Matchbox Twenty Tour

North Tour - 21st October 2012
Supports: Evermore and Inxs

I was dying to get tickets to see Matchbox Twenty, but really couldn't afford the price, it was super expensive, however when tickets got marked to half price, I jumped at the opportunity and still managed to get great seats! Prior to going to this concert, I expected to know very few of their songs, however ended up knowing most of the songs they performed, which was very exciting! Having still getting amazing seats less than a week prior to the performance makes me wonder how many tickets were not sold at full price! This concert was amazing.

Vocals: I have never seen this band perform live so had no idea what to expect. The second Rob Thomas began to sing, oh my god! His vocal were perfect. Possibly the best live performance (not lip-syncing) vocals I have ever heard. Throughout the entire performance I could not get over how amazing singing. This made the concert so much more enjoyable. His voice is pure perfection!
Costumes: The band wore very much appropriate clothing to their band. Most wore skinny jeans of some sort and a t-shirt or button down shirt. As I was paying most attention to Rob Thomas throughout the performance, this is where I can give a rundown of what he was wearing. During the performance, Rob Thomas wore black skinny leg jeans with some sort of Adidas sneakers, and a red t-shirt for much of the performance. Between the main part of the performance and the encore, Rob Thomas changed into a black t-shirt. Both very nice if you ask me.
Stage: The stage I was obsessed with! It had stairs around the stage with various leveled platforms which had the musicians placed around it. The stairs and the platforms all lit up in different colours (mostly green, red and blue). The stage was visually really pretty and worked for the band. With Rob Thomas mostly wondering around the stage during the performance, he was able to make the most of the platforms available. I loved when the stage and the arena turned pink, this was super pretty!
Dancing: A band does not really dance. But Rob Thomas occasionally pulled the moves... This was very nice to see. He however kept wondering around the stage and keeping the crowd going and ensured they were all super into the performance.
Set List: The set list included many of the bands old and new songs. Although I did not know the names of many of their songs, it was exciting that I knew most of the songs they performed. The crowd seemed to be most into songs such as Unwell, How Far We've Come and She's So Mean. My personal favourite they performed was Unwell, this is because I love it when the crowd is so into the song and singing so loudly.
Crowd Interaction: A friend had told me the band does not interact a lot with the audience, I did not find this the case. The band interacted with the crowd as much as was necessary and included the crowd in singing parts of the songs, chatting with the crowd and general things like that. Although not a lot of crowd interaction, I felt it was adequate for the band.

Support Acts: We chose to skip seeing Evermore as we had seen them a little over a week ago with Maroon 5. Inxs were a must though, and boy do they sound amazing having been rocking out for so many years now! This band were amazing, I would definitely pay to see them again. Although a new singer now, he manages to fill the spot and do it well.

I easily rate this concert five stars out of five - the vocals from Rob Thomas were amazing!

Peace
ConcertGoer x

Maroon 5 Tour

Overexposed Tour - 12th October 2012

Support: Evermore

I'll admit, one of the reasons I got tickets for this tour was to see Adam Levine and hope that he would take his shirt off... Much to my disappointment, he did not take his shirt off. I have not seen many actual bands, more so individual performers. Our seats were amazing for this show, however sometimes our view was interferred by a square thing on top of a pole - not sure what this was. Needless to say, we had a lovely view of Adam Levine.

Vocals: Adam Levine admited to being unwell during the show (perhaps a common cold or the flu), as anyone would expect this would effect his vocal abilities, however it didn't. During parts where he spoke to the crowd, he did sound a little under the weather, however this did not imapct on his vocals throughout the show - still managing to sound near perfect as he sounds on the bands recorded music.

Costumes: The band wore white; white pants, white tshirts, but black shoes. An interesting choice for an all male band, it somewhat worked for them though. It made it easy to see where they all were (I had forgotten to bring my glasses to this concert) and it worked well with the entire black stage and black back drop curtain.

Stage: The stage was nothing overly special, it was a standard rectangle shaped stage with the band placed about the stage filling it up. Adam Levine used the entire front part of the stage to move around while he was performing. At one point there was a giant disco ball suspended from the ceiling of the arena, lights were on the spinning ball and the arena looked very pretty - possibly the prettiest I have ever seen it look!

Dancing: Not a lot of dancing throughout this concert, however Adam Levine did pull the moves occasionly throughout. There isn't much to comment on about the dancing because there was very little - although this is expected.

