Live Review: Kesha, Armand Van Helden @ AO Live, John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Kah-Lo delivers a high-energy performance to get the crowd dancing from start to finish. The Nigerian-born, London-based singer-songwriter captivates the audience with her infectious blend of house, disco, and pop, showcasing her powerful vocals and undeniably charismatic stage presence.

The infectious beats and her soaring vocals have the crowd singing along from the first note of her upbeat dance tracks and an impressive stage presence. Audience members on the floor show off their best vogueing moves to the catwalk grooves. 

Sydney-based duo Bag Raiders bring their signature electronic bangers and feel-good vibes to the stage with mesmerising visuals and a live set to ensure energy levels remain at a constant high to keep everyone dancing with a heavy thumping bass reverberating throughout the venue. 

The crowd is treated to a mix of their classic anthems, including Snake Charmer and Right Here, whilst live vocalist Ric Rufio joins in with them for hits Way Back Home, Sunlight, Shooting Stars, and their huge remix of Troye Sivan’s Got Me Started.

A changeover DJ set from Tyoow keeps the party going, playing classic hits and modern remixes blending hip-hop, R&B, electronic, and pop to create a vibrant and energetic atmosphere as the roof begins to close and the arena gets darker to prepare for the next performer.

“Are you ready to fucking party?” Kesha shouts, arriving on stage with tennis racquet in hand and serves a forehand to hit a tennis ball out at the audience. The screen behind her flashes up with the word ‘FREEDOM’ as she sings a new unreleased song to celebrate her artistic liberation. 

She launches right into her most iconic hit TiK ToK and says, “I’m going to teach you the new words; it goes like, ‘Wake up in the morning like fuck P Diddy!’” We join her in raising our middle fingers up in the air to the timeless party anthem. 

Kesha’s white dress with the words ‘Thank you’ written across it soon becomes smeared with red blood by her dancers to match the theme of her next song, Cannibal, as they perform an intense routine to her song about the fierce attraction and metaphorical hunger for her love interests. She then starts to wield a knife around for the deep cut, Backstabber.

The dancers place a nun’s veil on Kesha’s head and a large cross around her neck as she screams, “Shake your fucking ass!” She dives into Raising Hell featuring Big Freedia for the huge pop, gospel, and EDM track with bounce elements to raise the energy levels up a notch. She moves right into Take It Off, encouraging the audience to take off their clothes and rave.

“This song is about my loser ex-boyfriend who broke up with me because I didn’t take him to the Taylor Swift party; he’s fucking delusional,” she exclaims as she asks us to light it up for her most recent song, Delusional.

After a quick costume change, Kesha returns in a white singlet top with the words ‘Kath & Kim & Kesha’ across it. She continues to sing one of her biggest hot collaborations with Pitbull, Timber. The crowd goes wild, and a huge singalong strikes up. She dedicates Your Love Is My Drug to another loser ex-boyfriend.

“It’s been way too fucking long, and I’m so happy to be here. This event is iconic,c but the day before I got on the flight to come here, my little baby kitty passed away. I fucking love cats, and it was so painful, and I almost couldn’t get on that flight, but I thought of all of you. When the world hurt too much, and it was too painful I used to stick my face in that little cat and it brought me so much joy,” she reveals, and she dedicates Hate Me Harder to her cat.

Another outfit change sees Kesha return in a red patent leather number complete with matching knee-high boots, and she belts out her emotional and powerful anthem, Praying to showcase more depth and her incredibly strong vocals far from her usual talk-singing distorted vocals.

“All I wanted out of 2025 was a sugar daddy and a yacht, so I came here tonight to the Australian Open to find me a sugar daddy. Anybody wanna be my sugar daddy?” She screams before launching into her recent electropop track, Joyride. She pops a bottle of champagne and sprays it over the front row of the mosh pit before launching an entire glass bottle at them. 

“This is my last song, and I just wanna say we are who we mother-fucking are,” she says before ending with her hit We R Who We R. Pride marchers come out on stage bearing flags and drag queens in tennis-themed outfits for a big the final chorus.

American DJ/producer Armand Van Helden continues the celebration as the roof opens back up and a giant inflatable tennis ball is thrown out at the audience to keep afloat above their heads. He unleashes his iconic house anthems, music blending classic tracks with fresh beats to create an electrifying atmosphere with a fireworks display to finish and close out the end of AO LIVE before the Women’s Finals match.