MACKLEMORE and RYAN LEWIS
Newcastle Entertainment Centre
March 5th, 2014
Photos & review: Melissa Wilson
On Wednesday March 5th, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis visited Newcastle to play their one and only Future Music Festival sideshow.
When you think of a rapper and producer duo it’d be easy to imagine two guys on stage – one with a mic and the other standing behind a laptop computer. But that would be the easy way, and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis clearly aren’t about that. With a full troop of performers accompanying them on stage including a violinist, cello player, trumpeters, Ryan Lewis on electric drums and of course three gorgeous backup dancers, this performance was so far from boring.
This isn’t to say however, that Macklemore feels the need to hide behind the sensory amusement accompanying him on stage. In fact he seems just as comfortable standing alone in the spotlight and performing an entire rap a capella. Lengthy anecdotes about his life before fame and his time on the road are also peppered throughout the set, inviting the audience to see Macklemore in a more candid light. Although the elaborate story about having his clothing stolen by a drunken elderly woman who lured him into the ocean with the promise of swimming with a great white shark in our very own Newcastle, may have left a few heads scratching.
There is no denying that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have put a lot of thought into their live shows. They care about their audience and their stage presence is such that each and every one of the four thousand people in the room would easily have felt like we were all at just one big confetti filled party.
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