Words such as amazing and awe-inspiring cannot even begin to sum up the magic that filled Thebarton Theatre on Saturday night (17 November) at the Adelaide leg of Gang Of Youths ‘Say Yes To Life’ tour.
I am someone who hates the overuse and misuse of the word literally in modern society. However, I have to make an exception while talking about this show.
It was literally one of the most amazing concerts I have ever attended; and I literally mean literally. They didn’t use fancy backdrops or have the most manicured set, but their music and energy spoke to every soul in the room.
The boys opened the show with a beautiful performance of one of their most popular songs, ‘Fear And Trembling’. And already it was hard to drag my eyes away from frontman Dave Le’aupepe – his performance style and the way he engages with the lyrics is something beautiful to watch.
You can hear his energy on the records, but in person it was electric. He often spread his arms out as if trying to reach every one of us in the audience, and every person in the theatre was feeding off the love that seemed to radiate from within him.
Dave didn’t say a lot, and when he did it was often hard to hear or understand. But he made sure we all knew how grateful they were to be back in Adelaide with two sold-out shows. “It’s been a long time and it’s good to be back. It’s very surreal to be able to play two of these shows here, so thank you so much for coming.”
‘Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane’, ‘Persevere’ and album title track, ‘Go Farther In Lightness’ were all stunning. Dave sat quietly at the piano playing effortlessly as we all yelled lyrics at him.
Musical interlude ‘L' Imaginaire’ left me rocking and almost sobbing in my seat.
But it was a beautiful live rendition of ‘Keep Me In The Open’ which quickly rocketed to the top of my favourite song list. How six notes can make me cry, I have no idea – but watching Dave sing it and pound his heart in time with the music was perfect and real and relatable. “Tell me how I can do this thing. Tell me how I can help this thing go easily. Cos I’m trying, Honeybee.”
An amazing cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘I'm On Fire’ brought the balcony to their feet, while the mosh seemed to squeeze even closer to the stage.
Everyone sang along to the punchy tracks ‘The Heart Is A Muscle’ and ‘Let Me Down Easy’, their highest charting song in Triple J's Hottest 100 (#2 in 2017), and one of the more upbeat songs on their most recent album.
‘The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows’ has to be one of the biggest messages to come out of their 2017 album, inspiring the call for love, acceptance and support against adversity. Charting at #5 in this year’s Triple J Hottest 100, an emotional auditorium full of people singing along in unison made me feel like I was part of something bigger; and maybe we could all make a change in the world like the band before us.
And as if we didn’t love them enough already, Dave announced that: “A dollar from every ticket sold on this tour will be donated to ALS (Aboriginal Legal Service).”
There was no way the quintet was going to get away without an encore, so they reappeared and played two more tracks, ‘Vital Signs’ and the track that gave the tour its name, ‘Say Yes To Life’.
A memorable night filled with a roller coaster of emotions shared with a sold-out auditorium.
Now more than ever with everything that’s going on around the world, we need hope and acceptance. This Aussie band is spreading that message and inspiring everyone along the way.
