Delta Goodrem - Wings of the Wild review - October 2016 Qudos Arena Sydney

31 year Australian singer, Delta Goodrem has been around since 2002 when she played Nina Tucker in iconic Australian soap Neighbours. Following her departure she followed in Kylie Minogue and Natalie Imbruglia's footsteps and launched a music career. Her debut single was Born to Try, which was released in 2003 on her debut album Innocent Eyes.

Just like she sings about in the second single from her latest album, Wings of the Wild, she has been a total survivor in the music industry. In an industry where most singers only survive one or two albums if they're lucky, Delta has been extremely lucky to have a 15 year career, which basically makes her this generation's Kylie Minogue or the Australian version of Taylor Swift (yes, a very big compliment but Delta is incredibly under-rated - she's the forgotten singer who has amazing swathes of talent - which I'll get to later on in this review).

After her first album she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2004 which delayed her music career slightly, however she didn't let that discourage her. She went on to release a couple of albums, Mistaken Identity in 2004, which was heavily focused on her disease, and then Delta in 2007 before taken an extended break of four years and not releasing her next album, Child of the Universe until 2011. It wasn't until this year that she followed up with her latest album Wings of the Wild.

She has of course been mentoring the contestants on The Voice for the last few seasons and built up her profile doing so.

This year, for the first time since 2009, she has decided to headline a nationwide tour to promote her latest album. I was lucky enough to be at Sydney's show, which before I go into the details, I have to reiterate that Delta Goodrem is Australia's most talented female singer at the moment, and she really is the Southern Hemisphere's Taylor Swift. She has an undeniable talent that truly cannot be ignored and is under-rated.

So now let's get onto the show. Most shows have a supporting act. Not Delta though. She was enough and Sydney's Qudos Arena at Olympic Park was almost full on Friday night.

The crowd started getting excited before she came onto stage wearing a black sequin jumpsuit and opened the show with Feline, one of the tracks from her most recent album.

I would be here all day if I talked about each individual track that Delta sung during the show so I'm just going to pick out the highlights.

It was so refreshing to see a singer who is so genuinely at home on stage and having fun, and Delta exuded confidence when she was performing on Friday night. After she had sung This Life, she got up and walked to the front of the stage where she interacted with the audience through an impromptu song which is always super awesome. She thanked the fans for being at the show. Goodrem wasn't just focused on herself though. She thanked her band and back up singers for being up on stage with her. She wanted the audience to know who was sharing the stage with her. She built up enthusiasm before launching into Child of the Universe's Sitting on Top of the World which she sung incredibly enthusiastically.

The amazing thing is that Delta sings all of her songs live. She does not lip sync at all, but even more than that, if you thought she had an amazing voice when listening to a recording you haven't heard anything until you've heard her live.

She sung a few of her hits as a medley - Wish You Were Here, Brave Face, Be Strong. The show is a really stripped back show, so you can hear her harmonising with her back up singers and here her singing these hits with just the piano and her back up singers, Sharon and Christine (who by the way were in the 90s hit show Sister Sister.

About midway through the show, she, her singers, and band move to the front of the stage for an acapella session where they sing Love, Thy Will be Done and Will You Fall For Me. For Delta it would appear the show is just as much about her team as it is about her.

The major highlight of the show though is when she sings Just Call. By this point she has changed into a red gown and wants the audience to participate in the chorus singing. She then steps off the stage and is met with her bodyguards. She walks to a platform located in the middle of the audience where she sings for the rest of the duration of the song. When she has finished the song, one of her assistants gives her, her guitar and she sings The River before going back to the front stage.

During this part of the show, a member of the crowd actually passed out from the excitement and rather than continuing the show as if nothing had happened, Goodrem actually stopped the show. She then later reported while singing Heart Hypnotic to the audience that the audience member was okay.

One thing become really apparent during her concert. She has a voice that would rival that of Mariah Carey's, if not better. She makes singing look so effortless and can really belt out those top notes with ease. During the show, there were throwbacks to her earlier music with music videos interspersed on the big screen.

The show concluded on a track from her third album, Believe Again.

Of course, no show would be complete without an encore, so after five minutes she returned to the stage having changed into a white pant suit for two final songs. And no Delta Goodrem show would be right, without her going back to where it all began, to Born to Try, which truly does sound so much better in real life.

She then sung Wings from her latest album before concluding the show in a stream of confetti.

