An assemblage of scrunchies and cheerleader bows spilled into Sydney’s Enmore Theatre for what was many young Anne-Marie fans’ first ever concert. The tweens filled the venue with high shrills and shrieks, waiting in anticipation for their UK pop princess.
Warming up the sold-out night was Sydney-export GLADES, with lead singer Karina Wykes dressed in a street style of high-waisted split-legged red jeans and platform Converses. Wykes and her three-piece band began the night with “Nervous Energy”, but her energy was far from that. She bounced around the stage, getting down to her tunes that quickly had the crowd rolling. Part way through the performance, the singer experienced ear-piece difficulties but played it off like nothing. It was possibly the most seamless crisis management I have seen on stage and the set continued without skipping a beat. She finished off her ‘bucket list’ performance with “Do Right”, and I could have easily stuck around for more.
Soon sirens screeched over the speakers, warning the crowd of Anne-Marie’s arrival. She launched straight into “Bad Girlfriend”, followed by “Cry” and her first Australian gold single, “Do It Right”. Anne-Marie was karate-kicking the air, jumping with proper height around the stage and finishing each song panting. She turned to the crowd and said she was “wearing sucking-in undies”, which she cheekily flashed and teased that she might have to take off later. “It’s hard work being a woman!” she joked and look, with the cardio going on up there, I would be surprised if she made it through the set with those things holding her lungs in!
Crowd-favourite feel-good affirmation, “Perfect” had an epically loud karaoke session from the mosh pit, with Sydney yelling the lyrics “I’m okay with not being perfect / ‘Cause that’s perfect to me”. However, the audience interaction got way more intense when Anne-Marie floated the idea of having a member of the crowd rap Sean Paul’s verse in the Clean Bandit tune, “Rockabye”. Lucky audience member Aidan was hauled through the mosh pit and thrusted on stage for the moment of his lifetime – becoming Sean Paul 2.0. Struck by nerves, his rap set off on a rocky start, but with a little prompt from Anne-Marie, Aidan quickly gained back his confidence, twirling his jacket above his head and werking the crowd! They went wild.
The night finished with her recent single “2002” and straight into Marshmello’s hit “FRIENDS”. Suddenly her 14-tune set was over with no encore to cap it off. The evening was sprinkled with realisations of “Oh, she had this song too!” and “I remember this tune!”, even though her global career is only relatively short – her first headlining tour was in 2016.
With four dates left on her Australian tour, Anne-Marie has set the bar high for the rest of the country. With an unrelenting energy and giggly charm, the performer is sure to impress her way around Australia and will definitely be welcomed on these shores again.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Anne-Marie continues her Australia & New Zealand Tour until April 6th. For more information and tickets, head to Frontier Touring.
April 2 | Melbourne | 170 Russell (18+)
April 3 | Melbourne | Prince Bandroom (AA)
April 4 | Adelaide | HQ (AA)
April 6 | Perth | Metro City (18+)
The reviewer attended this performance at the Enmore Theatre on March 31st.
