Twenty-two-year-old New Zealand sweetheart Kimbra Johnson rocked St Kilda’s Palais Theatre last night. Melbourne’s show was the second of her 2012 solo tour.
She ran onto the stage and opened with Limbo. Dressed in a metallic silver parachute dress and a long black, red and white feather jacket, Kimbra is simply stunning. She thanks the crowd and then slowly takes off her jacket to the first notes of Good Intent.
As if she is conducting her Orchestra, Kimbra is so in tune with the music being played behind her. Every movement is a perfect extension of the rhythm and she is mesmerising. Kimbra dazzles the crowd with her smoky voice and sultry moves, picking up and bashing her red tambourine while dancing around madly on stage. She is vibrant, happy and excited to be performing and you can tell that every part of her lives to be making music.
Not afraid of knocking down pop music boundaries, Kimbra has a genre of her own. An intricate, rhythmatic mixture of pop and chaotic jazz that is amplified when played live. It’s jazz on steroids, and it’s amazing!
A quick dress change and Kimbra re-emerges in a quirky, short red dress.
Kimbra played every song off her debut album, Vows, which included her first single, Settle Down. We were lucky to get a rendition of Samaritan and her latest single, Come Into My Head.
She wowed us with her lastest collaboration with Mark Foster (of Foster the People), Warrior, and she invited the crowd to stand up and dance. The first to get up was Gotye, who was sitting directly behind me, and even he was in awe of her powerful stage presence. We were pleasantly surprised by her duet with special guest Sam Lawrence on keyboard, who performed Wandering Limbs.
She left the crowd speechless with her moving version of Withdraw. With every heart-aching note, you can feel the passion and deep emotion in this song. Under white spotlights, white confetti starts to fall from above and is blown around the stage during this unforgettable performance. Never have I been to a concert where so many were completely spellbound. Kimbra had the crowd in the palm of her hand and you could hear nothing but the last echoes of her voice.
Her 1 hour and 15 minute show ended with a very ‘poppy’ Cameo Lover and a shower of colourful confetti fell down to end an erratic, yet always graceful, Kimbra performance.
