Welcoming Back Live Music With Ocean Alley

It’s been a long time since I’ve shared a live music recap with you. It’s been a hot minute. Partially because I’m lazy but mostly because the last concert or live gig I went to was over a year ago in February 2020. We’ve had some ups and downs, we’ve had concerts moved, concerts completely cancelled, but finally, Melbourne, the live music capital of Australia, returned in all it’s glory with a list of incredible line ups and artists.

I saw Ocean Alley at The Sidney Myer Music Bowl on the 24th of March, and to say I was keen is an understatement. The OA concert only faced one scheduling shift due to COVID19, and that too not even that bad, just being moved back two months. In comparison to some of the concerts that have been shifted to the end of the year or cancelled entirely, I couldn’t be mad.

I went with my cousin Alishia, as well as one of my best friends Tessa and her boyfriend. We had a great little table for the four of us and between the music, the drinks, the food and the great company, it was one of the best nights out I’ve had in a long time.

The Grogans, who you may be familiar with some past blog posts, kicked off the night. It’s a bit of a full circle moment, considering they were the last concert I attended back in 2020. They brought their usual energetic charisma and punch to the big stage, followed by Maddy Jane and Slowly Slowly, two more amazing Australian acts.

When Ocean Alley finally got on stage, it was to a huge applause. The socially distanced concert, with everyone organised into mini stages of their own amongst the grass and with tables for smaller groups sprinkled across the many levels of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl was far better than I imagined it would be.

I did my old ‘find best tickets available‘ when purchasing tickets, so imagine our suprise when we were led to the front section and given a table right in the middle. It was a great stroke of luck. Turning around and seeing just how many people were packed onto the grass made it even luckier. It was such a great outcome for live music and Ocean Alley really turned it on for us.

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Ocean Alley has been one of my favourite bands for the longest time, and this was my third time seeing them live, yet time and time again, their concerts are some of my favourites to attend. Their always bring such a warm and relaxed energy, while all being incredibly talented musicians individually and as a band.

Getting to hear some of my favourite songs like The Comedown, Infinity, Wet Dreams, Yellow Mellow, Way Down and their hits like Knees, Confidence and Tombstone was such a great way to get back into the live music, gigging mood. Such instant mood-boosters.

I was only a little bit sad that they didn’t play Partner In Crime, my all time favourite OA song, which I streamed over 130 times last year according to my Spotify Wrapped…

If there was a lowlight to the show it’s that it finished so quick. I mean, they finished off Knees and I genuinely thought we had about half an hour to go, so was instantly shocked when they thanked everyone and walked off stage. Like, super cool walk off, but I wanted more!!

I guess I just have to hope they play some more tunes when I see them next week at Byron Bay’s Bluesfest….

x

Priya

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A Bit Of Shawn Mendes With The Girls // Live

Hello hello!

Hope you’re all well! It genuinely seems like time seems to be speeding past and the end of the year is hurtling towards us, which was highlighted by this particular concert rolling around, tickets for which we booked over a year ago!

Honestly, Shawn Mendes. What a man.

I used to listen to his music when he was fresh off Vine, and then it kind of fizzled out for me. However, the music he’s been releasing in the last two or three years has been right on my radar, so when he announced he was doing a tour that would feature a few shows in Melbourne, I was a little bit on the fence about if I should go.

However, when my sister and her best friend decided to go, it was brought up that they’d need someone to take them. My mum’s past experience with my friends and I at the first One Direction concert in 2013 was enough for her to shut down the idea straight away, but when my best friend Kate mentioned she was interested in going – it all just clicked perfectly into place, and a few days later, we had four tickets.

The concert arrived on one of the warmer days of Melbourne’s undecided October, which made for a great time catching the train together and walking to Rod Laver from Richmond station with the huge cluster of concert goers. Kate and I were probably amongst the oldest people we saw at the concert, aside from a few parents and groups of older adults.

We made two quick pitstops, one so my sister could buy herself a T-shirt from the merchandise stand, and another to grab some food, which we ate before heading inside.

