Live Review: Kygo, Conrad Sewell, Frank Walker

The Bowl quickly fills up with punters who are in denial about the unexpected wet and wintery conditions upon us. Luckily there are emergency ponchos for sale at the bar. Not to be confused with the National Tiles guy, Canadian producer Frank Walker plays a DJ set early on with a mix of solid dance-pop tunes to build the crowd’s excitement. He plays a few notable remixes of his own including Happier by Marshmello and Bastille, plus his original tracks Heartbreak Back and Young. This fresh and upcoming artist is under the same management group as Kygo so we can expect some big things to come. 

Conrad Sewell emerges in a sparkling shirt and takes a seat at the piano on stage as he begins with an acoustic version of Start Again. It’s clear that he wears his heart on his sleeve and pours out all of his emotion with every note. “About three or four years ago I started my journey with a song [Firestone] with my boy Kygo and we’ve come full-circle here together tonight,” exclaims Sewell. He teases that he’ll be back to play it later on in the night and continues with his own newer material that will be on his long-awaited debut album to be released next year. 

Sewell reveals that he used to party a bit too much and one of his new songs, Come Clean, addresses a turning point in his life. He shares a track called Unbound, which he describes as his ultimate love song and an ode to Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah. Another new track, Neighbourhood, is one that he hopes to one day play at the Glastonbury festival while seeing his country flags flying high. He draws his soulful inspiration from his idol Michael Jackson and does a sensational cover of Man In The Mirror with impressive vocal runs that send chills down our spines.

“Melbourne if you guys are feeling good tonight let me hear you make some noise,” shouts the Norwegian wunderkind Kygo, standing atop of a huge podium stage with pyrotechnics igniting all around him. Kygo pulls out all the stops for his first ever show in Melbourne with a world-class display of mind-blowing production. The place lights up with fast-changing, flashing visuals to match up with each song. He sets the bar high and pushes the limit higher with every drop while creating some hugely momentous energy along the way. Opening with his recent collaboration with Imagine Dragons (Born To Be Yours), followed by Zedd’s The Middle and Tiesto’s Jackie Chan, Kygo powers through a two-hour, high-energy set that blows our minds.

Before the crowd can even begin to get sick of a song, Kygo changes it up with a fresh remix or even brings out a few live singers to help him out along the way. Justin Jesso joins him for a skyrocketing performance of Stargazing and Bonnie McKee delivers a striking performance for Riding Shotgun and This Town. Given it’s his first Australian tour, Kygo salutes fellow EDM producer Flume by playing his popular track Say It and premieres a brand new unreleased track (Happy Now) that features Sandro Cavazza.

A white grand piano rises from the floor with Kygo playing an incredible solo accompanied by an orchestra of strings building up to an explosive crescendo. After all, he started off as a classical pianist so it’s only fitting for him to show off his talent on the keys. He jumps back behind the decks and continues with his chart-topping hits while smoke cannons ignite and confetti explodes over the audience. “This is one of the loudest crowds I’ve ever played for,” shouts Kygo before taking a moment to personally thank his fans. Sewell returns for the final track Firestone and together they deliver a magical performance with every last bit of energy they have left.