The Veronicas with Taigh Wade and CXLOE at Palais Theatre on April 11th
REVIEW BY: BRITTANY LONG
On Monday night April 11th, The Veronicas finally brought their long-awaited Godzilla versus Human tour to Melbourne‘s Palais Theatre. After multiple rescheduled dates due to Covid, eager fans packed the iconic Melbourne venue. The elegant backdrop of the Palais setting the mood for the evening’s sold out show.
Opener Western Australian Taigh who was the Tik Tok UNDSCVRD competition winner was a hit, treating early comers to acoustic guitar and keyboard with his tracks ‘Lifeline’ and sharing stories behind many of the tracks including a poignant song in honour of his grandma and his dad not getting a chance to say goodbye to his mum. Closing with ‘Lost and Found’ those earlycomerslucky enough to witness his set couldn’t get enough of his heartfelt lyrics and sweet voice. I for one look forward to seeing what this talented man does in the future.
Next up was Sydney artist CXLOE. She delighted with her newest release ‘New Trick’ and treated fans to a cover of hit track Zombie by The Cranberries which she had previously debuted on Triple J’s Like A Version. This proved to be a great opportunity for a crowd singalong and sing they did! Accompanied by a talented band in their own right, guitarist Timi was a familiar face, also wowing on the violin, with Darryll on drums and Cam on keys ‘and everything else’. Her performance gave me Olivia Rodrigo vibes and her last song ‘Show You’ left the crowd wanting more.
There was a decent crowd for both support artists which was nice to see. Taking a chance to get in their ‘pee breaks’ the excitement and anticipation among the packed audience was palpable. Finally it was time for the moment everyone had been waiting for, a moment more than a year in the making. As the lights dimmed and the sound of sirens and alarms echoed through the theatre, flashing lights and the announcement of a ‘Security breach’ accompanied an entrance like no other. To the thunderous applause and screams of a sold out Palais Theatre The ladies of the hour entered the stage in style, guns blazing armed with CO2 guns to newest track ‘Godzilla’. They began the evening by treating fans to some older classics including ‘When it all falls apart’, ‘Take me on the floor’ and ‘Hook Me Up’ as well as newer track ‘Stealing Cars’. Fans even joined in on the Stealing cars choreography, flicking their wrists to the lyrics “wasting time”. Despite being a seated show the audience were thankfully allowed to dance in and in front of their seats and they sure made the most of it. Following ‘This Is How It Feels’ the twins underwent an outfit change, ditching the black latex for something a bit more ‘human’ in school-girl style skirts tshirts and jumpers, “we’ve put The Veronica’s monster away for a minute and it’s just Lisa and Jess in the room with you now” signifying that we had reached the ‘Human’ part of the tour. Taking a moment to reflect, not just on starting the tour over a year ago and all the obstacles they’d been faced with to get to that point, but also overall on their illustrious 17 year career “we’ve watched you guys grow up, have babies, lose loved ones..”. The girls shared how it was their ‘greatest blessing that the stories they tell and the music they make have the power to help whatever their fans were going through in their own lives’ echoing the sentiment of being “with family in the room tonight” and all being ‘on this journey together’. ‘Human’, a personal favourite of mine, left me with goosebumps and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. It was such a beautiful moment. The twins kept delivering, fans were treated to iconic hits ‘and crowd favourites ‘You Ruin Me’ followed by ‘Everything I’m Not’, ‘In My Blood’ and ‘Lies’.
With yet another outfit change the twins re-entered the stage and were a vision in pink sitting on stools dazzling in fluffy pink dressing gowns adorned with feathers performing ‘Sugar Daddy’. Before leading into ‘Lolita’ Jessica shared a sincere moment reflecting that 17 years ago she came out and how the LBTQ+ community had ‘carried both her and the Veronica’s on their backs for 17 years’. The track was accompanied with keys and guitar, complete with headbanging.
In an ode to sibling rivalry, an onstage mishap where a microphone was incorrectly removed from stage saw one of the Origliasso twins joking that it was ‘finally her moment as a solo Veronica’ and she had ‘paid him $500 to carry that microphone off’. Crowd favourite 4EVER was dubbed their fake last song “we got one more song for you”. As the girls left the stage the Palais erupted with chants for Untouched and deliver they did. Returning to the stage the twins asked the crowd to “please rise for the national anthem” which everyone did to thunderous applause and cheers. The roar of the crowd was deafening with everyone joining in singing ‘the national anthem’. As the final notes rang out the twins embraced each other and blew kisses to the crowd, telling them “we’ll see you soon”.
The one night only extravaganza catered to fans, young and old, with the twins delivering a wide array of hits spanning their impressive 17 year long discography that took attendees on an emotional journey. The show was one for the books and the girls truly left it all on the stage leaving fans wanting more!
Set list
Godzilla
When It All Falls Apart
Take Me On the Floor
Revenge Is Sweeter
Stealing Cars
Silent
Hook Me Up
This is How It Feels
Human
You Ruin Me
Everything I’m Not
In My Blood
Lies
Sugar Daddy
Lolita
4EVER
Untouched