Dan + Shay were the opening act, and I was pleasantly surprised. I never listened to them much before, despite how much I’ve been told to by numerous people, so hearing them for the first time in a live arena setting was a treat. The vocals were incredible, so many people knew the words to nearly every song and they were definitely one of the best opening acts I’ve seen thus far.

When Shawn finally stepped on stage, I sweat to God, I had war flashbacks from the One Direction concerts I went to in high school. The shrieks were insane, and Kate and I spent a good half of the first song, laughing at my fifteen year old sister and her friend screaming and singing their heads off.

Lost In Japan is one of my favourite songs from his latest album, and it was arguably the best song to open with. It was so groovy, and I should have seen the foreshadowing for the rest of the show in that song along. Every little nuance of Shawn’s voice is super interesting to me, but there was also this added element of jazz and RnB that I never knew to expect, and the music arrangements probably would have impressed most music nerds.

Highlights for me definitely included Stitches, which had my throat sore and aching from screaming along with the girls. It got to a point where we became that annoying group of girls who you sit in front of and can only hear them singing horribly for the entire show.

He moved to a little B Stage, where he performed a Whitney Houston cover, as well as a medley of songs from all of his albums, and one of my favourites, Ruin, which delivered my favourite guitar solo on the album. I had seen videos of him doing it live the night before, so I was eagerly anticipating it the entire night.

I loved Where Were You In The Morning, as well as Particular Taste, where he decided to actually pop off with his falsetto. If you follow me on Instagram – @priya_francis you’re welcome – you’d have seen my Instagram story just obsessing over the control and range he had and how good everything sounded. He screamed and went into his higher register with such ease, it was a very rock-star moment, and everyone couldn’t help but lose it each time he did an unexpected note.

Mercy went off, and the final song, In My Blood was such a beautiful finish, with the giant rose that had been rising and falling throughout the show being covered in confetti from canons that heralded the end of the show.

Look, I don’t know what I was expecting from that show, but he blew all my expectations out of the water. My sister and I literally sat for half an hour after the concert downstairs with our parents, showing them different clips of him singing, our favourite parts and songs. It was such an enjoyable concert, and I’m glad I went with the gals I did.

x

Priya

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Julia Michaels aka Sunshine Personified // Live

Hello friends!!

Hope you’re all well and having a great week.

Today’s post is another concert review. The topic of today’s post, as you can quite obviously read from the title, is the one and only Julia Michaels.

I have to be honest. I don’t listen to a ton of Julia’s music, I have some favourites that I keep in my playlists, but when she announced she’d be doing a couple of shows in Australia, it wasn’t something I jumped on straight away.

Enter my best friend Kate who loves Julia Michaels.

Kate, being the absolute legend that she is, pulled through and bought tickets to come and see Jon Bellion with me in November, so when I found out how much she wanted to see Julia, I decided to return the favour and buy a ticket with her.

Julia played on the 4th of September, so I headed to the station straight after work, doing a quick outfit change in the car before heading off, and met Kate on the train into the city. We initially thought the show started at 7, so were a bit hesitant about trying and getting something to eat, but after a later update on the FaceBook event notifying us that she’d be on at 8:45, we stopped off at an old favourite, Nando’s, for dinner.

It worked out well, as the Nando’s we ate at was right next to The Forum, where the concert was taking place. It was only after stepping out of the restaurant, that we realised it was bucketing down. Torrential rain. Luckily we were undercover, however as we walked towards The Forum, we quickly noticed the line of people waiting to get in, that curved down Hosier Lane, getting absolutely soaked.

Now, we were keen for the concert, but not keen enough to stand out in the rain, I’ll tell you that.

So instead, we decided to wait under the shelter of the restaurant that was on the other side of Hosier Lane and as the doors opened and people started moving in, hopping onto the end of the line as it passed us, spending the least amount of time out in the wet as possible.

Getting in, Kate took the opportunity to buy a hoodie from the merchandise stall, and I grabbed a drink from the bar, before we started our well practiced maneuver of making our way down the side of the theatre, into the mosh pit, and moving up from the left hand side of the mosh. I promise you, it’s worked every time. We did the same for Gang Of Youths so we knew it worked in The Forum, and sure enough, we managed to get pretty close to the front without being absolutely packed like sardines, much like the people a mere few metres away from us.

