Owl City – The Midsummer Station tour
The Corner Hotel Melbourne
18th November 2012
Over 18s show
It was with great anticipation that I headed to see Owl City
live in concert. Like so many of us, my introduction to the band was through
the overnight success of 2009’s Fireflies.
At the time, I bought their album Ocean Eyes, but I felt like many of the songs were a bit
bland and sounded quite similar to each other.
However, 2012 has been the year of happy bubble-gum pop,
with Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe
topping the charts here in Australia and elsewhere. Jepsen also teamed up with
Owl City for Good Time, a simple, fast-paced
pop tune about the life of a partier. It seems Owl City has found its feet in
writing and production.
As soon as Adam Young – who is Owl City – stepped onto the stage, he was smiling. His physical
performance which consisted of happy-go-lucky movements and fist-pumps was a
cheery part of the good-natured fun. The live band did not disappoint, with the
electronic accompaniment of Owl City’s albums successfully arranged for keyboard,
drums, and a guitar or two.
Young sang songs from his last three albums – occasionally giving
us a medley with just a taste of some of their more notable songs. He slotted
in Fireflies at the halfway mark,
giving the overjoyed crowd a good opportunity to sing along. This was a trend
that, thankfully, continued throughout the rest of the night.
Having sung the “last song,” the band retired to chants of One More Song! This encore was obviously
planned because Young had not yet sung Good
Time, his most recent radio hit. The song went off –and it was very, very
fun!
Owl City, to me, means innocent, wide-eyed wonder at the
world around us, catchy sing-a-long hooks and a lot of joy. The crowd loved the
performance, while supporting act Sinead Burgess was a little off kilter,
though her genuineness and cheeky audience participation fit with Young’s. My anticipation
paid off and I’m glad my expectations were exceeded.
I give this concert 4 out of 5 stars: Excellent and not to
be missed.