All in all, this show deserves a 5 out of 5 star rating. It is actually worthy of more stars but that's not possible, so 5 out of 5 will just have to do.

Ellie Goulding in Sydney 7th October 2016

Everyone has that one show they went to that they will forever love. It’s a show that stuck out in their mind. It may have been their first concert, or it was simply one that was truly incredible. Like an amazing first date, it was the show that set the benchmark for all future shows.

A few years ago I had a ticket to Taylor Swift’s Red Tour in Auckland. This was just as she was taking the world by storm. I decided I cared about money more than I did seeing Taylor live at Vector Arena.

Well, last year, following the release of 1989, named after her birth year, I decided I cared more about the experience, so I purchased a ticket to Taylor Swift’s Sydney ANZ Stadium tour. I almost didn’t go to the show because I had lost my job just two days before. Like Taylor though, I decided to Shake it Off, and it was a truly incredible show. It was a 5/5 star show, or more, if that’s possible. You get the gist. It was one of those shows, that you will remember as being in the crowd. It was Gen Y’s Madonna basically.

Well, you can imagine that when I saw the next show, I was going to have high expectations following that show.

My next show was of course one of her show biz friends, Ellie Goulding to support her album Delirium which was released in November of last year. It wouldn’t matter who was playing, they were going to have a tough time going out after Taylor Swift. She’d set an incredibly high benchmark.

Because I’m a workaholic, I arrived at the smaller Qudos Arena just after 7:30pm and grabbed my seat. The support act, Australian artist, Asta was painful to listen to. She’d been selected after, UK Electropop trio, Years and Years had pulled out. Asta has been singing for a few years, however despite that, the Hobart singer has not charted beyond 66 in the ARIAs. When you see her live you’ll understand why, but don’t. She has no charisma and doesn’t know how to engage a crowd.

She was the type of artist that you would walk out of a show, or bar if that’s where you were seeing her play. She doesn’t have the talent to support someone like Ellie Goulding.

Like all concerts, there was a break between Asta and Ellie Goulding. The arena, which has a capacity of 21,000 was only half full. The good thing about this though was that if you wanted to get a better seat you could, and so I did.

Ellie started her set with Aftertaste. Her set was minimalist with three back up singers and about eight dancers throughout the course of the show. It was a very low key show. The type that you might see in a local pub. It was very much about the songs, not the fancy staging and performing.

Singing fan favourites like Outside, and I Need Your Love, Ellie gained cheers from the crowd, however, for the most part, it was a very quiet and subdued crowd. That might have been because of the supporting artist failing to engage and warm the audience up.

One thing Ellie can’t be accused of is lip syncing because she sings live for the entire show, and even gets glasses of water, or alcohol during the show, giving her concert a very pub like feel.

She picked up her guitar for You My Everything, and Devotion, which added emotion to the song.

Another crowd pleaser was her latest track which features on the Bridget Jones Diary soundtrack, Still Falling For You, followed by one of Ellie’s favourites, which she introduced with a story about her best friend. It was of course Army, which she sung in a long white gown, reminiscent of a wedding dress.

The next tracks were fillers. When she came to the last track, Burn, she joked about how people go to shows and watch through a lens. She said she couldn’t understand it because she was there in person. It was something to consider however that didn’t stop people still filming on their phones or iPads.

The crowd went silent when Ellie left the stage for five minutes before returning for the encore, which every performer has to do. The encore was the best part of the show as they often are. She sung, Anything Could Happen before once again talking to the crowd and asking us to put our phones away and live in the moment and closing on Love me Like You Do which was excellent.

She finished her set by thanking the crowd and leaving in a stream of confetti.

For me, anyone who came after Taylor Swift was going to have a tough show and was going to have to really impress. One great thing about Ellie is she does seem like a genuinely nice person, but more than that, she actually sings live, and her shows have a pub like environment despite her being an international superstar.

Overall 3.25 stars.

The show would have been better had she had video screens so that people who weren’t right by the stage could get a better view. The next show I'm attending is Australian Artist Delta Goodrem next month. I wonder how she will compare.

Season for singers to reflect like its 2003 again

In between my extreme hours running my own business I do have a chance to listen to music and there has been some amazing music released lately that you need to know about.

DELTA GOODREM

She is Australia's favourite star at the moment following her sensational victory on The Voice Australia with not one, but two of her contestants making it to the final, and Alfi Alcuri taking out the top spot.