As I said, I don’t know many other songs from Julia other than the few favourites I’ve added to my playlists, so songs like Pink which she opened with, Make It Up To You, Hurt Again, Apple or Priest gave me the opportunity to really enjoy the show, take note of her amazing band and appreciate how much effort she put into the performance.

On the other hand, we had songs like I Miss You, her collab with Clean Bandit, Heaven, Happy, Anxiety, Uh Huh and my absolute favourite, Into You, where I really got into it and sang along with everyone else in the crowd.

Kate and I constantly had to comment on how happy and energetic she was. I swear to you, she didn’t walk once across the stage. She genuinely skipped every where she had to go. Even when she parted the mosh pit like the Red Sea and walked through to perform a cover of Fuck You by Cee Lo Green as well as one of her own, she skipped down through the fans and took her place in the middle of the theatre.

She of course finished on two very strong notes, starting off her encore with What A Time, originally dueted with a favourite around these parts, Niall Horan. That particular song got everyone in the theatre singing along, and we were all more than ready to absolutely belt Issues when it finally rolled around. It was a deafeningly loud version of the song, but there was so much energy within The Forum. Julia pulled a really dynamic and diverse crowd. There was a large majority of females, ranging from young, little girls to older girls in their late teens and twenties like Kate and I, but there were also quite a few boyfriends who came along, groups of guys, older families and couples, and everyone sang along super enthusiastically.

It was a very, very wholesome experience.

Like I mentioned before, her band were very commendable. They vibed with her perfectly, joining in with the choreographed dancing enthusiastically enough that it didn’t seem cringey or inauthentic, and vibing with the crowd in between Julia’s two breaks. It was overall a really positive, insanely cute concert.

 

 

Another thing that stood out to me was the amount of fans she knew by name. She called out a ‘hello’ to one as she passed them on her way back to the stage, she commented on how every time she’s back in Australia one specific fan keeps getting taller and taller and she dedicated one of the last songs to a specific fan she had spotted towards our side of the mosh pit. Like I said before, wholesome as hell.

x

Priya

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Kaiit Killed It // Live

Hellooo friends, and welcome to another blog post.

Today’s post is gonna be a rundown of what was one of the most wholesome gigs I’ve ever attended. On the 12th of July, I got to see Kaiit, who I consider to be somewhat of a Melbourne legend.

She played at Max Watt’s theatre in the city, so it was another Friday night of meeting my friends, this time Dan and James who also play in a band with me, at the station and hopping on a train, then a replacement bus into the city. We got there considerably early, having our wrist stamped at around 8:15, so by the time we got into the venue it wasn’t too packed at all.

After a drink and a quick suss of the first opening act we decided to head back out into the city for something eat, with Subway making do, before returning to MW for Maya Hirasedo, the second opening act.

I’ve actually mentioned Maya on the blog before, so you can read that post HERE. She did a fantastic job of getting the vibes up and the place continued to fill up more and more as she performed.

Finally, it was time for Kaiit. While waiting for the boys to get another drink, I held the amazing spot we’d got on the steps above the pit that served as more of a moshing area compared to the rest of the space where the standing and dancing was a bit tamer. I also bumped into another friend who was making his way through, so him and his mate ended up joining us for the concert.

When it came time for Kaiit to come on stage, we were absolutely blessed to have her mum, come on stage and pay respects to traditional owners of the land, and throughout the performance there were elements of Indigenous and Polynesian culture which made my heart swell so much, it was such a beautiful and respectful display from such a beautiful artist.

Kaiit was phenomenal. Amazing. So, so, wholesome. She was constantly emphasising how grateful she was to have a sold out show in her hometown, and when she wasn’t saying it, it was coming through in her singing.

If you haven’t checked out her music, especially since you started reading this post – please do. Kaiit is so insanely talented, and if you’re someone who calls to artists like Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Nai Palm, Jill Scott, Amy Winehouse, Kehlani or any female artist who sits in that pocket for inspiration or killer tunes, then you will 10/10 enjoy all of Kaiit’s music.

