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Headline act Pink, though, is a sheer force of nature – from the time she arrives on stage, swinging on a trapeze and bellowing her lungs out in the middle of a hugely ornate circus set, she seems determined to raise the energy again … and again … and again …
Lily’s black-clad backing band snaps into action with Everyone’s At It and the girl herself makes a dramatic entrance as a larger-than-life silhouette before the curtain drops and strobe lights go mental.
She too is dressed in black, her diminutive presence allowing her vocals to take centre stage in what is a surprisingly intimate show given that ticket demand could have filled a much larger venue.
I haven’t devoted much space to headline act Pussycat Dolls because, umm, they weren’t very good.
They seldom hit the notes, they clearly despised each-other, their stage show was nowhere near as inventive as Gaga’s, and the whole thing kinda gave me flashbacks to that episode of Sex & The City where Samantha is attacked by the angry transvestites (for any straight men who don’t happen to get that pop culture reference – it’s a bad thing).
Although she’s on the bill as the support act, it’s pretty clear that many people are here to check out Lady Gaga, and from the opening moments of her set – a bizarre short film about her alter ego, Candy Warhol – it’s clear we’re in for quite a ride.
I have let this thing go since January, I’ve been so slack. So very slack.
I’ve shot so many bands: Howard Jones, The Waifs, The All-American Rejects, Hey Monday, Fall Out Boy, Amanda Palmer, Mogwai, The Stills, Kings of Leon, Counting Crows, The Who, Kean, The Greats, Little Birdy, Oh Mercy, Lady GaGa, Pussycat Dolls and Lily Allen.
I’ve also shot a bunch of festivals: Sunset Sounds, Soundwave, Big O, V Festival and the Victorian Fire & Flood Benifit concert in Brisbane.
I will upload some photos from the most recent shows I’ve shot but probably not ALL. You can however see most of them on my Flickr photostream if you’re really curious!
Serj Tankian, lead singer of System of a Down, is next. A lot of punters here haven’t heard his solo efforts, eventuating in the 2007 album Elect the Dead. Tankian walks out in a white suit and white top hat.
Blue King Brown made a grand entrance onto the stage with each band member appearing on stage and breaking into their individual pieces one at a time. Drummer Pete Wilkins entered first, then percussionists Salvador Perisco and Carlos Santone came on next, keyboardist Sam Cope, and then it was time for the three gorgeous female backing vocalists to appear with a cheer from the crowd. Trombonist Emily ‘G’ Mould and trumpeter Nick ‘Dub’ Wilkins entered with splendour and as a final point the bold and beautiful Natalie Pa’apa’a who recognized the traditional owners of our land.
Ooh, are they or aren’t they going out? Surely those clandestine KFC moments snapped by the paps aren’t just for show? We’re left wondering even after the show, but judging by the amount of squealing teens who have arrived well in advance of the gig starting, I’d say the ladies in the house tonight are here for Chris Brown.
Dragonforce are a hard drinking, extreme power metal band from the UK, and if you haven’t heard of them you may have been living under a rock. They have two of the fastest guitarists in the world Herman Li and Sam Totman, and when they go at it, its like watching Malmsteen on steroids. They are excellent when it comes to technique and surprisingly quite humorous and entertaining too. Playing each others guitars and performing dual acrobatic jumps on stage, they have incredible presence. Having toured extensively with WASP and Iron Maiden early in their career, they have really mastered showmanship.
It’s possibly the most encompassing demographic milling about the Entertainment Centre’s cavernous lobby tonight – there’s groups of greying gents encircled around their beverages, women tottering about in heels and sequins, numerous denim clad 20-somethings and teens clutching their programs, but possibly the best sight of all – some single digit little ones, running between seats replete with giant headphones.
Really, we could expect no lesser a cross-section for a Stevie Wonder show.
