Ladyhawke @ Enmore Theatre,Sydney (07/11/09)

Tue 10th Nov, 2009 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE.

For the uninitiated, Ladyhawke is Pip Brown, a twenty-something New Zealand lass who brought her self-penned glam-bogan pop/rock to attention with her debut album little over a year ago. Etching herself into the public subconscious with hits like Paris Is Burning and My Delirium, Brown has found a comfortable niche between guilt-free mainstream success and critical acclaim – currently in contention for an enviable six ARIA Awards later this month.

As the house lights faded, her unassuming frame wafted onto the sparse stage at a packed-to-the-rafters Enmore Theatre. With an almost fragile gait, her stick-thin body approached a fairy-lit mic stand – and with nothing more than a “Hello everybody”, she jumped head first into Magic. Grinding out song after song, it wasn’t until Another Runaway that Brown began to shake her inhibitions and step up to the fans’ expectations.

Mid-way through her set, she quite comically stepped off stage to disrobe from her breezy top, and just like that, she returned a little more liberated from whatever was holding her down. Latching onto this sudden bravado worked, seeing her storm out some impassioned vocals and blistering through the rest of her first set, particularly B-side track Danny & Jenny, the aptly titled You Set Me On Fire and an electric rendition of Paris Is Burning. Occasionally she would toe up to the edge of the stage to thrash her way through a solo, and the audience lapped it up.

Unfortunately, the venue’s sound system brawled with Pip’s vocals, leaving her mostly muffled. While the instrumentals come through loud and clear, she often had to fight for clarity. Also a little lacklustre were the band – not through sound, but presence. The boys, flanked in black, were lost in the flood of blue lighting and even still made no effort to step up.

With a body of work limited to just one album, it wasn’t surprising that Pip should include covers in her set. They were nothing less than satisfying, though. A smouldering cover of Message To My Girl by her native Split Enz and a grinding version of the Patti Smith track Free Money paved way for Ladyhawke to end the night with her big one, My Delirium.

And delirious they were – the crowd thrashed and chanted along with a feverish excitement that simmered in the air long after the house lights had flared and sent the masses spewing back onto the streets of Enmore. It may have taken a while to get there, but when she finally delivered, Ladyhawke soared.