 

 

There were definitely crowd favourites. 2000 n Somethin went off, despite how mellow and ambient it is. Everyone in the crowd, sang every single lyric. My pals and I literally stood up on the steps with our arms around each other screaming all the lyrics. Like I said, a wholesome, wholesome gig.

When she sang her latest single, Miss Shiney, there was this huge cheer from the audience, and it was such a beautiful song to highlight her band and their musicality, especially her backup singers, who had two of the most angelic voices I’ve ever heard.

 

 

Natural Woman was sung later in the show, and it was such a great vibe. One of my friends new the rap just as tightly as I did, and we had the best time vibing off each other and singing lyrics to the others in our group. This song is one of the smoothest songs Kaiit has ever released in my opinion, and it translated perfectly live. Smooth like honey.

Her encore, was definitely one of my favourite encores so far this year. She came out to the sounds of one of her most loved songs, OG Luv Kush pt.2, the perfect way to end the show. She literally floated on stage, joint in mouth, with four spares to throw into the audience, and everyone went absolutely mad.

Kaiit absolutely killed it. Her Melbourne show was the perfect display of what makes her such a loved artist not only here in the city, but all over the country and around the world. Even as we were walking back to Flinder’s Street station and on the bus/train ride home, all the three of us could talk about was how she smashed it.

She’s gonna be huge. I’m telling you. Pinky promise.

x

Priya

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GIG GUIDE 2019 // SO FAR

Hello hello hello!!

Hope you’re all well and good – today’s post is an attempt at the subtle brag. It’s not entirely subtle, but I’m sharing it as humbly as I possibly can. I’ve shared a Gig Guide before, if you’d like to check out my 2017 Gig Guide, you can find it HERE, and for the basic Gig Guide for 2019, which has changed a little bit, you can find that HERE, but for the most updated version of what’s happening with me gig wise in 2019, keep on reading!

Why suddenly share another Gig Guide post when the year is only half way done, you ask? Because today, I bought tickets to four different gigs. In one day. Define; insanity. Also, define; impulse spending. That said, I’m insanely excited for literally all the gigs I’ve got lined up so far.

So let’s get into it!! Any gigs with applicable posts will be linked, I highly suggest you check them out!

FEBRUARY

LANEWAY FESTIVAL
Honestly, 2019 started amazingly. I started the year at Falls Festival, which you should definitely check out HERE, and by February, I was ready to keep the momentum going, which came in the form of Laneway Festival. Laneway was a fantastic festival, with a stellar lineup, and despite a rocky start to the day I had a fantastic time. I saw some amazing acts like Masego, Rex Orange County and DJDS, and had heaps of fun with my gal pals taking photos, hanging out and chatting and listening to amazing music.

LAURYN HILL
Lauryn Hill. The queen. She’s one of my favourite musicians ever, so getting to see her live, especially now, was a once in a lifetime opportunity – that said…I’ve seen her twice??? She was amazing, and it was a masterclass in musicality.

MARCH

JOHN MAYER
John Mayer, may just be God’s gift to the world. I say this about a lot of people, but I mean it this time. I mention in my recap of the concert, but he’s one of those artists who’s just been there forever, if you know what I mean? There are so many songs we love by John Mayer, but never think about until you hear them. Not only is he a musical genius, but he’s truly been a huge part of my life in terms of his songs, his artistry and his talent.

APRIL

MATT CORBY
Again, a magical, magical man. This was one of the most beautiful live shows ever. He was so humble and gentle when speaking but put so much passion and power into his songs. I was completely still for majority of this concert, just in awe of the musician on stage.

BLUESFEST
I promise, a BluesFest post is coming. I’ve said it a million times, but it’s one of the heftiest posts to do, which I learned last year, but I promise it’ll come up eventually. BluesFest was so amazing, this year was definitely better than last year for several reasons, but there were some incredible acts for 2019. People like Hozier, Ocean Alley, Allen Stone, they were all such class acts, and I’m so glad I got to see them.

