Dua Lipa designs a fan’s next tattoo at Melbourne concert

When you’re a pop star with so many hits, it’s tricky to make your b-sides land well but Lipa makes it look easy.

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Is it in the lights from the crowd’s phones at Pretty Please? The striking emotion in Lipa’s voice in Falling Forever? Or her natural chemistry with her band in Maria? These set-list underdogs make it clear that the songs between the hits are not an intermission, or a time for us to get lost in our phones.

For a show that could easily have been just a dance party, Lipa flexes a smartly paced set, and not even a missed line at the beginning of Illusion disrupts the good time.

From all the songs that really touch me, it’s the one that ends the show — Be The One – that has the biggest impact. In a full circle moment, the crowd still sings along 10 years (and many, many hits) into Lipa’s career. Of the song that started it all, she says: “I’ve been singing this since the very beginning and I’ll be singing this for the rest of my life.”
Reviewed by Gabriela Sumampow

MUSIC
Kehlani | Crash World Tour ★★★
John Cain Arena, March 18

The drums pound as the electric guitar soars. Kehlani starts to sing the opening bars to Next 2 U. As the stage lights flicker frenetically, the sheer curtain drops to reveal the 29-year-old American singer-songwriter as the crowd erupts into cheers.

The performer is touring their fourth studio album Crash across Australia and New Zealand. The album earned three Grammy nominations at this year’s awards, including Best Progressive R&B Album and Best R&B Song for After Hours.

Kehlani delivers a sexy R&B/soul set, with the electric guitar bringing a rock concert vivacity to the overall show. They sing about love and lust, playing off the charged energy of the guitarist and dancers.

The hip-hop choreography moves between sultry and dynamic, matching the energy of the track. Kehlani joins seamlessly into the routine throughout the show. A wind machine blows through Kehlani’s hair sporadically, making the production feel like a live music video.

Like many international acts, Kehlani attempts to imitate the Australian accent – and does a pretty good job. Prompted by a fan’s sign featuring an invitation to go surfing together, they respond “y’all got sharks in the water”, in the local elocution.

The transitions between R&B, soul and rock work well, dialling up and winding down the intensity to create variation in the mood. In Gangsta, a track off the Suicide Squad soundtrack, the electric guitar amplifies as Kehlani writhes on the floor in front of the lead guitarist. They then transition to the afrobeats and amapiano-infused track Tears from latest album Crash, a collaborative song with Nigerian singer-songwriter Omah Lay.

“Do you mind if I bring the energy down?” Kehlani asks, before launching into mellow track everything, off their third studio album Blue Water Road, and the single Honey.

“Y’all have one job, and it’s just to have f—ing fun”, Kehlani says early on. The performer gives everything they have to their onstage performance – but this spirit isn’t matched by the crowd. Kehlani does their best to bring the fire and sensuality of a club to the show, but fans in general admission remain quite stilted, preferring to capture footage on their smartphones.

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When Kehlani performs After Hours, the final song of the show, the crowd finally gets into the groove. Unfortunately, it’s a little too late.

The show ends abruptly with no encore. Earlier in the set, the singer promises to make a club appearance after the gig at Ms Collins (ironic, given they perform their single Hate the Club as part of the show). An anticlimactic end to the evening.

Reviewed by Vyshnavee Wijekumar

MUSIC
Yamen Saadi with Simon Tedeschi ★★★★
Melbourne Recital Centre, March 18

Fritz Kreisler was one of the 20th century’s great violin virtuosos and ensured his legacy would extend beyond his recordings by composing a host of popular miniatures that continue to round off many a violin recital.

Imagine the delight of Kreisler lovers when a program mostly devoted to his music is performed on one of the Stradivari violins he used to play – and the performer is none other than the young concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic, representing Kreisler’s birthplace.

Still in his 20s, Yamen Saadi is a polished exponent of the Viennese style and played the 1734 “Lord Amherst of Hackney” Stradivarius previously in Kreisler’s possession. Opening with the master’s signature work, the Prelude and Allegro, Saadi clearly delineated Kreisler’s quasi-baroque lines with brilliant technique and soaring tone.

Sensitively partnered with distinguished Australian pianist Simon Tedeschi, Saadi then presented Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, a work often performed by Kreisler. Eliciting delicate colouring from the second movement and rhythmic energy from the finale, the duo brought a fair degree of dramatic interest to this youthful work.

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It was really in the remaining part of the program, given over to Kreisler’s miniatures, that a true sense of Saadi’s artistic flair was revealed. Kreisler’s arrangements of Brahms, de Falla and Albeniz were each given their own unique sensibility, flavoured by the multi-hued, sweet singing tone of the Strad.

Kreisler’s own La Gitana (with its Arabian influences referencing Saadi’s heritage), the Viennese March with its pianistic music box effects, the bittersweet Liebesleid and the lyrical Schön Rosmarin were all part of a polished Viennese charm offensive. As deftly characterised as all these were, it was only in the program’s encore that Saadi finally let loose a passionate torrent of expression for which the enthusiastic audience had been waiting.
Reviewed by Tony Way

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