| OWL CITY, BREANNE DÜREN & ALASKA - live at the Auckland Town Hall! |
| Written by Sarah Mudgway |
| Saturday, 13 August 2011 19:39 |
 The deafening screams of the overly excited audience were hard to ignore last night at OWL CITY’s second ever New Zealand show, at the Auckland Town Hall's Concert Chamber. The screams began when opener BREANNE DÜREN took to the stage, continued when local act ALASKA proved their worth, and carried on for the entirety of Owl City’s ninety-minute set. After cancelling their concert scheduled for last November, ADAM YOUNG and his entourage of musicians finally made up the show to a significantly smaller crowd than his last visit to New Zealand (opening for Cobra Starship) - but what the audience lacked in size, they more than made up for in enthusiasm.  Owl City touring member Breanne Düren opened up the evening with a short but sweet set, which was undeniably cute. Her sweet demeanour and powerful voice made her a pleasure to watch, and the handclaps and cheers of appreciation from the crowd gathered were heartwarming. It’s unusual for any opening act - especially one who is relatively unknown - to inspire such a reaction from the audience, but Breanne was certainly worthy of such applause, with her one-woman rendition of 'Gold Mine' being especially delightful.  Local band Alaska took to the stage next, proving to be an extremely deserving act to open for Owl City. With their musicians switching between a violin, harp, accordion and mandolin - just to name a few - the band’s energy was definitely unexpected (seriously, where did they come from?) and in my opinion was reminiscent of Arcade Fire meets Local Natives. But all applause and screams increased tenfold when the lights dimmed and nature-sounds boomed from the speakers and Owl City took to the stage. Opening their set with a three-drummer intro (featuring Adam on drums) before moving into ‘The Real World’, the night was off to an impressive start with a beautiful lighting set-up accompanying each individual track, reflecting the innocent and fun tone of Owl City’s music in a simple yet mesmerizing manner.  Apologising for his moustache before launching into ‘The Tip Of The Iceberg’, throughout the evening Adam Young repeated his words of gratitude towards the audience, as well as dedicating numerous songs to 'Lord Of The Rings' characters and expressing a love-bordering-on-obsession of New Zealand McFlurrys with hot fudge sauce. Moving on to his latest single ‘Deer In The Headlights’ from his new album 'All Things Bright And Beautiful', the synth-fuelled track created a dance party atmosphere, pleasing the few who had turned up armed with glow sticks. For those who had seen Young perform at the Town Hall in 2009, the improvement in his vocal ability would have been incredibly obvious, with his performance nowadays being a lot more consistent even when he was in the midst of his most bird-like dancing during songs like ‘Umbrella Beach’. For a boy who honed his skills in the basement of his home in Minnesota, the strength of his vocals shined bright especially during slower tracks such as ‘Lonely Lullaby’, and as he shifted his way from the drum-kit to guitar and then to piano, his musicianship and talent was faultless.   ‘Meteor Shower’ from his 2009 release ‘Ocean Eyes’ brought the crowd sing-a-longs to a whole new level, which continued on for the remainder of the band’s set which included ‘On The Wing’, ‘Hello Seattle’ and ‘Alligator Sky’ - during which he unfortunately chose to perform the version of the song which included rap verses courtesy of a backing track. Something about Young moving about the stage in his bird-like manner to a rap just didn’t sit right. His breakout hit from 2009 ‘Fireflies’ of course received the loudest recognition and the crowd’s singing at times almost drowned out the sound coming from the stage. Unlike some artists who become visibly unenthused when playing their biggest single, Young still sung with a huge smile on his face and genuinely seemed happy to be in New Zealand for all his fans. The final song for the main portion of the set - ‘Yacht Club’ - featured Breanne Düren once again stepping up as back-up vocalist, with Young and Düren's years of sharing the stage shining through in their perfect harmonies and stage presence.  Returning for one final song in the encore - ‘If My Heart Was A House’ - each of Young’s band had a huge smile on their face as their only New Zealand show came to an end. Linking arms to take their final bow, it was a fitting end to the evening, which was a fresh breath of innocence and wonder[struck-ness]. Whether we will see Owl City back in New Zealand a third time only time will tell, but for those who were in attendance at the Town Hall last night, it will forever be remembered as one of the most fun shows in a long, long time.  |
