Sheppard @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 30/10/2024
Absence makes the heart grow fonder! That could be said for Sheppard’s long awaited return to Adelaide with their last performance here being the Adelaide 500 in 2020. It’s no secret that they have invested all of themselves in chasing the dream in the US and to some degree leaving Australian fans hanging for a headline tour. So, I would have thought fans would have been chomping at the bit to turn out in numbers for this and whilst numbers may have been lean they more than made up for that with an excitable and enthusiastic crowd, many of which were experiencing their first ever concert.
This tour was all about new album Zora, their fourth, as well as all the hits and memories from their illustrious back catalogue so far. As siblings George, Amy and Emma took to the stage after the Zora intro it was Daylight that got things off to a flying start. George echoed the sentiment “we’ve been waiting for this, it’s been a long time”. Keeping with the flavour of the new album it was Good Time and current single Sunshine that followed. George spoke about about the album Zora but how Kaleidoscope Eyes got them through some horrible years (reference to the Covid years) playing lead single from that album in Learning To Fly.
Emma said that they were feeding off the energy of the crowd having had the 4.30am lobby call earlier that day to get the flight from Perth to Adelaide which was a “rude shock” leaving their brains feeling like “mush”. George, Amy and Emma share a chemistry on stage which is incredible to watch and it definitely is the sum of all parts that makes this collective an entertaining experience, they look great, sing great and armed with some great songs I think anything is possible. Love Me Tomorrow shows a certain vulnerability about falling in love and now being warmed up George encouraged the crowd to get a bit silly and dance to Keep Me Crazy.
The crowd united like a choir on Sheppard’s first single Let Me Down Easy before throwing in another new tune Respect. Die Young is a great song and as equally compelling is the back story with George reflecting on a dramatic period for the band where he had vocal surgery and was told he may not be able to sing the same way again so this one was treated as the possible final song for Sheppard.
Coming Home was popular as was Running Straight For You. Amy gave some insight to the background in the naming of the album wanting to original go with something like ‘Coming Out Of The Darkness’ which sounded like a Twilight movie opting to go with the title being their grandmother’s name Zora which means ‘Dawn’. Dance On The Sun was great and was one of those songs that was not going to be on the album as it didn’t feel like a Sheppard song until their mum said you’re out if it’s not on. As George proclaimed the rest of their set was full of belters including the likes of Symphony, The Gift and Edge Of The Earth.
I have to hand it to the band that they played like their was twenty thousand in the venue when it would have been quite easy to look at the crowd size and dial it in. They left nothing on the table and gave everything to their performance. The encore was a real treat kicking off with Blink-182 cover All The Small Things followed by their monster hit Geronimo. The crowd were well and truly up and about for this one. The last couple were a “warm hug from us to you” and a moment of reflection and gratitude where they spoke openly about wanting to be the first to play on the moon and maybe Elon Musk could get them there finishing on Play On The Moon. An entertaining evening deserved to be heard by more.
Live Review By Rob Lyon