with Elli Schoen, Shannon Noll
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Kings Park Botanic Gardens
It was the first night at Kings Park for the summer and the Botanical Gardens was already busy with people sitting down to enjoy a picnic and a tipple (or three) before Ronan Keating was to take the stage.
Fremantle’s own Elli Schoen took the stage to the biggest crowd that she has ever played to. She told us that she was feeling nervous but that did not come across in her set as she opened with Love In Suburbia (although a gasp did go through the audience as she dropped the F-bomb in this song), Sunday, Hard Heart and a brilliant cover of Justin Timberlake’s Cry Me A River.
While she normally plays with a band, tonight, she shared the stage with Jade Richards. Not only did they work extremely well as a two piece but Schoen’s sultry voice dominated Kings Park as she finished her set with new track Mumma (dedicated to her mum who decided to go to a birthday party instead!).
Shannon Noll was next on stage and started his set with Loud, My Place In The Line and Learn To Fly. There has been a lot of hype around Nollsy recently as people have tried to get him onto festival line ups and created memes of him. He even had the screaming ladies and one holding a picture up of him from his Australian Idol days. He ended his set with Drive, Run To Paradise and What About Me?
Unfortunately, with his extremely cheesy and cringeworthy moves on stage, the hype did not live up to his actual performance. While he can certainly sing (no one is debating his talent) and his fanbase enjoyed the show, quite a few people were overheard stating that he is better to listen to rather than watch. He is also still riding on the coattails of Australian Idol and really needs to put that behind him (as well as the almost parody style rock star moves).
The temperature had dropped quite considerably from the afternoon and you could see many people wrapped up in blankets. However, once Ronan Keating got on stage, he certainly raised the temperature for most of the women in the park.
He started his set with Time Of My Life, Lovin’ Each Day and Wasted Light. “Thank you for allowing me to get away with this for over 20 years” he told the audience. “I’m having a bloody hoot!” before continuing on with Walk On By and If Tomorrow Never Come. “When I first played that song, people used to hold up lighters. Now they just hold up phones. It’s weird.”
Keating continued to play hit after hit and showed us just why he still around after 20 odd years of performing. He is extremely talented and knew just how to work the audience. He spoke to the audience regularly and was incredibly charming (with a very cheeky side to him too). Of course, with that Irish accent, he could have kept talking as far as everyone was concerned.
He finished his set with Father & Son, When You Say Nothing At All, a cover of Brown Eyed Girl and One More Song (while promising to come back to Perth again). All in all, it was definitely a perfect way to start summer at Kings Park.
KAREN LOWE