MAY

G FLIP
What. A. Cutie. G Flip put on such a great show, with the perfect balance of energy and vulnerability between all her songs, many of which were unreleased. The energy of the show was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

LAUREL
I got the chance to see LAUREL through my university placement, at a magazine where I reviewed the gig. She has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard and it was a great opportunity to see her live. She didn’t disappoint and I’m still obsessing over her music.

THE FORECAST – AS OF TODAY (12/06/19)

So there are quite a few shows I have lined up for the rest of the year, since I haven’t been to them yet, I won’t really expand on them – but definitely keep an eye out for the posts when I do go.

JUNE

KIM CHURCHILL

JULY

ELIOTT
KAIIT
CHILDISH GAMBINO

SEPTEMBER

JULIA MICHAELS
BRUNO MAJOR

OCTOBER

SHAWN MENDES

NOVEMBER

JON BELLION
SPILT MILK FESTIVAL

So there you have it! I’m clearly super excited about the music I’m experiencing this year – I honestly doubt the list will stop here, you’ll probably end up seeing a few more gig reviews than predicted as of now, but that just means more content for you!!

Hope you enjoyed this post, let me know what your favourite gig of the year so far has been! I’d love to know what everyone else is heading to!!

x

Priya

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G Flip // Live

Hello hello hello!! Welcome back, hopefully it hasn’t been too long.

Today’s post is yet another concert review and wrap-up.

Quite a little while ago, I shared two posts in particular; Kick Ass Females and Australian Music from Australian Artists. Both these posts featured one of the most prominent up-and-coming artists (in my opinion) at the moment, G Flip. She’s actually quite local to the area I live in, a bunch of people know her around here, and she’s become a bit of a hero.

If you’re not entirely sure who I’m talking about, G Flip is a kick-ass, 5-foot-something drummer (thought humbly also a multi-instrumentalist) and singer who’s first released single, About You kicked off on Triple J Unearthed a mere four hours after it was uploaded. Since then her trajectory has been on a steady incline and she returned to Melbourne for two shows at The Corner Hotel.

I invited my close friend and drummer James to join me for the gig, and we were both super excited for what we were sure was to be a great show.

We got inside the venue about ten or so minutes before G Flip came out and revelled at how packed it was. Her sold-out show just about filled the venue, and everyone was super eager for the set to begin.

When she finally came out, the crowd lost it.

If there’s one thing I noticed throughout the show, was that although the lead singer, supported by a two-man band on stage, whenever she stepped behind the drums, her singing wasn’t impacted in the slightest, and vice-verse. She was able to walk the line of each instrument and performance perfectly, delivering a high-intensity show that had everyone screaming and singing along.

G Flip performed a bunch of her well know songs, About You, Killing My Time (personal favourite) and Bring Me Home, as well as newer releases like I Am Not Afraid and Drink Too Much which genuinely blew the lid of the place, as well as a handful of unreleased songs and one of the best covers of Proud Mary I have ever got the privilege of hearing live.

Stupid was an unreleased track I’m super excited about. It was a great song, a bit of tongue-in-cheek story-telling that hooked us all from the get go and unlike other artists I’ve watched live, I loved that G Flip actually took the time to explain some of her songs before performing them, giving us all some context and inviting her inside her a head little bit.

Drink Too Much was definitely a highlight for me. It was also clearly a crowd favourite. G Flip had a bit of a synchronised dance with her band mate and really played up to how cheeky and playful she is on stage, and the audience loved every moment of it.

As we left the gig, James mentioned something that really stuck with me and I agree with 100%. One of the best things about the show was how authentic and real G Flip was throughout the entire time. She allowed her personality to come through, she took moments in between songs to banter with the audience and let us into her life a little bit.

She shared stories about how her dad used to work at The Corner, how many artists she had lined up to see at the venue and how insane it was that she was now selling it out. She also delivered a very convincing argument for the support of Malteser gift-boxes, a few of which she threw out at the audience at the end of the show.

It was genuinely like watching a friend up on stage, joking around with everyone in the audience, doing a little jig in unison with her guitarist and laughing as she saw the crowd’s reactions to some of the tricks she pulled out of her bag.

