Dean Lewis, Winterbourne, Eliott @ Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide 14/5/2019
It was a sell out at Thebarton Theatre which is no surprise given the ground swell of support for Dean Lewis at the minute. He’s riding the perfect wave that does not look like breaking any time soon given the strength of his debut album A Place We Knew.
What sets this gig apart from others is the calibre of the supports on show. Eliott is a young up and comer who we will no doubt hear a lot more in the months to come. Winterbourne would have won over a lot of new fans on this tour and there is plenty to like about their music and it will be an exciting time when they release their new album Echo Of Youth in August.
Dean Lewis! Incredible! Amazing! What a performance from a guy who is riding the perfect wave which does not look like breaking any time soon with an album as strong as A Place We Knew. Thebarton Theatre was packed, sold out, and really buzzing. His fans are staunchly loyal and knew the words to every song. When he hit the stage there was plenty of noise and it was more akin to a hero like welcome home.
There were no lulls or weak moments in his set opening with Hold Of Me followed by Need You Now. A Place We Knew was great and coincidentally was written in a hotel room two years ago. Lewis commented that the energy was insane going on to explain that Stay Awake was not a happy song even prompting the response “you like that one, hey?”
Chemicals and Lose My Mind went down a treat and Lewis mentioned that he would write songs for other people but there was something about Half A Man that he wanted to that one for himself and held on to it for the album. Lewis spoke about Don’t Hold Me and how we was surprised by the reaction to it in Europe adding how he couldn’t make it work for the album. The song that propelled Lewis globally Be Alright was described as the best thing that had happened to him.
The crowd went nuts for 7 Minutes with the chorus coming to Lewis in an Uber in England two years ago. Definitely one of many highlights from the evening. Tough challenge to follow that one up but Lewis pulled out a Killers cover When We Were Young explaining that was a song as a joke they would warm up to. For The Last Time was a ripper with Lewis mentioning that this was the first song he wrote that didn’t suck.
With the noise, cheering and stomping it would have been impossible for Lewis to leave the venue without an encore. Finishing on two incredible songs Straight Back Down and Waves brought the night to end with fans hoping for another return visit before the year is out. Dean Lewis has a massive future ahead of him and if you are planning to see his show just do it.
Live Review By Rob Lyon