The Preatures and Pink at Allphones Arena 1/9/13 - Live Review

I can barely remember the last time I went to Allphones Arena. I think it might’ve been The Wiggles or the annual Teddy Bear Picnic and the Arena was still Acer or some other corporate group with a stupid name. Going there was incredibly overwhelming in the strangest way possible.

My first concert ever was P-exclamation mark-nk in 2009 at Sydney Entertainment Centre, even though I often tell people it was Art Vs Science instead because that was my ‘first real concert’. Since 2010 I’ve been going to as many shows as I can because for some reason I feel like I belong when I’m standing in a smelly crowd watching people bash away at instruments. I’ve been to 82 shows and festivals and I’ve seen almost 300 different acts in just 4 years. Aside from the Arias (which are a load of bullshit, don’t go to them) and Coldplay I haven’t been to any other big commercial shows other P!nk and I honestly forgot why people like going to these things.

The week before the show one of my absolute favourite groups, The Preatures, were announced as the support for Pink’s show so I bought limited view tickets last minute. I’ve been following them (almost religiously) since I saw them play to about 30 people at the Newtown Festival in November last year, so I just had to see them play to 21,000. I also thought it’d be a nice nostalgia trip to relive my 2009 P!nk experience #yolo.

The show was scheduled to start at 7:30 and after a hefty 40 minute wait everyone was getting impatient. As people started to cram into their seats and the floor filled up to the back, it was hard to look at the punters as people and not as floating $150 bills (+ booking fees and 20 dollar parking and 30 dollar programmes and 60 dollar shirts, 100 dollar jumpers, 200 dollar onesies, 40 dollar lunch boxes and don’t even get me started on the price of food and drink). It’s hard to look at a venue filled with punters who’ve shelled out their wallets and to see a crowd, not a money-making machine. Show after show, million after million, the crowd get what they want and the musical giants get more and more fuel for their world-dominating tour/monster.

I’m used to going to gigs at venues with capacities that are a 20th the size of Allphones, where (unless you’re short), you can see the performers without aid of binoculars, where people dance and scream and yell and get ridiculously drunk (because it’s a little more affordable that 15 dollars for a small glass of wine) and really bask in great music without the wiz-bang fireworks and gimmicks. But tell you what, when it’s done right, the gimmicks are pretty darn awesome.

The Preatures took to the stage about 50 minutes after the scheduled time and continued to blow everyone away. Well, I don’t know if all the Pink fans appreciated it because a quarter of them didn’t even bother to clap (rude). It was the 4th time I’d seen them play and they’ve come so far in less than a year. They mostly played the fresh new material from their hit EP, Is This How You Feel, and a couple old favourites. Isabella and Gideon, who often share the lead vocals, have stunning intertwining masculine and feminine energies, the chemistry is absolutely beautiful to watch and hear and always results in one of the best little treats I can ever find for my ears. “Unlike any other group out there, The Preatures are one of the most promising bands on the scene” - Geneva. I love to quote myself when I’m right BOO YAH *hi fives self*.

During the wait for Pink, there was some delightfully entertaining clowning/comedy/general strangeness provided by the show ‘host’, who climbed about the arena with all eyes/cameras on him, drinking peoples beers and licking bald men’s heads.

It didn’t take me long to realise why people still go to these shows. P!nk literally bungeed onto the stage. Somehow I still knew all the words to the songs I hadn’t listened to since 2009 and when I wasn’t staring with my mouth hanging open, I was singing obnoxiously loud (sorry to those seated around me).

You can go to the Metro and see a band with a banner hung behind them, but you can pay quadruple the price and go to a show with 20,999 other people and see fireworks, diamonted gimps, pole-dancing hunks, the most amazing choreography, and a woman singing whilst literally flying through the whole arena. I’m not saying that you indie kids should shell out all your money on tickets to acts like One Direction, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Rihanna, etc etc etc you get the drift, but you should be aware that in general, if you spend money on a show like that, it’s probably going to be worth it, so don’t be ashamed to see Miley Cyrus if you’re willing to pay 150 bucks (ALSO, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD NEEDS TO SEE COLDPLAY).

I don’t want to give too much away because there are so many surprises in the show, so many things that will blow anyone’s mind. Even if you’re a super-hipster who will aggressively defend their indie-only taste, or a grandmother who hasn’t listened to pop music since the 60’s, the pure spectacle of the show will have you engaged and thoroughly entertained. Worth every cent.

Reviewed by Geneva Valek

#thepreatures #pink #allphonesarena