AMY SHARK - Cry Forever Brisbane
Pictured: Amy Shark - AMY SHARK
Photographer: Trace McLean - Trace McLean Photography
Shark Sighting at Brisbane River
Written by: Tom Wilson - Sense Music Media
Under a gloomy grey sky, TEENAGE JOANS kick off a formidable bill of Australian female voices. An Adelaide duo featuring drummer Tahlia Borg and six-stringer Cahli Blakers, they plough through a set of lo-fi, fuzzed-out garage rock that harks back to the booming Australian alternative music scene of the 90s, long before either of these two were alive. Who needs a bass when you’ve got riffs like these? The vibe is chilled, the hair is big, and I can feel their kick drum in my chest cavity. Name a better way to start a night?
Pictured: Tahlia Borg + Cahli Blakers - TEENAGE JOANS
Photographer: Trace McLean - Trace McLean Photography
To look at her, you’d think EVIE IRIE is headlining. Riverstage can barely contain her tonight, as she races back and forth across the stage. Replete with glittery pink pants, flailing blond hair and crackling nervous energy, the Energiser Bunny has absolutely nothing on her. Bantering with the crowd and instigating call-and-responses, Evie carries herself like a superstar tonight, and fortunately she’s got the songs to back it up. Bitter is a future stadium-filler, and The Idea of You is an earworm that would give LADY GAGA a run for her money. Did I mention that she is only eighteen years old? Get used to the name Evie Irie, because she is destined for big things. World domination begins here.
Pictured: Evie Irie + band - EVIE IRIE
Photographer: Trace McLean - Trace McLean Photography
Full disclosure – this is uncharted territory for me. I’ve never been to a “pop” concert before, and the last time I queued up outside Riverstage was for the farewell tour of thrash metal titans SLAYER. Needless to say, the demographic tonight is slightly different. Mums. Dads. Kids. Grandparents. Gaggles of teenage girls with top-knots. What is it about Amy that gives her such broad appeal? She’s certainly not the first artist to wax lyrical about love and the lovesick, but there is something about her sincerity that translates to everyone. Getting famous in her thirties probably helped. Shark didn’t grow up in the spotlight. She wasn’t dodging paparazzi when she was learning to drive. Tonight she isn’t rising out of some platform in the floor or swinging in on a trapeze. She steps gingerly out of the haze hands clasped, greeting the roar of the crowd with a smile that says she still doesn’t entirely believe that we’re all here to see her. As the band plunge into The Wolves, you can see the gratitude written all over her face, and considering we’re all gathered here as NSW plunges into another lockdown, our own gratitude is beaming right back at her. I said it when I reviewed Spring Loaded, and I’ll say it again now – we’re lucky to be here.
Pictured: Amy Shark + band - AMY SHARK
Photographer: Trace McLean - Trace McLean Photography
Everybody Rise follows, and she already has the audience in the palm of her hand, even when she has a brain fart and calls us the Gold Coast, quickly catching herself and spending the rest of the song with an embarrassed smirk on her face. “Off to a cracking start,” she quips, strapping on a guitar, before explaining that All the Lies about Me was written one night after reading about herself online. New album Cry Forever is played in full tonight, and every track is rapturously received. Amy is Australia’s ALANIS MORISSETTE, and she has just released her Jagged Little Pill. It’s a stunning record. Every track is a meticulously crafted earworm, played with heart, soul and warmth by her band tonight – Joe Malafu nailing the off-kilter rhythms of BLINK 182 sticksman Travis Barker on C’MON.
Exposed as we are on the sloping grass under a looming grey sky, Mother Nature shows us some mercy tonight. Maybe she’s a fan. Either way, the rain never comes, leaving us to enjoy the show. The Idiot is dedicated to her ex-boyfriend, and she gets the seated section on their feet for a rapturous cover of Mr. Brightside by THE KILLERS. “It only seems like yesterday that I was playing shows to a hundred people in The Valley,” Shark cheers, beaming out at the huge crowd.
Pictured: Amy Shark + band - AMY SHARK
Photographer: Trace McLean - Trace McLean Photography
Affable, humble and forthcoming, she opens up between each number, telling us stories of how they came to be. “I was cheated on,” she says, talking about the demise of an old relationship and how she spent most of the time obsessing over the other girl, wanting to know everything about her. She explains how she grew from it, and learned about herself as a person, and from her tone and demeanour it feels like the story is leading to Amy forgiving this interloper for her sins. “And if that girl is here tonight,” she says, smiling as she looks across the crowd, “please know … that I still fucking hate you.” The rug pulled from beneath our feet, the crowd roars, and That Girl begins. It’s glorious.
Pictured: Amy Shark + band - AMY SHARK
Photographer: Trace McLean - Trace McLean Photography
Album closer Amy Shark brings the night to a standstill – a heartbreaking ode to all that she’s had to push away and sacrifice to realise her dreams of being an artist. Her voice cracks with emotion, and as the spotlight dims, cries of “We love you, Amy!” ring out from the darkness. She disappears, and her DEF LEPPARD-inspired logo glows as the Jaws theme swells behind the swirling blue smoke. She reappears in her fire-engine-red tracksuit and breaks into the rollicking Baby Steps, before segueing into her first major hit Adore. “If your phones have any battery left, get them up,” she asks, and a thousand mobile phone flashlights light up the darkness like electronic fireflies. Love Songs Ain’t for Us is absolutely sublime, and the entire Riverstage sings it with her. I Said Hi brings the set to a spectacular close, and fireworks erupt off the roof of the stage, soaring into the night sky and lighting up the Brisbane River.
The Verdict
It’s a spectacular end to a mesmerising set, and it’s all the more impressive when you realise that she’s accomplished all of this in about five years. Imagine what she’ll do in ten?