Live Review: John Newman, Saskwatch

Channelling an Amy Winehouse voice that hit incredible peaks and lows, lead singer Nkechi Anele led her Melbourne nine-piece Saskwatch, arms flailing like a bendy inflatable man while her drummer, so animated, seemed like he needed a seatbelt and her bass player, in yellow beanie and sleeveless denim, looked like Bob The Builder. With two men on sax and two on trumpet, Saskwatch knocked out songs from their debut album, including Born To Break Your Heart, before Nkechi kindly invited audience members to meet them at the back of the theatre post-gig, the audience now suitably prepared for the main act.

Curtains drawn, John Newman's concert (like his album) opened with a monologue of inspirational artist names read off one after the other, only the live version contained an ensemble of more recent standouts including Kings Of Leon, Kris Kross and The Cure. Few people today in any profession can get away with wearing an all-white suit in somewhat angelic appearance, but Newman's entrance signalled he is every bit the showman, stepping out from his name embedded on the stage rear to front-and-centre, before a cheering crowd, as he opened with Tribute, his energy infectious.

Twisting and turning throughout the entire set he only paused for slow-tempo number Out Of My Head, picking things up again with Day One, moving left to right like he was being drip-fed Red Bull. He revealed he'd squeezed in a Coachella show before an agonisingly long flight to South Africa and on to Melbourne before finally being delivered to us. “I couldn't think of a better place to end this tour than here,” he announced, yelling “Sydney!” again with genuine enthusiasm to a crowd that embraced his every word.

An encore performance consisted of Not Givin' In, Newman's lead guitarist replicated Rudimental's keyboard wizardry and back-up dancers, now centre-stage, allowed eyes to be drawn somewhere other than the Yorkshire frontman for the very first time. Then, teasingingly pretending to call it quits came the show stopper Love Me Again. With every bit as much energy as he'd delivered for the Royals at the London Palladium and the millions of viewers on the Ellen show, Newman exploded once more with his trademark shuffle, feet sliding across the floor as though it was made of ice, bringing the crowd into rapturous applause. Newman's final energetic performance ensured a legion of fans will be loving him for a long time to come.