Lolawolf
Perth Arena
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Opening all of the shows of the Australian leg of the Bangerz tour is Los Angeles-formed electronic trio Lolawolf. Most of the interest for the band comes from the fact they are fronted by Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet’s daughter, Zoe Kravitz. Whilst her father is a smooth mover and strong vocalist, both of these traits don’t appear to have been passed to the next generation. The minimalist R&B of Lolawolf was a combination of ordinary beats, earsplitting treble and a lack of memorable tunes played at too loud a volume.
From the moment that Miley Cyrus entered the stage via sliding down massive tongue and announcing to the crowd ‘make some motherfucking noise,’ until the final piece of red white and blue confetti fell during Party In The USA, the Bangerz concert was like the musical equivalent of a Viz comic.
Much have been written of the transformation of Cyrus from the wholesome figure of Hannah Montana to the rule breaking headline grabbing caricature that she has become in the past few years, but this hasn’t dulled her popularity as the venue had an almost unprecedented amount of people who were wearing gear from the merchandise stand.
When Cyrus was last in Perth she played a pretty standard rock/pop show, yet the Bangerz concert is a massive shift in performance value that borders on visual and sensory overload. The Perth show was the final performance of the world tour and was slick and seamless in its delivery.
There were dancers of all shapes and sizes wearing odd outfits with oversized prosthetic buttocks or bikinis with fried eggs on their breasts, a large screen behind the stage that would show Cyrus in various states of undress to images of her with her head superimposed on a roast chicken, people in fluffy animal suits, cars for Cyrus to gyrate on, and a large bed for the performers to put on a staged orgy during #GETITRIGHT amongst other visual aides.
The girl next door image took a beating as Cyrus swore like a sailor and visibly touched herself throughout Love Money Party. Amongst the clutter there were some fine musical efforts as Cyrus donned bright pink cowboy boots and a neon cowboy hat for Do My Thang or the likeable ballad Adore You. The close to half a dozen covers could have all been cut from the set with Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds being the worst offender and Jolene being the best of a bad lot, even if Cyrus did litter it with profanity and call Jolene a slut.
The concert was highly sexual with Cyrus owing a fair bit to her cosmetologist throughout the various costume changes. It is quite an achievement to have a show that is so explicit in nature be in no way, shape or form sexy. Although that is obviously so far from the intent, there are not many could pull that off. That said, Wrecking Ball is a cracking song and many there would have left feeling they got their monies worth by witnessing that tune live.
No one could fault the work ethic of Cyrus during a show, but there were so many songs that were no better than filler, she would have better served to condense the Bangerz experience to about half of the concert’s duration. Cyrus was so obsessed with pulling faces and sticking out her tongue that this concert was about as awkward as watching someone take a two hour selfie.
CHRIS HAVERCROFT
