Fresh from supporting US act Madison Beer, and a couple of larger headline shows in Melbourne and Sydney, pop sensation Kita Alexander has kicked off her east-coast regional tour, playing at a range of pubs, clubs and smaller festivals.
Alexander, based in Byron, first came to attention in 2015 with the ARIA Gold-certified hit 'Like You Want To', going through the remainder of the decade releasing a number of hit singles and touring within Australia.Married to pro-surfer Owen Wright, she was touring Australia when – then partner, now husband – Wright had a scary accident at Pipeline, Hawaii. Alexander was there to support her partner back to health (and a subsequent Olympic medal in Tokyo), a process that was expected to take a number of years.
Wright retired from the world tour earlier this year and is returning the favour, dedicating his time to managing his wife's expanding musical career, following her hiatus for a few years as she transitioned to parenthood.
Kita Alexander - image © Bill Prendergast
The current tour coincides with the release of new music, in the form of her first full album 'Young In Love', released in 2024 and debuting strongly on the local charts. This new album is a cracker, moving from pop hits ('Best You Ever Had' and 'Queen'), dance music ('Easy'), and a lovely collaboration with country singer Morgan Evans ('Date Night'). 'Figure It Out' is the standout track on the release for me, but overall there is a high quality breadth of music.
The tour also occurs in the face of a resurgence of her popularity given the recent collaboration with artist FISHER on 'Atmosphere'. The combination of 'Young In Love' and her FISHER collaboration has seen her win an Australian Independent Records Award (in the dance category), and she has pending nominations for a number of 2024 ARIAs (including the prestigious Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist Award).
Kita's full catalogue is catchy, with a light-pop focus, sometimes evoking a slightly folky feel, but her strong lyrics are a standout across her music. It is fair to say that the current tour is significantly building her experience and confidence as a live performer, with the majority of her work prior to 2023 having been in the studio.
Tonight (24 October), Alexander plays the Coolangatta Hotel on the Gold Coast, right across the road from the site of the huge FISHER show from earlier in 2024. The support act for tonight and many of the upcoming gigs, is Grace Hughes – better known as Yorke, also hailing from Byron. This is a friendly crowd for Kita as she is on home ground, so we are expecting a great live show.
Yorke's performance kicks off with an extended set, mainly works from her new EP, so she skips a couple of her earlier, better-known works (such as 'Vertigo' and 'Gravity'), but the music is great.
The format is Yorke alone onstage with backing music out of a machine, with Yorke playing a brief stint on keyboards. 'Like In The Movies' is a good one to kick off with, and as she moves through the set, the crowd displays a familiarity with the new works.
Yorke - image © Bill Prendergast
The set moves into the new single 'Love On The Run', only released fewer than 24 hours prior to the show. It's a very upbeat piece, and with a full tour with Kita Alexander in train, and significant support on local radio, we will certainly hear more from Yorke.
Kita Alexander hits the stage and the show's format is Alexander and one other musician, who alternates between guitar and keys, so clearly again there is going to be a substantial contribution from pre-recorded music.
The first thing we see is the outfit, bare feet and a long light skirt; a perfect outfit for the beach! 'Best You Ever Had' from 'Young In Love' is the opener, replete with its colourful language; it's one of the dancey hits from the new album, so brings a good energy to open the evening's set.
'All Night' follows, also from the new release, followed by the 2015 song which brought her to the attention of local music-lovers, 'Like You Want To'. 'Hotel' is up next, clearly a song with a very emotional background, as Alexander talks of how difficult it is to lose someone close (in this case, a family member).
Kita Alexander - image © Bill Prendergast
Kita plays the lovely Maton acoustic as she kicks off 'Date Night'; it's a simple piece, but really worth a listen off the new release and very easy to get into. 'Bigger Person' is another great song from her 2024 album, and features some lovely Hammond-like keyboard sounds, and gives shades of Missy Higgins.
'Zodiac' is played slightly faster and more upbeat, but is a huge hit with the crowd. 'Queen', one of the hit releases from the 2024 album is up next, morphing into a partial cover of Spandau Ballet's 'True' to wind up the set.
There's one massive song missing, so the crowd knows there will be an encore. Kita returns onstage, noting it would be a crime to leave without playing the next song, which she co-wrote and performed with "Gold Coast mayor", FISHER.
Kita Alexander - image © Bill Prendergast
Kita notes that she loves the FISHER collaboration and also her own, stripped-back version, which is what she plays tonight on the lovely JazzMaster guitar. I like this song (which is massively popular on Spotify), and I love this version, and the crowd is swaying throughout, into the final song which is another blend.
Listening to the opening of 'Between You & I', it instantly evokes the 1980s Tears For Fears' hit 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World'; Alexander plays the initial verse and chorus, then does the same as had been the case earlier with 'True', switching between her lyrics and song, and the original.
Kita Alexander - image © Bill Prendergast
Overall, this was a short, sharp set, but the music is very high quality, Alexander tells us how much she loves singing and songwriting, and this is clearly reflected in the quality of the music. There are opportunities to see this show up and down the east coast of Australia in small venues, and she will only build in popularity over coming years.
More photos from the concert.