Delta has the credentials to back up that win and her new album, Wings of the Wild came out last Friday.

Like Delta's coaching style, her album is incredibly uplifting with tracks such as Just Call, Dear Life and Enough.

She brings her sass and desire to be treated well with Encore.

In 2015's The Voice she chose I believe in a thing called love for Caleb Jago-Ward to sing, and her solo cover of the song appears on the album.

4/5 stars

BRITNEY SPEARS

Her last song was Pretty Girls where she teamed up with Aussie superstar Iggy Azalea. The track wasn't Britney's best work. Well it looks like she put in the Work Bitch because her latest single Make Me was released today. 

She has returned to her old style. It's a cross between the style in Oops I did it again, and her third album, Britney.

She's back to her positive singing style. This song is sure to be a hit. And if it's anything to go by, her ninth album will be too.

5/5 stars

GOOD CHARLOTTE

What do you say about the twins who were away for ten years to focus on other projects? 

If music was a movie then this album, Youth Authoirty is the next act in the film. It takes off from where they left and focuses on where they've been and where they are now.

It is very much reminiscent of the early 2000s both in composition and lyrically.

The album begins with the track Life Changes where they sing about the future and where they are going. It's basically part two of their song Lifestyles of the rich and famous.

It is a true work of art.

5/5 stars

KATY PERRY

She has been in the news recently for her ongoing feud with Taylor Swift, well that may change with her new song Rise.

Exclusively released on iTunes she is either singing about former husband Russell Brand or Taylor Swift. 

Her song is a message about strength and how she will win and survive.

It's a slower version of Roar, the lead single from 2013's album Prism.

4/5 stars

CHRISTINA AGUILERA 

Christina Aguilera also has a new single out, Change, however she is often outside of the spotlight so it's received very little publicity.

Her song is rather reflective too and she shows off her vocal talent. She is also looking at where she's been and where she's going.

It has an anthem feel to it which reminds you of Mariah Carey's No Ways Tired.

4/5 stars

Speak now or forever hold your peace. NOBODY, should ever be excluded from democracy and seeing commentary suggesting people shouldn't be allowed to vote is offensive.

Our forefathers who founded this great nation would be rolling in their graves at the thought that people don't value democracy. These are the people who fought for our right to speak our mind. They fought for our right to a voice. They fought so that everyone could have a say on the running of the nation.

In 1895 South Australia gave women suffrage, and in 1901 NZ allowed women suffrage - the right to vote. Previously only men had been afforded that right. Prior to that it was only property owners. This was a major innovation.

Our forefathers then fought in World War 1, World War 2, after 9/11 and even now against ISIS so that we maintain our right to a democratic voice which so many people in the world do not have.

ANZAC Day may officially be celebrated as a commemoration of when the ANZACS (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) arrived in Gillipoli but today it is effectively a day when we celebrate democracy and remember those who lost their lives fighting for our right to air our thoughts.

Unfortunately it seems people have forgotten what the meaning of democracy is. Democracy in a nutshell means that everyone participates. That is the fundamentals of democracy according to ancient Greek democracy. Hey I guess I was paying attention in Political Participation 342 at uni (actually I was, I really was, I've always been big on political participation).

Anyway, I digress. Getting back to the point, people are disenfranchised all over the world. They're worried about the likes of Trump, Cameron, Johnson, Gove, Abbott, Turnbull, Key and many more controlling our lives, but it takes two to tango.

You can't influence politicians and societal outcomes if you don't actively engage in politics. You can't achieve change and make a difference if you don't bother.

So when I see commentary like this in the NZ Herald:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11668086

I'm extremely disappointed. Democracy doesn't work if you say only certain people can vote. It goes against the very fundamentals of democracy.

It's not concerning that bad decisions are being made, although that is concerning.

It's more concerning that most people seem to have forgotten why our ancestors fought in the world war. They fought so we would have freedom to vote. They fought for democracy and it seems like people are willing to give up that right and say "meh, I don't care about making a difference. I don't want a say. Let others do it for me."

It's not right. If you don't vote you don't have representation. If you don't have representation then the consequences of that are that policy decisions which are bad for you may be made.

People, if they're so disenfranchised with the system need to participate and get out and mobilize. They need to tell their politicians that they're not happy with how things are being run, because, if they don't, they soon may not be able to.

If you don't speak when you can you may lose the ability to speak. And that's serious. I don't think people realise just how serious the right to a voice in democracy is.