Sia – Mt Smart Stadium December 5, 2017

The 13th Floor sent Auckland-based singer, songwriter and vocal coach Caitlin Smith off to see Sia last night. Here is her review…

To say that I love Sia is an understatement. I am completely IN LOVE with Sia…. Always have been. Last night’s Mt Smart solo show was a redefinition of live musical performance. It was provocative, deeply moving, spectacularly curated and well sung. Funnily enough, there are haters galore on Facebook all complaining of her as being ‘farce’and her not speaking between songs as getting ‘tired pretty quick’. I disagree. They just don’t get the profound statements she makes as an artist.

No loss. Haters gonna hate.

Truth be told – it was beautiful. I felt as if I was in the presence of genius. I guess these same critics wouldn’t have liked Bowie’s mime either (There’s plenty ball-busting bluster out there if you want same-old, same-old…)

Sia is a spectacular vocalist, artist and songwriter. But, she doesn’t ‘show-off’ or rub our faces in this. There’s no posturing or bravado (in stark contrast to the last gig I’d seen at Mt Smart … Bruce Springsteen!) She very consciously shifted herself into the shadows in order to redirect our attention to the mesmerizing story-telling of her coterie of dancers on stage and actors on screen. Star of Chandelier’s video and regular collaborator Maddie Ziegler was explosive and dynamic, holding centre-stage and totally embodying the songs. (I’m delighted to age with her as a dancer…. Now that she’s 15)

Sia is entirely self-defined, interdisciplinary and genre-bending. The 16 song set combined pre-recorded cameo-studded large-screen video-art with live dancers onstage juxtaposed with an almost entirely motionless Sia. As a performer, even before hiding her face behind wigs and masks, she has always delivered songs from a stationary position. The songs were segued together with sound-art and spoken word.

I first heard Sia when a student of mine tipped me off around 2004 or so. I wound up using her album Some People Have Real Problems as a soundtrack to my life (covering Soon Will Be Found with my own band). I’d known her as the frontwoman for Zero 7 and was in awe  of her distinctive powerful rasp. You’d be hard-pressed to find a professional vocalist who doesn’t fully respect Sia’s originality, quirky childlike charisma and voice.

She writes of her own struggles with addiction, co-dependency, disempowerment and ultimately: transformation and victory. It was wonderful to see so many young women at this gig: you couldn’t find a better role model: of humility, putting the ‘art form’ and lyrical intent first and dissolving herself into the background to allow the songs, dancers, costumes and choreography to shine.

It was important to note that it wasn’t until exactly halfway through her set that she moved: using sign language to interpret Soon Will Be Found. This gave the song so much more impact, given her prior (and later continued) restraint. Watch this version of Chandelier with a sign language interpreter on SNL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hg_rIqOZHc.

Everything about Sia is gorgeously mindful and deliberate (like our own Anthonie Tonnon)

Her legacy is long. Sia’s first solo album was in 1997. She wasn’t fully recognised by the mainstream until songs were placed in film and television and she made a very deliberate effort to write to a ‘pop’ audience pitching songs to ‘pop’ artists. (Breathe Me was placed in Six Feet Under and later Elastic Heart featured on the soundtrack of The Hunger Games). Her hits for other artists like Rihanna (Diamonds) and Beyonce (Pretty Hurts) have thankfully extended her listenership so that the impact of her highly experiential lyrics can reach as many hearts and ears as possible.

I feel my friend Catherine Hamilton sums up the concert brilliantly with these one-liners: “Complete redefinition of what it means to go to a pop concert” … “Pop’s anti-hero” … “An amazing feat to perform them bangers as a living statue”.

BTW, even though the onstage banter was limited to one “Thank you” and “I love you so much”, she did say something directly to us as Kiwis “You guys make the BEST coconut yogurt”… and being a vegan, she’d know.

What a beautiful mix of people. What an honour and a joy.

Oh …. As a bit of a giggle, I’m curious to hear her recently released Everyday is Christmas (her eighth studio album). Check it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElmsIGT85tI

Caitlin Smith

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Chris Zwaagdyk:

Setlist

1. Alive (from This Is Acting)
2. Diamond
3. Reaper (from This Is Acting)
4. Big Girls Cry (from 1000 forms of Fear)
5. Bird set free (from This is Acting)
6. One Million Bullets (from This Is Acting)
7. Cheap Thrills (from This Is Acting)
8. Soon Will be Found (from Some people have Real Problems)
9. Don’t Bring Me Down (from Colour the Small One)?
10. Elastic Heart (The Hunger Games)
11. Unstoppable (from This Is Acting)
12. Breathe Me (used for Six Feet Under, from her 2nd solo album Colour the Small One)
13. Move your Body (from This Is Acting)
14. Titanium 2011 David Guetta
15. Chandelier (from 1000 forms of Fear)
16. The Greatest (from The Greatest)

Click on any image to view a photo gallery of the opening acts: