Starting out as a YouTube vlogger and cover artist, Troye Sivan has since taken over the pop world with his EP Wild and debut album Blue Neighbourhood. Now, on the last leg of his world tour, he’s playing to his largest headlining audience ever.
The sold out show was packed to the brim with excitement; screaming teenage girls, young gay teens pining for attention, pride flags and more glitter than the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras filled the venue.
Nicole Miller opened the night with a high energy, dance-enthused set. However, it wasn’t until she performed Peking Duk’s High that audience members made the connection. She sounded incredible and was truly humble to be performing in front of such a large crowd.
Tyde Levi, Sivan’s younger brother performed a DJ set much to the crowd’s pleasure. He got the entire crowd pumped through remixes of chart hits from the likes of Justin Bieber and Rhianna, providing the perfect warm up for what was to come.
Right from the get-go it was clear that Sivan had grown up. Not only was he aware of his body’s movements, so was his audience. Every beat drop was accompanied by a hip thrust, a jump, an arm throw, or a full body twitch. It was violently expressive, and the audience was in awe for every minute of it. The ability to understand what the crowd wants is something that Sivan has to a fine art.
Opening with Bite and closing with Youth, the crowd maintained a high level of energy throughout, with Wild taking things to a whole new level. It was glorious, but a well-placed confetti cannon or release of multi coloured balloons would’ve been welcomed. Heaven included a beautiful ode to his gay fans, celebrating the diversity of the crowd, accompanied by a truly spectacular rainbow light show. Somewhere in the middle, Sivan took a break to slow things down, with a cover of Dua Lipa’s Be The One.
The venue became a sea of twinkling lights as phone torches swayed across the floor and in the stands, smiling faces sang every word to every song. The amount of love for the pop star seemed to pour off each person in the room.
BY CHAD MCCARTHY
LOVED: Everyone was underage, so the line for the bar was real short.
HATED: That Troye didn’t immediately invite me on a date.
DRANK: Heineken.
