Reviewed onFriday July 15
Ladyhawke played a sold-out gig at Oxford Art Factory on Friday night as the Sydney stop on her Wild Things tour. The New Zealander has had a long love affair with this country: in 2008 she was poised to be the next big star in indie electropop, and her first Australian tour in 2009 had her packing out the Enmore.
In the near-decade since her triumphant self-titled debut, however, her momentum has slumped under the weight of personal issues and an extended four-year hiatus. But it’s a testament to her indelible appeal that both her Sydney and Melbourne shows on this tour were rammed with enduring fans, with the former overlooking the early sound issues and offering up a lot of love for the earlier hits.
The majority of the night was devoted to tracks from Wild Things, with the likes of ‘The River’, ‘Golden Girl’, ‘Sweet Fascination’, ‘Let It Roll’ and ‘A Love Song’. There were tangents into 2008 with ‘Manipulating Woman’ and ‘Magic’, as well as 2012 single ‘Blue Eyes’.
Listening to Wild Things at home is obviously a different experience to hearing the songs performed with a live band – the production on this record is far poppier than on Ladyhawke’s two preceding albums – so it was surprising (and perhaps gratifying) to see that not all of that added pop was translated to the stage. ‘My Delirium’ was wonderfully received as the encore, and suddenly we all felt together, sat in the passenger seat of the top-down car Ladyhawke drives in that film clip; we were the Thelma to her Louise.