It was a very humble performance, authentic like I mentioned before and not in the slightest bit contrived or pretentious. It was a really great gig and I’m so glad I got to finally catch G Flip live.

x

Priya

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Matt Corby // Live

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

Hello friends. Boy do I have a blog post for you. Albeit, incredibly, incredibly overdue, but exciting nonetheless.

On the 12th of April, I finally got to see Matt Corby live. If you’ve been here for a little while, you know that I could go on, and on and on about Matt Corby and the insane amount of talent in that one person.

Due to the absolute shambles that was Melbourne public transport during the weeks before and around the day of the concert, my friend James and I met on the train, which took us a few stations forward, before boarding a replacement bus for about 40 minutes into the city.

Once we were there, we scouted a place for dinner, settling on The Duke, a popular restaurant, rooftop wine bar and pub opposite Federation Square, and spent the forty-five minutes before the concert talking and preparing for the man himself.

Following dinner, we made our way to Margaret Court Arena, only a fifteen minute walk from The Duke, and with a quick pit stop at the arena bar, were down in the mosh pit a few minutes later.

Matt’s set was electrifying, though at the same time it was one of the most serene performances I’ve ever seen. Whether that’s down to the nature of his songs and how authentically raw they all come across, or the overall presence he has while on stage, I don’t know, all I do know is that I spent majority of the concert just standing there staring at him in total awe, with James periodically checking in with my to see if I was okay.

I wasn’t.

He played some of the fan favourites quite early, like one of his recent releases No Ordinary Life, All Fired Up, Sooth Lady Wine and Brother, and I was pleasantly shocked and surprised when he played Monday one of my absolute favourite songs from Corby.

One thing that struck was, despite how packed the mosh pit was, it wasn’t a rough, pushy crowd of people. Everyone was content with listening to his voice, the amazing band and backing vocals he had behind him, and catching a glimpse of him every now and then when you opened your eyes.

He moved around the stage pretty unassumingly. He was the epitome of humility, and I think that only really served to draw us all in even more.

Empires Attraction, Resolution and Souls A’Fire were the perfect songs to ‘wrap up’ the show, and it really kept the energy levels on a steady incline throughout the entire set.

The final encore song was a tune everyone had been holding out for, one of his most popular songs from his latest album, Miracle Love.

The song was so atmospheric and Matt controlled the audience like a conductor in an orchestra pit. There was a moment where he instructed all of us on what to sing, a percussive yet hauntingly beautiful line, ‘bring back that miracle love‘ and he ad-libbed over us.

There’s something incredibly guttural yet at the same time gentle and hypnotic about his voice. He has this great ability to switch between being really tender and soft but then completely ramp up to sing with all his power behind it. It’s one of my favourite things about Matt, and the songs he writes partner with his voice perfectly.

It was a really great concert. I have to be unbiased and admit that Matt isn’t entirely in my top five artists, or maybe even my top ten, but I knew passing up the opportunity to see him live was probably one I’d grow to regret, and I’m so glad I go to see him.

If you ever get the chance to see him live, I highly recommend you do so. It’s an amazing mixture of complete humility partnered with an insane amount of talent that makes it a show worth watching.

x

Priya

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John Mayer // Live

Hello friends and welcome to another post!

Today’s post is one I’m pretty excited to share and if you read my last Monthly Tunes which covered the month of March, you may have a small idea as to why that is!

March 27th marked the day I got to finally see John Mayer live.

I feel like John Mayer is one of those artists who’s just existed forever. He’s been making music and wow-ing audiences for that long, it seems like for me personally, there’s never been a time without him. Whether it’s old classics like Your Body Is A Wonderland and Waiting On The World To Change from when I was younger, to some of his blues-based stuff like Why Don’t You Come When I Call and Everyday I Have The Blues to his newest tunes like New Light and I Guess I Just Feel Like, he’s been making music that time and time again really just, gets me going.

So it’s fair to say I was pretty excited heading into the city on the Wednesday to meet up with my friend Daniel, who’s also the guitarist in our little duo we have going that I’ve mentioned here and there. We were both super keen for the concert and had been counting down the days ever since March arrived.

