Back on Australian shores after a jaw-dropping performance at Laneway 2023 and her first solo foray in Perth, Marie Ulven Ringheim, famously known by her stage name girl in red took to Centenary (11 July) like a bull in a china shop, the red of her namesake being her outward passion and gusto she rained down onto the crowd.
Special guests Telenova warmed the crowd with saccharine indie pop hits from their soon to be debut album 'Time Is A Flower’ (out 16 August), with latest single 'Discothèque Inside My Head' being the perfect crowd pleaser to whet the appetite of a very hungry crowd.Music fades. A red glow emits from the stage. Out pops a rambunctious singer striding onto the stage but not in red, instead donning an outfit akin to Patrick Bateman or an English professor.
Marie poses at the back of the stage before grinning and playing it off as a joke and starting the night with 'Doing It Again Baby', a punchy little number bathed in red strobe lights to electrify the crowd. 'Bad Idea!' and 'Girls' followed suit to signify that the classics are being played too. The visuals were sharp and neurotic bringing to life the anxious and clawing lyrics the young Norwegian croons about in her songs.
"You were so far away we couldn't bring my original set design. We had a piano that swings about, but we couldn't bring it," she declares then proclaims: "I'm right here in Perth," which sends the crowd absolutely bananas. Marie also wants it on record that she flew first class too, an impressive feat.
Image © Sam Mead
She jests with all of Perth's lesbian community who have rocked up to Claremont on a Thursday night. "I'm at a concert and I'm kinda scared because I'm a lesbian." Teetering off into a sweet, little rendition of newly appointed lesbian goddess Chappel Roan's 'Good Luck, Babe' on piano before getting side-tracked again with a monologue about podcasts.
'I'm Back' is a lush piano melody that builds and builds into a sonic kaleidoscope of sound, drowning out the crowd in one, big tidal wave before placing you gently back on the ground with a gentle refrain that flows fittingly into the Cinderella-esque 'Pick Me'.
Image © Sam Mead
'Ugly Side’, a jaunty, bass-heavy tune about flaws is backed up with 'October Passed Me By', the sequel and conclusion to her 2018 breakout hit. Its build and reverb crescendos into a soaring answer as to what a post breakup epiphany sounds like.
Of course you can't have the sequel without the original. 'We Fell In Love In October' sends the crowd into a sapphic frenzy of autumn bliss as orange leaves fill the screen. Again not wanting to end the high the next slaps you in the face.
'You Stupid Bitch' is a heavy, guitar-laden rock song of rage that shows the angsty 25-year-old as a legitimate threat and not to be trifled with as she dove into the crowd and was carried almost out the door performing 'Serotonin' on her lap around the room.
Image © Sam Mead
The opening chords of 'Too Much' were received with a rapture of screams. The lead single of recent outing in the form of LP 'I'm Doing It Again Baby!' is a groovy, sparkling tune that captures that sense of lovelorn which is ever present in the Norwegian singer's lyrics, as she begs "please don't say I'm too much" to an unquenchable crowd that's only wanting more.
The evening takes a slight pause as the singer stops to sign a pride flag and exchange friendship bracelets, segueing into the smoother 'Midnight Love' and 'A Night To Remember'.
The two balance out the upbeat rock with delicate pools of longing guided by an underlying synth and a sense of melancholy, which follows quite aptly into the foreboding 'Dead Girl In The Pool'. The angst has reached peak levels at this point.
Henry on the bass is doing some powerlifting through these songs with the guitar's turning up the heat quite literally as the digital stage burns to the ground in HD as the Sabrina Carpenter-featured track 'You Need Me Now?' sizzles through the warehouse.
There's a casual sense to the performance as Marie dances around the stage like a teen in their bedroom listening to heavy metal, bursting with untapped energy and excitement.
Image © Sam Mead
'I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend’ is the conclusion Perth needed for the evening. As girl in red forms a makeshift tunnel out of the crowd, running from the stage right to the back of the room as everyone dives into a telephonic mosh. The final notes of the track crash and sway in electronic warbling and an echo of applause.
Although she couldn't bring her full stage setup, the rock star was still able to do an awful lot with very little.
Boasting a stage presence to rival the likes of massive pop stars and enough angst to fill a whole warehouse in Claremont on a Thursday night, she's witty and not afraid to be herself, and that's what makes her endearing, even when she's refusing to sign bras or get alcohol-laden shoes thrown at her. A line has to be drawn at scaring the crowd with aggressive chords, however.
There's an aura about her that ever so politely taps you on the shoulder and says: "I'm just a friendly lesbian," and you can't help but fall in love.
- written by Sam Mead
More photos from the concert.
