Lily Allen, Cassette Kids @The Forum, Melbourne(12/06/2009)

Sun 14th Jun, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Pop pixie Lily Allen brought final leg of her Australian tour to the heart of Melbourne on the 12th of June to a sold out Forum Theatre crowd. With NSW pop rock band Cassette Kids in tow, Ms Allen was ready to wow her fans in one of the most energetic concerts Melbourne has seen all year.

Warming up the crowd for Ms Allen, Cassette Kids, led by the irresistible Katrina Noorbergen, got the crowd moving with their brand of new wave pop rock. Having supported The Presets on their 2008 national tour, they have had plenty of experience in supporting major acts. Opening with a song from their EP titled We Are , Techno Dan , the New South Wales band had no hesitations in jumping straight into an energetic, fun filled song to display their talents for the sold out crowd.

Cassette Kid’s previewed songs from their upcoming debut album, with Katrina’s singing strongly overpowering the musician’s instruments, with songs such as You Shot Me and Insomnia, two new tracks from Cassette Kid’s upcoming album. Other song’s previewed from the upcoming album included Coming Back, Freaky Sweetie and Lying Around. The final two songs performed were their singles from their mini-album, Meant to Be and their most popular song, You Take It. With a new CD available late 2009, and a slot on the Parklife line-up, Cassette Kid’s are one Australian band you’ll want to keep your eye on!

Lily Allens show began with a knock-out performance of Everyone’s At It, the first song from her new album, It’s Not Me, It’s You. The song, which is a commentary on the drug culture, began with Lily atop a small stage where she descended on foot to the awaiting crowd, and giant cut out works spelling LILY adorned behind her. This epic opening was followed by the fifth track off of Lily’s new CD, I Could Say and the dark horse favourite Never Gonna Happen. Covering the Kaiser Chiefs, Lily’s next song was the upbeat anthem Oh My God , which was remixed on stage to incorporate Everything’s Wonderful, a song from Lily’s debut album Alright, Still. The next song was Him, offering Lily’s commentary on God and how he just doesn’t seem to care about the world anymore.

Being a somewhat down to earth singer, Lily took the time in between each song to talk to the crowd, explain the origins of each song, and generally tell us about her life and what she’s been doing since the release of her new album. Following a comment about a fan smoking inside and The Forum theatre, Lily had a barrage of cigarettes and lighter tossed towards her. She playfully declined the offers of cigarettes, and continued the show.

Mixing the set-list up so as to please both fans of old and new album, Lily would perform songs from both of her releases, her first major single, LDN and Back to the Start. He Wasn’t There, a song about Lily’s father and how he left her family when she was a young girl was followed by Littlest Things from Lily’s first album, and fan favourite Chinese, a song about all the time spent with her mother were performed to the crowds excitement.

According to Lily 22 was written about a specific person but ended up as a more general song about females who rely on their looks and find at the age of 30. It was an undeniably exciting moment of the show, as Lily’s most famous and controversial song to date was next on the set-list It’s Not Fair, about the how it’s not fair to meet a boy who she really likes, but is a letdown in bed. This song was clearly the highlight of the night with the pop superstar using the entire stage as her playground to dance, sing and visit each side of the stage for the audience.

Lily’s profanity littered hit F**k You followed and although the song isn’t about any particular group, Lily did speak of her disgust towards recent British politics before beginning the tune.

Lily’s encore began with her hit Smile performed to a huge reception of applause and her recent single The Fear – a commentary on life as a celebrity. With the crowd singing along, Lily had one more song for the sold out crowd, a cover of Britney Spears hit, Womanizer, before closing the night.

For anybody who unfortunately missed out, fear not. As Lily subtle mentioned at the conclusion of the show, – œThank you, you’ve been lovely Melbourne, and I’ll see you early 2010 in January,’ where it seems now confirmed by Lily herself after many rumors that she will play the 2010 Australia/New Zealand Big Day Out tour.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE