Venue: The Star Theatre @ The Star Performing Arts Centre, Singapore
Date: 5th September 2023
Promoter: LAMC Productions
Review by: Anna F.
Special Thanks: The LAMC Productions team
Photos by Lee JW
Hailing from Toronto, music collective New West opened the night with exuberance and vigour. They also had their songs about nostalgia, infatuation, and heartbreak in tow.
Formed in 2017, the group comprises four songwriters and multi-instrumentalists: Kala Wita, Vella, Ben Key and Noel West. Adamant on being known as a collective and not a band, the result was clear especially as the members showcased their multifaceted talents, swapping between instruments for the different songs in their set.
Kala crooned his way into everyone’s hearts, hitting all the high notes and stealing the show as he worked his magic on the keys too. He even got off stage during the last song and went down the aisles high-fiving everyone.
“In my city I feel like at home, Singapore,” the singer hollered during “In My City”, receiving cheers from the crowd, who were clearly won over, and definitely warmed up for the main act.
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“Singapore, is everybody alright? It’s great to be back,” frontman Steve Garrigan greeted the theatre which was brimming with excitement to welcome them back after four long years.
Made up of Steve Garrigan, Mark Prendergast, Vincent May, and Jason Boland, the guys from Kodaline performed here in 2015 and 2019, and their fans turned out in droves once again to witness the live renditions of their favourite songs for the third time.
The set saw the crowd clinging onto every word. Everyone was carried away with emotion during favourites like “Honest”, “Brother”, “High Hopes”, and “Moving On”. The band also showcased some newer material in the form of “Wherever You Are” and “Sometimes”, off their fourth studio album titled One Day at a Time.
The singer made sure to pepper the setlist with some small talk too, checking in every once in a while and asking how everyone was doing. “If anyone knows the words to these songs, feel free to sing along. If you don’t know the words, it’s okay,” he said humbly, the comment receiving some laughter.
“Singapore, is everybody up for a bit of sing-ing?” Steve asked, emphasising the first syllable – cliché, but we all saw it coming. The small talk transited into “The One”, off their second studio album Coming Up for Air. The song reignited very noticeable sparks for all the couples in the house with everyone singing along – the audience’s united belting and phone flashlight shining setting a very cozy vibe in the packed room.
“This song is gonna be our last song”, Steve said and paused slightly. “Maybe I’m just saying that; maybe I’m gonna walk off the stage and get back on the stage and play some more songs,” the singer playfully teased, with a chuckle.
They then segued into “Raging”, and to the band’s disbelief, the crowd continued singing the last notes on loop from the moment they left the stage under the guise of the “last” song, right up until they returned for the encore.
“Thanks for singing along and thanks for being such a great crowd,” Steve said, with genuine surprise.
After closing the night with “All I Want”, the guys took a final bow and made their way off stage, leaving a lingering sense of bittersweet nostalgia in the air, with some people in the audience making their way out of the venue humming their favourite Kodaline choruses.
It was a night very tastefully crafted, right down to the front-of-house sound guy expertly adjusting the EQ settings and adding splashes of delays and reverbs, all whilst paying very close attention to the minutiae of the band’s interaction with the crowd and adapting accordingly (he was also slowly sipping a beer and very obviously enjoying what he gets to do for a living).
Being at the sound booth allowed for a deeper appreciation of how shows actually work (and how they go on without much of a hitch) – how essential everyone in the crew actually is, and how the musicians onstage are only one piece of a multidimensional puzzle which ends up being this really beautiful masterpiece when all the parts come together for about 90 minutes every night. And to see the sheer enthusiasm of the entire team despite having to repeat the same thing each time the band plays, was a spectacle in itself.
Kodaline never fails to channel a kind of magic that somehow just gets amplified in a live setting – the raw emotion, the memories we all attach to the songs and their lyrics, and the band’s ability to transcend the cacophony of all those feelings into something meaningful and tangible – and ultimately remind us all of something we more often than not tend to forget…
Everything works out in the end;