Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Saturday November 1, 2014 :
“Come on Barbie, let’s go party”. Is there another set of words that instills joy in the hearts of ’90s kids quite like these six? If you were to ask those who attended the Sydney show of Scandinavia’s best-known bubblegum pop export, Aqua, the answer would almost certainly be no.
Stepping off the street and into the Enmore on Saturday night was like stepping back in time, circa 1998 – platform sneakers, bare midriffs, choker necklaces and DJs pumping tunes from the likes of the Vengaboys, Backstreet Boys and 5ive.
With the inner pre-teens in the crowd suitably pumped up, the ‘Hits of the 90s’, school-dance-playlist-favourites hit the stage with ‘Playmate to Jesus’, the second single from their lesser known third album – an interesting start to a Greatest Hits tour set, when said album, Megalomania, failed to chart anywhere outside of Denmark, but it certainly gave weight to the second track of the night, an absolute favourite off Aqua’s 1997 debut, ‘Doctor Jones’. Still buzzing from the earlier ’90s megamix, the crowd lapped this early treat right up.
You could fairly accurately gauge the reception certain tracks would get well ahead of the show. Anything off Aquarium or Aquarius received a big reaction – ‘Happy Boys & Girls’, ‘Cartoon Heroes’ ‘Lollipop (Candyman)’ – René would only have to tease with, “Come on Barbie, let’s go party” to send the fans into meltdown, which he did, on multiple occasions. What would have been harder to predict ahead of time though, was the sound to come out of Lene, René, Søren and Claus (with the assistance of three touring musos) – barely a hint of their bubblegum origins and thoroughly more rock. Critics wrote in 2011, when Aqua released their “expletive laiden” comeback album, that maybe the band was trying to break out of a comical mould their bubblegum sounds and cutsey videos had seen them cast into. Judging by their performance on Saturday night, the growth seems to have only continued. While this “live” sound may have been a shock to ears that had been listening to an over-produced, shiny, synth sound for the best part of 15 years, it’s proof of a band growing with their market. It’s still the same Aqua you remember hearing at listening stations in Sanity, but there’s plenty for the adult listener to enjoy – albeit in a guilty pleasure kind of a way.
All the more pleasing is the lack of ego the band seems to carry. Never have I seen so many high fives and handshakes shelled out as between Lene, René and their excitable fans. The pair were truly gracious, taking photos and video for punters from the stage – hell, even the lone stage invader was meet with a welcoming hug from Lene, who offered excuses to security that, “the friendly girl just took a wrong pass on her way to the bathroom” – far more than you can say about Fat Mike’s performance during NOFX’s show at the same venue only a few nights later. You got the impression that the “happy tears” Lene shed after an encore of ‘Around the World’ and band favourite ‘Roses are Red’, were indeed real.
Reviewer: Amelia Parrott
Photographer: Alicia Stephenson
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