Lily Allen – Spark Arena February 2, 2019
Lily Allen opened the final leg of her No Shame Tour at Auckland’s Spark Arena. Both the venue and the show itself were smaller, more intimate affairs than recent concerts by pop divas such as Pink, Cher and Shania Twain, giving fans a chance to connect with the sometimes controversial artist.
At age 33, it seems that perhaps Allen’s notorious party girl days may be behind her. And not without a certain amount of regret. She noted that last time she performed in Auckland, eight years ago, She was “married or just about married” and since then had two children, but “I fucked it all up”.
That sense of personal failure serves as the driving force behind Allen’s most recent album, 2018’s No Shame. Songs such as Come On Then, Family Man and Lost My Mind address the issues of her marriage breakup, substance abuse and her relationship with celebrity.
The fact that songs with these weighty topics were performed alongside older, more fun-loving tunes such as Smile and Who’s Have Known created a sense of tension during the 90 minute set, especially since it seemed that a good portion of the audience was there to relive their misbegotten youth of a decade earlier.
As far as productions go, this was a fairly stripped down affair, just Lily and a microphone along with two musicians, introduced as Tevin and Jody, who played various electronic instruments along with the occasional guitar or piano. There were no costume changes, Lily began the show dressed in what looked to be a track suit…but with some very nice shoes…she later ditched the track suit (and the shoes) to reveal a sparkly top.
The lighting design was a bit problematic, or I should say, annoying, several lighting columns on stage that, more often than not, shown straight out into the audience, blinding us. Fans could be seen shielding their eyes as they sang along.
Lily herself sounded good, despite apologizing for a croaky voice after her “24 hour flight” and exposure to air conditioning.
A dozen or so of the songs from No Shame were performed with singles Come On Then and Trigger Bang getting strong reactions, although one could sense some restlessness in the crowd during quieter numbers such as Three and Everything To Feel Something.
Allen had also recently recorded a cover of Lykke Li’s Deep End for Triple J and she threw that in for good measure.
But it was the early hits the fans were there to hear and the place really came alive during LDN, Smile and The Fear.
Lily herself proved to be an engaging host when she did stop to talk to the audience, whether it was telling us about her snorkeling trip to Goat Island or about writing The Fear, “a long time ago, before The Kardashians”. In fact, I would have liked to have heard a bit more of her in-between song banter.
It will be interesting to see where Lily Allen goes from here. Clearly, her audience is struggling to come to terms with an older, more mature version of the artist. We’ll see if they grow together or apart.
Meanwhile Grey Lynn teen Bene made a strong impression as the warm up act. She’s only released two songs, but has generated plenty of attention and, seeing her hold her own on the Spark Arena stage, is easy to understand why. She’s definitely got the confidence, the attitude and the stage moves, and her songs sounded pretty good as well.
She’s one to keep an eye on.
Marty Duda
Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Veronica McLaughlin:
Lily Allen set list:
- Come On Then
- Waste
- LDN
- What Are You Waiting For?
- My One
- Knock ‘Em out
- Lost My Mind
- Smile
- Party Line
- Deep End
- Pushing Up Daisies
- Three
- Everything To Feel Something
- The Fear
- Higher
- Family Man
- Who’d Have Known
- Not Fair
- Apples
- Trigger Bang
- Fuck You
