LIVE REVIEW: Amy Shark – Riverstage

Amy Shark is only two albums into her career, but she’s already created a discography that has soundtracked the heartbreaking, romantic and emotionally charged moments of people’s lives. To celebrate the release of her sophomore record ‘Cry Forever’, the Gold Coast singer-songwriter has hit the road for her biggest headline tour yet that he has seen her playing arenas nationwide.

Returning home to Queensland, she took over the Riverstage in Brisbane for a night of euphoric singalong’s and emotional reflection. With smoke covering the stage and wolf howls coming through the sound system, she walked out to huge screams for opening track ‘The Wolves’. Gliding straight into ‘Everybody Rise’ she was noticeably a little nervous and as she went to address the crowd for the first time she stumbled. “Hey, Gold Coast..” she blundered before trying to recover “Brisbane.. fuck Gold Coast! Gold Coast, fucking hell”. The hilarious moment was taken in light as the crowd was aware she played the Gold Coast the night before, but it was just a funny moment that you can imagine seeing in a YouTube highlight reel of “artists saying wrong city names” soon.

Powering through the set she put a prominent spotlight on her new album ‘Cry Forever’ while also playing old favourites from her debut album ‘Love Monster’. ‘All The Lies About Me’, ‘All Loved Up’, ‘Miss You’, ‘C’mon’, ‘You’ll Never Meet Anyone Like Me Again’ and ‘The Idiot’ were early favourites that ignited the singalong’s from the crowd. But it was ‘Worst Day Of My Life’ segueing into ‘Lonely Still’ and then ‘Psycho’ which was a moment in itself that had the emotional side of me thriving.

Asking the crowd to lose themselves in the moment even if it was just for one song, she surprised them with an electrifying cover of The Killers ‘Mr. Brightside’ which was a whole lot of fun. With the end of the set nearing she closed the show with ‘That Girl’ and a fiery performance of ‘Mess Her Up’ with pyro igniting across the stage. But as we are all aware, that was never going to really be the end. Returning for an intimate performance of ‘Amy Shark’ she then had a costume change and kicked off a second encore that packed in ‘Baby Steps’, ‘Adore’, ‘Love Songs Ain’t For Us’ and ‘I Said Hi’. With fireworks lighting up the night sky as she walked off the stage, the crowd walked away with smiles on their faces from the big pop show they had just witnessed.

Opening the nights festivities was Adelaide indie-rock duo Teenage Joans who treated the early crowd to some angsty coming of age anthems. And then Evie Irie continued to set the tone with a set that cemented her as one of the most exciting newcomers in the Australian music industry. Opening with her explosive debut single ‘Bitter’ the excited 18 year old exclaimed “Brisbane, how we feeling?” before rolling into a set of fan favourites including ‘Vulnerable’, ‘Little More Love’, ‘The Optimist’ and the killer new single ‘The Idea Of You’. Premiering two new tracks including ‘I Want You Anyway’ and ‘Get What You Need’ as well as a rock interpretation of Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’, she highlighted the heavier pop-rock direction she’s heading in that is reminiscent of recent Olivia Rodrigo and old school Gwen Stefani. After witnessing this set I can safely confirm that Evie Irie is a star and this is only the beginning for her.

Check out the full gallery captured by Jayden Staines Photography BELOW;