 

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Rod Laver Arena isn’t a massive arena in comparison to some of the other stadiums and performance grounds around Melbourne, but this definitely worked to our advantage. Even though we hadn’t forked out a ton of money to get onto the floor seats, we still had a pretty great view of the stage and subsequently, John. 

When the show started, it was a flurry of people screaming, grown men and hardcore John Mayer fan-boys finally surfacing and dropping their cool facades, and then there was Dan and I who when excited, tend to mix between laughing, screaming and hitting each other on the arm.

Watching John casually walk on stage made it all the more relaxed and insane and surreal, all at the same time.

As is evident from the setlist above, he played the bangers. He played the tastiest songs he possibly could, aside from some of his more bluesy songs I would have loved hearing, but I mean, we got to hear Gravity live, which not many other concerts got, so I can’t complain at all.

Hearing Love Is A Verb, Belief, and Born & Raised live, were also standouts for me, though I have to mention Isaiah Sharkey, who absolutely tore apart his guitar solo in Waiting On The World To Change. It was honestly one of the best moments of the concert and the entire arena simultaneously lost their mind, as did John who could only stare at him in awe the whole time.

 

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New Light brought the house down as expected, and John Mayer’s dad dancing complimented it perfectly. That said, the guy performs like he’s still 28. It was insane to watch. At one moment during the concert Dan leaned over and said to me, “At this point, it’s not even the question of if he’ll land the notes on the guitar, it’s just a given.” He went absolutely insane during Neon leaving us all just hanging on to every note he played, waiting for him to launch into the beloved intro, and when he finally did everyone went mad.

The people on either side of us probably got sick of the amount of times we just screamed at something crazy he did on the guitar, or when his backing singers solo’d and blew everyone away during the encore.

It was honestly insane. Such an amazing concert, John Mayer can put on a show.

x

Priya

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An Evening With Ms. Lauryn Hill // Live

Hello hello!

Today’s post is gonna be a rundown of one of my most anticipated concerts this year, Lauryn Hill’s 20th anniversary tour for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, one of the most iconic albums released ever in my opinion.

I spent most of the day of the concert listening to the album and a few other songs from Lauryn, before getting ready and heading into the city to meet my cousin at Flinder’s Street Station. It was getting pretty chilly so I was very grateful to have a jacket with me for the little walk we had around the city.

We decided to find something to eat for dinner before we headed to the concert, so stopped at The Oriental Teahouse, where we enjoyed some of the best fried rice, prawn and ginger dumplings and san choi bao I’ve ever had. We also had the cutest brewed ice teas in giant mason jars. It was a great dinner and a great way to start off the night.

Finishing up with dinner we jumped on the tram and made our way towards the Sidney Myer Music Bowl were the concert was being held.

It was already pretty busy by the time we got inside the grounds, but we still had plenty of time to head to the merchandise stand where I got the sickest t-shirt ever and my cousin got a really cute, high quality tote bag. Lauryn Hill did not mess around when it came to her merch. After a quick stop at the toilets before the show, we made our way down the hill and found a spot further up the back which gave us a great view of the Music Bowl as well as plenty of room to both sit down on the grass while waiting and stand up and have a boogie when the show started.

 

 

 

Nas was the opening act and he did an incredible job of hyping everyone up, performing plenty of his older classics as well as his more recent songs. It was the perfect opener for Lauryn Hill, clearly, and he got the crowd hyped and ready for the main show.

There was a short DJ set following Nas, where plenty of old school RnB and hip hop songs were played, and then finally it was time for Lauryn Hill.

She sang so many classics man. Lost Ones, Forgive Them Father, Final Hour, Every Ghetto Every City, Superstar, even a cover of Frankie Vallie’s Can’t Take My Eyes Of You. She obviously sang Ex-Factor and I was really hoping she’d rap over Drake’s Nice For What which he samples the song in like I’d seen her do at a concert online, but sadly she didn’t.

She made up for it by singing To Zion though, just as I was reaching peak enjoyment, and I think everyone around my cousin and I could hear us singing (screaming) along. After The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill she got Nas onstage to perform If I Ruled The World which had everyone going mental. Lauryn fans and Nas fans all collectively lost control and screamed the entire song back to them.

