Vika & Linda – Ukaria 8/2/25
Ukaria is a special venue in the Adelaide Hills where the audience have the unique
opportunity to witness world class musicians and artists showcase their creative talents. The performance area has amazing acoustics and is so intimate it's like attending a concert in your very own living room.
Vika and Linda Bull together with Cameron Bruce (piano) & Ben Hauptmann (guitar) totally immersed themselves in the space and owned the room within seconds via the hauntingly beautiful gospel song 'I'm On My Way' . The sisters effortlessly intertwined their amazing vocals, whilst making space for each other to lead with a powerful splash of harmonies thrown in for good measure. They played some old songs, new songs and a scattering of everything in between.
Vika and Linda shared stories of their Tongan/Australian heritage and their early years learning to sing at church. They taught themselves to sing and play by ear, and their perfectly honed vocals and harmonies are testament to both a natural God-given gift combined with a lifetime of practicing and creating music together. Vika is the ‘naughty older sister’ singing rock & roll, and Linda is the ‘nice younger sister’ who sings the ballads. However, Vika flipped the script by singing a ballad written especially for her by Paul Kelly called ‘If I Could Start The Day Again’.
Vika paid homage to one of her favourite singers Etta James by singing a song titled 'At
Last'. She spoke of her passion for Etta (who was also naughty and wild) and an amazing
singer. Vika shared about her toughest musical challenge when she was in the show ‘The Etta James Story’ and had to sing 22 songs in different styles.
A memorable song was ‘Raise Your Hand’ as we witnessed an inspired woman in the front
row proudly raise her hand high each time the line was sung. I suspect the rest of the crowd
weren’t far behind as the chorus was repeated over and over.
Linda was on percussion throughout the evening which showcased her skill on the tambourine, and her party trick playing the ‘bucket of clank’. This was a box full of percussion instruments that she carefully threw up in the air and re-caught in time with the music. This song was dedicated to all the women who have a man at home that suffers man-flu and is aptly titled ‘My Man Has Got A Cold’ …Bravo!
Adelaide is close to their hearts and Vika talked of playing gigs at The Austral when she was 18, and spending good times at The Arkaba which had the older audience in raptures. The Bull sisters are so likeable and relatable and most importantly totally authentic. This was evident when Vika became emotional when thanking Ulrika Klein and the Ukaria team for their hospitality. She talked about staying in their fabulous accommodation and having the freedom to create their music and prepare for their performance. Ukaria was given credit for being the inspiration to re-kickstarting their recording career after a 19 year hiatus.
Vika and Linda are passionate about the Australian music industry and paid homage to all the incredible songwriters and musicians they have worked with. Special mentions were given to Paul Kelly, Mark Seymour, Renee Geyer and The Black Sorrows. They also passionately celebrated the many talented women that have inspired them throughout their career.
Big plaudits must go to Cameron and Ben who demonstrated amazing musicality which
perfectly complemented the vocals and completed the audience experience. This was Vika and Linda’s third (and final) show at Ukaria and they not only warmed our hearts, they spoilt us with two of the finest voices in Australia which could only be described as ‘musical purity’.
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