The announcement of Carly Rae Jepsen’s presence earlier this year left me a little perplexed, mainly because, apart from three hit singles I wasn’t too familiar with her body of work. Upon further research and a fair amount of pre-gig hype, it became clear that she has a solid body of work under her belt.
As expected, the three-hit Canadian wonder didn’t attract an enormous crowd. Most general seated tickets were bumped up to golden circle to fill the very sparse standing space in the arena.
The initially small crowd seemed surprised by the three diverse, but skillful, opening acts. The first a little-known band called Tuin – an Afrikaans female acoustic duo with powerful vocals that shared some of their original mixes. These included a folky Credence mash-up and a few of their own beautifully written pieces. The Kiffness, really got the crowd warmed up – their Goldfish-esque sound, electro beats, saxophone solos and a remix of Eurythmic’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ kept everyone entertained. I’m not too sure if they were well-suited to the demographic of the audience though. The final act, the much anticipated and admired Matthew Mole, delivered a wonderfully sincere performance. The sound wasn’t very clear, which was disappointing as he played a few of his new songs and it would’ve been lovely to enjoy them wholly. Regardless, he charmed the doting throng of female teens.
As we drew closer to Carly’s arrival, the crowd began to flesh out a lot more and buzzed in anticipation. She braced the stage with a bubbly energy and genuinely seemed as excited as the crowd to be there. The band played well alongside her, especially in her solo rendition of ‘Good Time’ from Owl City’s album “The Midsummer Station”. The lighting was a lot more spectacular than the sound, timed perfectly with the mood and beat of each song, it added a new dimension to her performance.
Her stage presence and interaction with the crowd was very natural and she always made sure to keep her fans involved. She spoke about what each song meant to her which was a nice touch for the very sentimental crowd. At one stage she went down into the pit to interact with fans. Her dedication was little too well-received and resulted in Jepson nearly getting her arm pulled off by a few over-enthusiastic tweens.
Sporting a Springbok shirt in the final quarter of the show, Carly really won everyone over as she ended with ‘I Really Like You’ and ‘Call Me Maybe.’ But the real cherry on top of her sweet bubble gum performance were the bursts of gold confetti in her few final songs. Unlike most shows she finished with and abrupt exit and no sign of an encore, but it probably was past most of the audiences’ bed time anyway.
Although the turnout wasn’t enough to fill the Grand Arena and the sound wasn’t all that audible the show was everything one can expect from a quirky, commercial performer – a production coated with just enough saccharine pop vigour to satisfy any die-hard fan’s sugary addiction.
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