Poppy – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 4th December @ Stay Gold, Melbourne VIC

Poppy
Stay Gold, Melbourne VIC
December 4th, 2019

There’s always a special feeling when you step in the door for a show and it’s the headline artist’s first show in your county. That evening will go down in history and last night we got the opportunity to welcome Poppy to Australia for her first-ever show alongside Perth prog-heroes Voyager for a night most of us had never experienced before.

My evening at the show started late (as I was caught up at Ice Nine Kills‘ movie premiere, sorry for flexing) which meant I missed Voyager‘s set where they played songs from their latest album Colours of the Sun and their back catalogue. From all accounts, they left their mark on the Stay Gold crowd though who packed into the small sized venue for the main event

After a delay in start time, Poppy took to the stage joined by two members dressed in blonde wigs and face masks (seriously it looked like the masks from the movie White Chicks) which was hilarious and absolutely creepy at the same time. Poppy was greeted by a loud, rapturous applause before busting into ‘Concrete‘ and ‘Play Destroy‘. The minute you hear these songs live, something clicks in your head that is hard to explain but I’ma do my best to help…

One minute you’re bopping along to a soft, soothing pop track before the heaviness of the guitar and backing synth change the mood completely and you’re then standing in front of this screaming wonder who still has the most innocent look on her face. It’s a contrast that has to be seen live to be believed. Tracks like ‘Scary Mask‘, ‘My Microphone‘ and ‘Meat‘ gauged the biggest reactions during the middle of the set with Poppy only addressing the crowd with her sweet and innocent voice here and there. Seriously, it’s as if this lost little girl somehow managed to infiltrate the heavy music scene and climb up on stage before belting out some of the most ear-piercing screams I’ve heard.

 

After a short break (where she literally left the stage after a bunch of idiots started that fucking annoying shooey chant urghhhh), Poppy and her band returned to the stage for an encore which consisted of her two biggest hits ‘I Disagree‘ and ‘X‘, both of which sounded just as good live as they did on record with the latter, ‘X‘, taking us all on a trippy adventure that cut between pop world and heavy breakdowns mid-song, something I can safely say I have never experienced before. Looking around the room, a lot of us were all in awe with what was going on and when the final note played out, there were screams, chanting and a mass round of applause from the 400 or so attendees who caught this bizzare act live for the very first time.

I’m not gonna lie, at one point I had no idea what the fuck was going on, but, for some strange reason, I was totally into this new experience I was witnessing. I have always said there’s something special about Poppy that I couldn’t put my finger on and to finally see this act live that I’ve been talking about all year, I still don’t know what is going on, but I did enjoy it and I can’t wait to see what she can do in a festival setting at Good Things Festival over the weekend.

Need a mindfuck without the LSD trip? Go see Poppy!

Gig Review by Browny @brownypaul

Setlist

Concrete
Play Destroy
Am I A Girl
Scary Mask
Meat
Metal
My Microphone
Bite Your Teeth
Blood Money
I Disagree
Time Is Up
X

Photo Gallery by Holly Parker @hllyprkrphoto.
Please credit Wall of Sound and Holly Parker if you repost photos.

Poppy