second encore invited any member of the audience who could play piano to join him for a lovely rendition of "Rollercoaster". The man who volunteered the loudest was then given a chance to finish with a laid-back solo. M Ward left the stage quietly and unobtrusively, and gave his audience member the final limelight.

Of course, one disappointment for me was that he did not play my absolute favourite, "Fisher of Men", from the Hold Time album. That song has special significance for me. But the subtly Christian side to his music was still there in a beautifully simple piano rendition of "Here Comes the Sun Again", a gentle and worshipful song that I had not really listened to before last night. I will return to it often now, I'm sure. But the words to "Fisher of Men" seem to sum up something about M Ward for me - that he is a musician without pretence, a musician that so often seems to sing, whatever the content of his lyrics, to a higher song:

"He put his name in my chorus

And his dark before the dawn,

So that in my hour of weakness

I'd remember it's his song."

His music also occupies a time of quiet longing: waiting for a day when "weak will not be weak any more", but searches for ways to deal "with the pieces of a broken heart". Last night his songs were a beautiful accompaniment to our own longings.