OneRepublic Melbourne
Saturday, November 16, 2013
On the same day I met up with my friend in the city I also went to see
OneRepublic. Of course I had dinner before hand at a very nice and cozy Italian
restaurant that also sells hot coffee (I’ve only heard about it). I didn't get
to take photos, but I will next time and post about it. I had their Tiramisu
and it was the best that I've had up to date. The coffee was so smooth...aka it
did not leave a bitter after taste. You can taste the coffee as you eat it but
after you swallow, you can taste the cream and a bit of the coffee, but it’s
not bitter at all!
Before the Opening Act
Anyways, we finished dinner early and decided to go to the venue. We were 50
minutes early, but there was already a line! At the start I thought people were
doing something dodgy because the line continued into a dark alleyway, but then
we realised that people were lining up to get a good view (since it was a
standing concert). We were lucky because the line was not super long.
When it reached 7:30pm the doors opened and we were finally let into the
venue. Once we got in, we randomly decided to go upstairs which lead to the
second level. We decided that it had the best view so we stayed there as the
centre was free. There was smoke around the Palace (I assumed that they had a
smoke machine there). On each level (Ground, Level 1, Level 2) there were bars
for people to buy drinks. I didn't notice many people buy drinks from the bar
though.
After waiting a good hour, the opening act came out. Her name was Emma Birdsall. She sang around 5-6 songs - promoting her new single
while doing some covers. She had an amazing voice! My favourite was the song “Paper
Thin” and her cover of Bruno Mar's “Treasure”.
After the opening act ended, we waited for around 40-50 minutes until
OneRepublic came out. At this stage, I regretted wearing a long sleeve shirt
since it started to get warm. On top of that, my feet were hurting from walking
all day.
Eventually, they came out and it was an
extravagant opening! I loved how they had the white screen and changed the
lighting to make their shadows appear and disappear, getting bigger and
smaller. It was a great way to hype up the audience. Ryan Tedder started off
singing “Stop and Stare,” an all time favourite. I was happy that they played
all of their popular songs like “Apologize” (remixed with another song), “Counting
Stars”, “Something I Need”, “If I Lose Myself” and “Secrets”. They also played
some of their lesser known tracks like “Preacher”, “Burning Bridges” and “Life
In Colour” (which was used in the finale). Ryan also did some covers like Rihanna's
“We Found Love”, where he got the crowd to sing the chorus while he sang another song on top of it, and Kanye West's “Gold Digger”, where the crowd
starting singing it after he sang the line "She take my money".
*Edit: I found a video of the We Found Love Cover of that tonight. Credits to
khdiesel for the video. Click Here*
The Opening - Their Sillhouette's were seen on the white screen
They chose a good blend of songs to perform. The transition from one song to
another was smooth. Every now and then Ryan would talk to the audience and
introduce the next song. He is quite a funny guy and seems down to earth -
definitely a crowd pleaser. At one stage in the concert, his guitar strap broke
and he handled it so well! While the backstage crew was fixing it, he made up a
song about Melbourne on the spot, singing about coffee and how he felt about
the city. He is not just an amazing artist but also a great performer. He made
the concert interesting and you could tell that he had a passion for music with
the way he would tap along. On top of that, they would wheel in the piano for
some songs and he would play while singing. I do admire his skills and it
really inspires me to learn more songs in the piano. One of the other band
members played the cello for some of the songs.
It was truly amazing to see how talented these men were.
Ryan sounded perfect, maybe even better than the recorded tracks. He hit
every note perfectly and his voice was just beautiful! Towards the end of one
of the songs, there was a moment of silence where he backed up from the mic and
sang a high note. The mic picked it up
perfectly. The drums and guitar live just complimented Ryan's voice so well.
They are definitely a band that you need to see live. After being to Maroon 5
last year and being amazed by hearing Adam's raw voice, I would have to say
that OneRepublic probably had a better live performance! It was a completely
flawless performance and they handled stage mishaps very well.
During one of their performances
By the end of the concert, I forgot that my feet were hurting - that was how
good the concert was. The next time they come to Melbourne, I am buying a
ticket for sure!
Love,
Victoria
Love,
Victoria
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