Oliver Tree, Sueco @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 20/10/2023
Oliver Tree is one who doesn’t do things by halves by any stretch leaving Adelaide with a lasting impression and what will be one of the stand out shows for 2023. He is definitely a one of a kind artist and there are not many artists doing what he is with their live show. Hindley Street Music Hall was absolutely packed and it comes as no surprise either to be honest after playing Spin Off festival last year and with a social media reach of thirty million if you have not heard of him you’re mostly likely living under a rock.
American rapper and singer Sueco opened proceedings and quite clearly is an artist on the rise. When his debut album went viral with a huge following on TikTok backed up by going number one on the Spotify Top 50 Viral Chart his meteoric rise doesn’t look like ending any time soon. Plenty bangers in his set with Loser, POS, Yours and Paralyzed. I don’t think anyone will forget Sueco actually crowd surfing on a surf board.
There were plenty of surprises, twists and turns on Oliver Tree’s set. A part of the mayhem was Super Computer, a duo that hyped up the crowd with a twenty minute DJ set taking some of us older fans back to an era of Windows 98, modems and shrieking noise of dial up internet and the dulcet tones of “welcome, you’ve got mail” followed by “you’ve been hacked”. Oliver Tree could heard saying “Adelaide, it is great to be here but bad news the show is cancelled, so go home” preferring to watch his favourite TV show. The comedy gold was all the trailors and advertisements for Alien Boy Films suggesting that what comes first is not the music or how you sound but how you look. An advertised for “Goatigro” followed then Jeremiah Jeffrey a “fake” lawyer representing Oliver Tree. The skits and advertisements combined with the show felt like we were part of a movie experience with how it was pieced together.
Charging out of the blocks with Miss You, Oliver wondered if anyone was going to turn up (well they did, selling out the show). Plenty of fashion and splendour and outfit changes to tie in with that particular of the set was really well done. Bounce was huge with the crowd doing exactly that. One & Only was cool and With You was silky smooth. The crowd were engaged all the way through with Oliver insisting on making this a night to remember. The crowd had their hands up in the air in Essence. An advertisement for Alien Boy Clothes and then the Chadwick Report provided a brief pause where another character Little Ricky ZR3 who made a detour on his way home from Mars performed On My Blind Side.
Act II took fans back to familiar territory with Cowboys Don’t Cry, Swing & A Miss and Freaks And Geeks. Some big sing-a-longs made it a memorable moment followed by Little Ricky ZR3 returning to sing My Girl. The concept of the Oliver Tree multi-verse was floated before turning the energy up to eleven in the next part of the set which included Alien Boy, When I’m Down and Fuck. Miracle Man and Cash Machine were big highlights finishing the set on Let Me Down, I’m Gone and Life Goes On. As the lights fade a message appears on screen “please reconnect power” and the crowd chant for one more resulted in Hurt bringing the second to last show on this tour to an end. This show had everything and it’s easy to walk away being converted to a fan.
Live Review By Rob Lyon