 

 

Watching her on stage, squinting to see her in the flesh or even watching her on the huge screens, was mesmerising. She was so in control over everything little thing that was happening on stage, and her band were incredible in keeping up with her, taking note of when she decided to improvise, pushing through when she asked more of them.

Throughout all of this year and most of last year, all the feedback I heard about Lauryn Hill and her show was that she was a huge diva. I’ll say this, definitely see how that could be the case. But, whoever is doing her sound system and backline should lift their game. There were a few sound issues towards the start and throughout the concert it was clear that Lauryn was trying to tell them she couldn’t hear herself or anything coming from the fold-back, regardless of how flawlessly she was performing. It was only by the last half of the set that everything slipped into place and settled, but for an artist such as Lauryn Hill, that should not have been an issue in the first place, so if she was being a diva? Damn right she should be a diva. Her messages throughout the concert of acceptance and love and social responsibility were spot on and got everyone cheering for her, so to be fair, I can handle her being a bit of a diva if it means she puts on the show that she did.

She really decided to end with a bang, performing Doo Wop (That Thing)  next, which kept the momentum going. By this point I don’t think anyone was left sitting down, my cousin and I and everyone around us were all up having a groove.

 

The final song she performed was Killing Me Softly and I swear I nearly started crying. It was such a great song, she performed beautifully and it blew all my expectations and memories of Blues Fest out of the water.

 

x

Priya

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BENE // Live

Hello hello and welcome to another run down of a gig I probably shouldn’t have gone to because I’m trying to save money but went to anyway!!

Today’s blog is a pretty short little write-up from one of the fun-est, cutest concerts I’ve ever been to, one of my favourite singer’s over the past two years, Bene! If you haven’t caught it already, I’ve already written about the New Zealand singer before, and she’s featured in countless playlists, monthly tunes and Spotify wrap-ups, so I was understandably very excited when Jess and I booked ridiculously cheap tickets for her concert on the 15th of February.

It was a great night to go out. I drove to Jess’ house and from there we go on the train, into the city. We were in no rush, considering we had a couple hours before she came on, so decided to find a nice place to eat dinner, ending up at The Duke, a great bar and restaurant we went to a while ago with Kate before we saw Gang Of Youths.

This time, we ventured upstairs to the dinning hall, where we enjoyed a great meal, but an even better, long over-due catch-up and chat. With half an hour before she got on stage, we left The Duke and hopped on a tram towards Fitzroy, which dropped us right outside The Workers Club where Bene was performing.

Before we got inside Jess got herself a drink and I snagged the second last T-shirt on sale at her small little merchandise table. With a quick glimpse of Bene coming out the doors and heading backstage, we scanned our tickets, got our hands stamped and headed inside.

It was definitely not as full as I thought it would be by the time we got there, but as we waited for her to get onstage, the room quickly filled up and packed out.

Finally, she got on stage and the show began.

It was a really great gig. A really fun show. She walked the line of being really playful and childish, highlighting how young she is, but also switching on and singing some incredible unreleased songs with strong, powerful lyrics, before swapping back to her giggling and thanking everyone after every song.

She played Tough Guy, and it was probably one of my favorite’s purely because I knew it so well. Sadly she didn’t introduce all of her new songs so I had to guess a few of them, but I can’t wait for a song called Afterlife to be released, as well as Snake Charmer, which was one of the first songs she sang.

When she finally sang Soaked, which is the song that really kicked everything into gear for her here in Australia, everyone went mad. It was a fun audience, everyone was down for a boogie, no-one was pushing or being too aggressive to see her and get to the front, I mean a kid nudged his way to the front purely to give her flowers for Valentine’s Day and kiss her on the cheek. It was the purest thing I’ve ever seen and clearly made her night.

Her band were all really cool as well, all of them were super interesting to watch. Everyone on stage seemed infected by her playful personality, especially Tia her guitarist. It was a great display of a group of really talented young people up on stage, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

If you ever get the chance to see Bene live, I highly recommend it. For a great show (at a bargain price???) she’s definitely one to watch. You’re gonna see more of Bene, no doubt.

x

Priya

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