By Olivia Burns
Australian pop star The Kid LAROI has been making waves in the music industry, constantly releasing hits and he has finally made the return to his home country for his The First Time Tour. Having already played a few shows already on this tour, it was finally Melbourne’s turn for his first of two shows at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on the 29th of November. The show was pretty much sold out On this tour with him was DJ TJ Mizelle, and Sydney’s own ONEFOUR.
There was a mix of ages amongst the crowd, from young kids, teenagers to adults. There were parents accompanying their kids for what could possibly be their first concert, the excitement on their faces definitely took me back to the feeling of being at my first concert. TJ Mizelle started out the night with a DJ set to get the crowd pumped, playing a mix of well known current hits. Next up was ONEFOUR, a rap group made up of four members from Sydney. I hadn’t listened to these guys before and I’m always stoked to find new music to listen to when seeing an opener. They did an amazing job at getting the venue all warmed up, encouraging mosh pits and interacting with the crowd made for such a fun performance.
Now it was finally time for the main act. The Kid LAROI made his way on stage where he started out by the DJ booth playing a backing track as his band joined him on stage and they kicked off the evening with Baby I’m Back, a hit off his latest album The First Time. From the very start the crowd’s energy was electric, from the general admission to the people at the back of the arena were all standing up dancing and singing along together. The Kid LAROI was constantly on the move to each side of the stage, dancing with such intensity, jumping up and down without even missing a note. He performed back to back hits across his whole discography, including Girls, Always Do, and Heaven. The production was full of strobing lights, pyro and animations were played on the big screen in between live cameras videoing the performance. Half way through, he sat down with his guitarist and said that he would be performing his favourite song that he has ever written, touching on how he had been wanting to write a song like this for ages, and this song was Bleed. This track is a personal favourite of mine also and he performed it so beautifully. This moment really did highlight how incredible he is as his voice smoothly ran between the notes. His voice filled the arena with the audience echoing his, it made me love the song even more. LAROI said that he usually zones out while he performs, however he admitted that tonight he was fully present taking in every single one of us and thanked everyone for taking the time out of their busy lives and spending money on a ticket to be here. He jokingly said that I didn’t think anyone would show up and admired the full arena here for him. Before performing the biggest hit of his career Stay, he talked about how important Justin Bieber has been for him, and how he’s been a great mentor, as well as a friend. You can just tell by the way he talked about him how much he really values Justin. Confetti was let off as he performed Stay, and the whole crowd screamed out the lyrics with him. Ending on Nights Like This, one of his latest hits, it was one last chance for fans to go all out, the end of the song was met with a huge applause and cheer from everyone in the room as he thanked everyone and darted off stage one last time.
I am truly taken back by The Kid LAROI’s energy on stage and seeing him live has given me a newfound appreciation for his music. I still can’t get over the fact that he is 21 years old, playing to full arenas with such confidence. You could tell that he was born to be a performer, I can confidently say that anyone going to any of his upcoming shows will not leave disappointed.
