Reviewed on Thursday April 22 (photo by Ashley Mar)
Embarking on a journey across the universe in 90 minutes, Odesza gloriously took charge at the Metro Theatre for their second of three Sydney shows. With an almost unrivalled lighting and projection display, alongside their vast array of remixes and originals from 2013’s My Friends Never Die and 2014’s In Return, the duo upped their game tenfold from their previous tour just last January.
The swarming fans were more than ready when they chanted “O-des-za!” before Rae Sremmurd’s ‘No Type’ turned up the heat and the room went dark. An assault on the senses was to follow, as Seattle’s finest proverbially smashed through the room with fiery strikes on their drum pads and scenes of exploding concrete conflict behind them. If ever there was a few first seconds that ultimately set the tone of a show, this was it.
What came next consisted of vent-shaking bass, non-stop grooving and perfectly timed visuals. The two silhouettes that were Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight were accompanied by a guitar, trombone and trumpet, elevating the set and some of its lesser-known songs. The projections went from floating lanterns to video game shapes. Tracks from In Return shone brightest, and with the crowd going wild for the first taste of ‘All We Need’, not even the substantial feedback could ruin the moment.
A monumental drum beat and soaring brass for the live incarnation of ‘Bloom’ created pure magic, and transported us all out into the universe when paired with landscapes of the Northern Lights and cosmos – undoubtedly one of the top moments in the set.
Brief visits to Japan and New York were next, after some world-class transitions into Odesza’s remixes of ‘Waited 4 U’ by Slow Magic and ‘Divinity’ by Porter Robinson. Then the lights, beat and visuals went down on ‘Kusanagi’, symbolically leading us into the last part of the journey.
From ‘Memories That You Call’ set to Indian imagery, to a guitar-soaked and Ratatat-esque version of their ‘Faded’ remix by ZHU, George Maple’s vocals creeping in on Hayden James’ ‘Something About You’ (with a cameo from the man himself) and bursts of pseudo-fireworks as ‘Sun Models’ magically filled the air, the non-stop set drew to a spectacular close as the word ‘Odesza’ filled the screen behind its members. As if we all needed a reminder of who had just dominated the room.
