Anne-Marie
28th March 2019
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Chris Zwaagdyk.
English singer/songwriter Anne Marie touched down in Auckland last night bringing with her a slew of radio hits and a down to earth personality. While Spark Arena may have been slightly over ambitious in terms of venue – the arena looking rather small and compact in mini theatre mode – the intimate audience certainly made up for it in sheer enthusiasm.
Adding a little kiwi flavour to the night, Auckland band Openside brought a set that was high on animated delivery and heavy on backing vocals. Their strong opening that saw both guitarist PJ Shepherd and bassist Harry Carter join drummer George Powell in a percussion triangle, soon devolved into a set that felt a little karaoke-ish as the pre-recorded backing vocals and synths overwhelmed the actual live instrumental factor of the band. Combined with a few equipment hiccups for PJ Shepherd, and the set just missed the mark slightly, despite the best efforts of vocalist Possum Plows and co. Still the set was a chance for them to perform their latest single ‘Waiting for Love’ released just a few days ago along with fan favourites such as ‘Work Out’, ‘Tuesday’ and of course the powerful ‘Letting It Out’ giving the fans the chance to sing and dance along. Bidding farewell with one of the two ‘companion’ tracks to ‘Waiting For Love’, ‘Kiss Me’ certainly shows that Openside are travelling along a more upbeat path in terms of musical content.
Stage stripped back to a simple black back-drop and three podiums, Anne-Marie arrived to screams of delight from the predominantly female audience, many of whom were easily under the age of eighteen.
While not her first visit to New Zealand – Anne-Marie performing a delightful acoustic showcase at the now defunct venue REC back in May of 2017 as well as performing with Rudimental before that – last night was her first chance to really show her New Zealand fans what she can do when the stage is completely hers. Accompanied by a three-piece band which included former Rudimental drummer Beanie Bhebhe on bass, Anne-Marie looked like your best mate from down the road, dressed in a long-sleeved white t-shirt and sneakers. Kicking it off with ‘Bad Girlfriend’ it was clear (despite her set also leaning a little on the pre-recorded backing vocals and heavy synths crutch) that Anne-Marie has the chops to do what she does, her distinctive lilt and Caribbean flavouring to her sound one that is rather infectious.
Following it up with ‘Cry’ and ‘Do it Right’ Anne-Marie greeted the audience like long lost friends, her wide smile and bubbly personality often spilling over the sides as she broke into a giggle.
With only one album to her name – Speak Your Mind released in 2018 – and a handful of radio singles, Anne-Marie stretched her set out with a combination of anecdotes about cheating boyfriends, audience interactions and glass shattering screaming competitions with the fans; her fourteen song set just clocking the seventy-five minute mark. Despite the repetitive nature of many of the songs – a common pitfall with this type of radio fodder, there were still some gems to be found; ‘Perfect To Me’ with it’s message of being happy with who you are one that was not lost on the audience while ‘Rockabye’ is just a bit of fun to sing along to.
But what makes Anne-Marie really stand out is her personality, referring to herself as a “bit of a weirdo” there is a vibe to her that is both warm and welcoming as well as downright genuine. She certainly deserves to take it to the next level, but she will need to step out of the box a little more with her next album to do so.
Were you there at Spark Arena for this intimate pop performance? Or have you seen Anne-Marie perform live somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Bad Girlfriend
- Cry
- Do It Right
- Heavy
- Perfect To Me
- Trigger
- Ciao Adios
- Can I Get Your Number
- Don’t Leave Me Alone
- Alarm
- Then
- Rockabye
- 2002
- Friends
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