Same Kind Of Different

The second I bought the tickets to see this dude in concert I had a countdown going on my phone. So back in May. It’s not a very long time to wait for a concert, considering the sometimes year long wait we usually endure when booking big ticket gigs.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case with Dean Lewis.

If you haven’t heard of Dean Lewis, as I usually say, now you have. If you haven’t heard of him, you’ve surely heard his song Waves. Here in Australia it reached No.12 on the ARIA Charts and it reached platinum by May. Pretty decent event considering it was released at the end of April. Since then he’s released Need You Now and Lose my mind, two more songs featured on his album, Same Kind of Different.

 

 

It was a great gig. 100% worth it. I went with one of my best friends, and after several painful, and bloody freezing, delays due to the public transport system we have here in Melbourne, we had some drinks and then headed to The Howler, which is very quickly becoming one of my favourite spots here in this city.

We got there just in time to see most of the last opening act, the PLGRMS, who were fantastic. Very different to the type of music we were expected to hear from Dean, but amazing all the same.

It was a shorter set than I expected. My best friend and I both expected a longer show, but that wasn’t to say Dean didn’t deliver.

 

 

The screaming as soon as he came on was deafening. But in such a pleasant way. Everyone was just so united in their excitement to see Lewis on stage after what ended up being a…late start. He sang at the piano first and moved between that and the guitar for the duration of the show. I loved whenever he sat at the piano. I feel like Dean’s voice was made for the piano, though there are several songs that show off just how amazing his guitar playing is, which I got to see first hand.

For me, hearing Let Go and Need You Now were the highlights for me. Obviously Waves was a crowd favourite, and my best friend was hanging out to hear Chemicals. The little gasps we let out at the start of all of those songs were like the intro bars to the amazing performances he gave for both. Dude was so smooth.

 

He brought out another guy, Ben, who joined him on a second piano, moving back ad forth between that and a few synths I’m pretty sure. Ben really added to the volume, or intensity I guess, of the songs he played with Dean. I think rarely, the band or the tech team or the other musicians that are brought out to make the headliner look as good as they do are rarely given the credit they are due. While Dean definitely thanked Ben and was obviously grateful to him, I’d probably pay to see Ben play just as much as hear Dean sing. He was amazing.

It was a different experience to Gretta’s concert, despite being in the exact same location. Of course, because of the train schedule’s mucking up our flow, we only made it during the last support act, PLGRMS, so we definitely were not at the front. That said, we weren’t at the back. We were probably at the start of the middle. I wasn’t craning to see him. It was a pretty great spot to be, amidst it all. Unlike Gretta Ray’s gig, I didn’t sing along to every song. I didn’t even try to. It was more a concert to listen and enjoy, 100% take in, and then sing along to the hits. While Gretta cracked jokes and covered up her awkwardness, Dean was eloquent and sure of himself as he explained the personal reasoning behind some of his songs, still somehow playing it off as light stuff that only made you want to listen to him even more.

“This is a song about the time I went through my then-girlfriend’s phone. It wasn’t a great thing to do, I know.”

Like I was wide awake. Firstly, why would you do that Dean? And secondly, why would you tell a 200 strong crowd that you did that Dean? Thirdly, I’m so keen to hear this song.

I loved it. I hope he releases it as a single. Far chance of it happening, but ya girl can hope. I do hope. It was probably one of the saddest songs I have ever heard performed live, and I’ve heard Moments by One Direction performed live. It was sad as heck.

But then, after announcing that he wouldn’t be doing an encore and then performing Waves, Dean dropped into the audience via the back door and just hung out having beers with everyone. Like what kind of celebrity? The best kind honestly.

I got so much more than my money’s worth, and I’m so much more excited about the musicians Australia is introducing to the world. I’m pumped.

Also…bit of a special post coming up in a few days. You’ll know which one I’m referring to when you read it 😉

x

p.f