Setlist: The setlist was very good! It included all the bands released singles, including other songs off of their Overexposed album and also their upcoming single. I would say the crowd most enjoyed Payphone (which the band opened with) and Moves Like Jagger (which the band closed the concert with). Moves Like Jagger had the crowd singing louder than Adam Levine at some points - this I love!

Crowd Interaction: There was a lack of crowd interaction during this concert. Adam Levine, I felt, did not chat with the crowd a great deal or get them involved within songs much as I have previously seen.

Support Act: I hadn't heard a lot from Evermore in the past few years, but they had their latest album drop the same day as the concert. The music performed sounded very good! However, the vocals were not very loud and it was often difficult to understand what their lead singer was attempting to say to the audience at times.

Overall I rate this concert three and a half stars out of five - this would have been more if Adam Levine took his shirt off!!!

Peace

ConcertGoer x

Lady Gaga Tour

Born This Way Ball - 28th June 2012 & 1st July 2012
Support: Lady Starlight

Having seen Lady Gaga's previous tour, I had very high expectations for this tour! And she certainly did not disappoint! Lady Gaga being one of my favourite artists at the moment, I knew I had to go to this tour twice. The first time I had very good seats, however the second time I had restricted view second row seats - although restricted view, these seats were amazing!! I have to admit... I was so excited during Bad Romance I started crying. Embarrassing right!?

Vocals: Lady Gaga's vocals are simply perfect! She sounds amazing live. There is definitely no auto-tune or lip-syncing throughout her performance although she manages to dance almost the entire time. Proven how amazing her vocals are was during her performance of new song 'Princess Die'. This was completely stripped back and was Lady Gaga's vocals and a piano - although the second time I saw her, a drum section was added which sounded very very good! Lady Gaga possibly has the best live vocals I have ever heard!
Costumes: Known for her slightly crazy costumes, Lady Gaga did not disappoint when it came to her costumes. Designed by luxury designer Giorgio Armani and one pair of her shoes were custom Christian Louboutin's - one of my personal favourite designers. A collaboration with these designers and the Haus of Gaga meant her costumes were slightly crazy but amazing! A mock up of the infamous 'meat dress' and added with a 'meat couch' showed it has had a lasting impression on her performing career. Most of Lady Gaga's costumes were in black and white. All the costumes were very eye-catching and exactly what Lady Gaga fans would expect from the queen herself!
Stage: Wow! The most amazing stage I have ever seen. This stage was a giant gothic style castle! It was interactive throughout the performance with parts of the castle moving around the stage. I loved this set as the band was hidden in amongst it, which meant the entire stage area could be used for props and dancing. The stage came out and around with a hollow centre, this section was used for the 'mega-fans' and was appropriately named the Monster Pit.
Dancing: All but one song of the performance had dancing - if not Lady Gaga herself then certainly had back-up dancers. I love that this tour and Lady Gaga's previous tours have all been very visual; this means the audience is constantly captivated in what is going on around the stage. The dancers were both many female and male dancers, and had exceptional choreography.
Setlist: The setlist included all her hit singles, as well as many songs of both albums. The tour prior to coming to Melbourne had her song 'Hair' in the setlist (one of my personal favourites by Lady Gaga), this song however was replaced with 'Princess Die', as happy as I was to see this new song, I would have loved to have seen her perform 'Hair'. Although this song was not performance, all the songs Lady Gaga did perform were amazing. In my opinion, she should have closed the show with 'Born This Way' as this is one of her biggest international songs, however she sang it as the third or fourth song and closed with 'Marry The Night' - a song Lady Gaga has said is about an amazing night coming to an end, very true in regards to the Born This Way Ball!
Crowd Interaction: Lady Gaga is constantly interacting with her fans during the performances. At one point she sat on the steps on her stage and announced it was story time before showing the audience some amazing artwork by a fan! She also interacts in the way which she pays attention to what is happening in this Monster Pit - this being some crazy dancing happening which she pointed out to those who may have not previously seen it. She also at one point took a sex doll from the audience and proceeded to have a conversation with it and also begin to dance with it. This was entertaining for the audience. As well we interacting with the audience, Lady Gaga also picked a number of lucky fans in the Monster Pit to meet her backstage following the show.

Support Act: Before making it big, Lady Gaga used to open shows for go-go dancer Lady Starlight. However now bringing Lady Starlight as her own opening act. This was an interesting choice. Lady Starlight did not really do much to warm up the audience. I do not rate this support act highly. Perhaps rather than bringing a friend on tour, someone who is more likely to warm up the crowd would have been a better option.

Overall this concert is definitely a five stars out of five! So amazing I went twice. I really hope this comes out on DVD.

Peace
ConcertGoer x