Review by Enzo Giordani; photos by Chris Zwaagdyk
“Choosing optimism and grace to navigate through the chaos” – Dua Lipa on the meaning of ‘Radical Optimism’
I remain unconvinced about this concept.
Look, the world is royally effed. Fascism is on the rise not just in the United States but all over Europe and even here on our shores. Climate change is only going to get worse with nobody doing anything much about it. The Warriors aren’t going to win a premiership anytime soon. Is now really the time for radical optimism?
I say no. Now is the time for anger and protest. Optimism is another way of saying bury your head in the sand, everything will be fine. That’s the last thing we should be doing.
Last night’s warm up act Kita Alexander was closer to my wavelength with her opening number which included the line “don’t know which direction we’re heading” on repeat which I’m sure was about love rather than current affairs but still! Other highlights of her set included the soulful Hotel – dedicated to her late sister Tash, and a fun cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears.
Then, after a half hour or so of looking at all the smiling faces in the bumper crowd and packed out mosh pit glowing with optimism, I wished I’d brought my ‘the end is nigh’ sign with me.
But that all vanished when the lights went down, phones popped up and Dua Lipa appeared on the crest of her wave-shaped stage as real rolling waves were projected onto screens all around her. I felt momentarily soothed as she opened with a very low key almost hypnotic version Training Season but that was short-lived as she exploded into technicolour without warning mid-song and the tempo shifted from first gear into 6th in a heartbeat!
She didn’t stay out the audience’s reach for long.
By End of An Era she had moved downstairs with her dancers holding white feathers all around to make her appear like a mute swan. An odd choice I thought… “Auckland, I can’t hear you!!” she pouted, followed by the roar of the crowd she was fishing for.
Over the following few songs she worked her way out onto the gangway that protruded into the audience with explosions of confetti keeping us all on our toes, and then down into the mosh pit to interact with some of the fans, pose for selfies, and even sign a man’s arm with a sharpie after he said he would get it made into a tattoo!
I must say I found the people around me a little more subdued than I thought they would be – to the point where I caught myself in an unaccustomed role as a reverse grumpy old man! Why weren’t we all out of our seats?
When it came time for Levitating, I, the overweight 50yo who is usually a stationary object grumbling about everyone around me disturbing my tranquillity at concerts, was under no circumstances going to just sit there like a blob for that banger! So I got up and boogied, leaving the poor souls behind me with no choice but to follow suit. And before you knew it, we were the party section of the crowd!!
Hang on… Maybe there’s something to this radical optimism thing after all…
One of the great things about the Australasian leg of this tour is the way audiences have been treated to covers different local artists at every show. It’s a great touch. Quite predictably Lorde’s Royals was the ode to Auckland, but it was lovely. I do need to get one thing off my chest though, and this might be the only chance I ever get so I’m going to take it – that song should come with a warning to everyone who covers it: That’s Takapuna you’re singing about! It’s NOT a torn-up town. There IS postcode envy!! Thanks for listening.
Another highlight was when a small circular platform descended to pick Dua up and lift her halfway to the ceiling for a beautiful rendition of Anything for Love that ended with her beautiful voice ringing out around the arena with no instrumental backing.
Before we knew it, encore time was upon us! With Houdini’s abrupt ending the lights went out and she was gone.
Was it a wonderful night? Hell yeah! Was I radicalised by optimism? No, but she gave it a good crack.