CALM DOWN, IT’S REALLY HAPPENING!
Calm Down there Superman/Supergirl, you read the title right! Aussie rock icons of the late 90’s/early 2000’s, Killing Heidi comprised of siblings Ella and Jessie Hooper, are taking a moment to fully appreciate and relish the huge success of their career-defining album ‘Reflector’, 25 years on, and what better way to do so, than with putting their Mascara on and playing the album IN FULL for fans all around the country, just like they did when they were teens!
So I guess you could say 25 years is a pretty good Reflector in which to look back on this incredible album. Let’s see if the band can pull it off just like the good ol’ days…
Tonight, instead of my usual opting to be a fan-girl up at the front barrier, where I can really gauge the atmosphere of a concert in a tactile sense, I instead feel like just chilling out and resting my delicately aging joints for this one. As venue staff assist me going up to the mezzanine via the elevator (unlike the old utilitarian elevators often found at venues such as The Metro Theatre and The Factory Theatre, this one is modern and well kept), and take a seat, even from here, leading up to Killing Heidi coming on stage, I can feel the crowd is charged with excitement!
So we know the band are playing ‘Reflector’ in full, but the album opens with ‘Mascara’ and ‘Weir’, arguably the bands two biggest songs, normally saved for the encore, so how will this go?
The band do still open with ‘Mascara’ followed by ‘Weir’, and understandably the crowd go nuts! The sound is spot on from the sound mixers, which excellently highlights Ella’s punchy vocals and I can focus on each other instrument sound individually without stain which is a real aural treat. I feel that in ‘Mascara’ Ellas voice in the choruses aren’t as punchy and attitude-filled as originally, but melodically she’s nailing it. ‘Weir’ is spot on in my opinion, and I’d say the crowd shares that opinion too by the sounds of it, the musical energy is high giving back what the crowd emanates but ten-fold, and my support worker tells me the on-stage energy is just as potently charged.
So after ‘Superman/Supergirl’ the energy on the recorded album does lessen in most parts, but the band keep the crowd fixed with reflecting on their time as a band, sharing engaging tales with the audience, giving fans the full experience, not just having great music played.
The band finish performing the tracks from ‘Reflector’ then after a small break, give us an encore, which contains fan favourite ‘Calm Down’ and my personal favourite, ‘I Am’. the only difference in this reflection of ‘I Am’ is I don’t detect that slight vocal-fry rough grit in a couple of notes in the chorus, but that’s so minor and insignificant.
Reflecting on the night, it was bloody brilliant! It didn’t drag out past its expiration date, coming in at a fraction under 90 minutes, was great support from the venue staff, the energy on stage and in the crowd was amped and above all else, the sound was ace and kept my full attention from start to finish!
Here’s to another 25 years!