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.
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