LET’S DIVE INTO THE GOOD VIBES!
Kita Alexander ‘Press Pause Australian Tour’ @ Factory Theatre, Sydney 26/07/2025.
The skies are clear, the weather is cool and the happy vibes are ready. So let’s dive straight into some feel-good, refreshing breezes of indie-pop hits from Brisbane’s own, Kita Alexander, as she celebrates her ‘Press Pause’ single with a tour. This follows on from supporting Dua Lipa on her Australian leg of her world tour.
I was really wondering what approach I’d take on this review, capturing the flow, the current of the show, splashing around different ideas, and then it hit me like a tidal-wave…
Kita swims out onto the stage to a sea of predominantly young fans, in ecstasy of Kita’s appearance, calling out to her like seagulls, hungry for a music-filled night. Then comes the first wave, ‘Zodiac’. This anthemic pop hit snags the audiences full attention, and directs the high energy like a strong current. Even though the energy is high in the crowd around me, it isn’t chaotic and smothering like getting pulled under by a strong wave hitting, no, it’s nicely riding that wave. The wave in question, the song, is well mixed and perfectly formed by Kita and her band, I honesty can’t fault it, so I just relax and float away with the good vibes pulling us like a tide.
The next three songs which consist of, ‘Easy’, ‘Like You Want To’ and finally, ‘Communicate’ skim the crowds energy over the musics flow surged by Kita beautifully, with Kita using this time to build the shows momentum, like paddling towards a cresting wave. Kita reaches out and moves around the stage, projecting her attention to her audience in segments, as if Kita performs maneuvers on a surf board as she approaches the wave. Each of these songs have a unique essence, whilst all being uplifting and high spirited. Just like a wave ebbing after its zenith, ‘Communicate’ starts easing the carrying momentum.
Kita now takes a respite and chats to the audience, before gliding through the next few songs, ‘Date Night’(usually featuring country artist Morgan Evans)’Hotel’, and unreleased track ‘Back To Sydney’ and the DJO cover ‘End Of Beginning’. These songs bring a raw, acoustic portion to the show. Adding a cool, respite in the high energy is always a great tactic to keep things fresh, and keeping to the theme of this review, is really like floating on calm waves while you await the next wave to surf. Although for me personally, four acoustic songs in a row was a bit much and lacked the energy and depth musically for the show for a bit too long. However, Kate Night, preceded by Kita chatting to us about her love of country music and working with Morgan on the track, was like looking up at the sky as your floating in the calm waters, then noticing a beautiful rainbow. Plus Kita’s guitarist needing to stop and retune his guitar after starting ‘Hotel’ adds to the live show experience and authenticity, while ‘Back to Sydney’ gives us a taste of things yet to come, like noticing an exciting looking wave approaching in the distance. And finally, ‘Back To Beginnings’ give us a fresh perspective on a loved track by another artist.
So now we approach the main event, the waves we were getting pumped for! Kita starts surging for leading with ‘Can’t Help Myself’, to build the energy back up. Then the crowd soaks up and happily rides waves such as ‘Figure It Out’, ‘Queen’ and Kita’s version of ‘Atmosphere’ (normally Kita features in that song with Fisher), before perfectly gliding through the peaking energy of touring track, ‘Press Pause’.
And so Kita triumphantly finishes surfing that climactic wave with arms held high, letting the tide wash her calmly off stage… but hang on, is that an even bigger wave approaching fast?!
Of course, all gigs these days have a planned encore but at least Kita’s is ONE last song, not three or so. Of course, it’s her latest single and top song on Apple Music, the song that gets stuck in my head so damn easily, ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Home’. Aptly named for an encore! This song dive-bombs the energy in the crowd more than ever before, with Kita absorbing the splashes of high energy and using it to float her own even stronger!
Despite the slower slightly over-flooded acoustic section, all in all, still very much enjoyed myself, and would definitely go for another dip in that sea in the future!
