Words & Photos by: Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Special thanks to Destroy All Lines
The Triffid was the venue for VOILÀ’s Magic Word Tour performance, and the band smashed it out. VOILÀ were powerhouse magicians as they delivered a total concert experience. The lines for this last sold-out concert at The Triffid were huge. The fans came out early. Magicians were entertaining the lines of people inside and outside the venue with magic tricks. VOILÀ even came out to talk and socialise with fans in the lines. Magic indeed!
The evening started with the fabulous Byron Bay singer songwriter Yorke (aka Grace Hughes). She came onto the stage with her drummer Charlie to deliver an alternative –pop warm-up set. As the bunny ears glowed in the dark, Yorke started off her set with her fantastic pop song Love On The Run and followed it with Unfinished Business from her Unfinished Business EP.
Yorke, then told the crowd: ‘here’s a sneak peek‘ at some new music to be released in May as she performed Faster Than Ferrari. Then, she delivered I Wanna Hate You and Villain with their irresistible pop hooks and excellent production values. Yorke then, took the crowd back in time to 2022’s EP Ten Feet Tall with the love song Honeymoon and it was followed by the ‘not a love song‘ Next Life. Then, the fun and upbeat song Sorry In Advance was performed.
Yorke performed the fan favourite Window Shopping next and closed out her set with Breakup Season and Airplane Mode. Her set was classy.
The Triffid stage and lightening people then got about preparing everything for VOILÀ. CO2 cannons, sparklers, candle microphones and lights were all readied. The lights dimmed. A voice over the PA introduced the magical word and told the crowd that ‘testing of their singing’ was up as we went through levels 1 to 3 singing along to songs from Bon Jovi, Jimmy Eat World and My Chemical Romance.
The PA went quiet. Then a voice Charlotte announced that the band as ‘the magicians’ would appear if the crowd summoned them. It all got very loud! As, VOILÀ burst onto the stage with cannons going off and sparklers glittering into the air. The crowd bounced in excitement. As the performance, in essentially four acts and an encore, denotated in a cloud of smoke and stardust.
Act 1 opened with songs from the album Happy Never After. The pop-rock melody of Drinking With Cupid was perfect as the venue lights moved in response to the chorus. Then, Drop Dead Gorgeous followed as the duo, Luke Eisner and Guy Ross, made sure everyone was in on the action. Pull The Plug and Therapy came next. VOILÀ completely had the crowd wrapped around their fingers.
Act 2 The Curse of Breathing with the songs Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You and Table for One were up next. There was a short intermission reset and then Long Story Short was delivered. The huge crowd singalong of Cruel came next before VOILÀ stopped and chatted with the crowd. The swearing was fruity and the band reminded everyone that they were being recorded for posterity: ‘but it was cool.’ Then, a fan got to choose a song: Kiss & Tell A Phone and it was followed by TIC TAC TOE.
Charlotte came back and it was time for Act 3 with the songs from the album Glass Half Empty. The huge hits Voodoo, Wish It On You, Dead To Me and Its Got A Ring To It were delivered as VOILÀ controlled the energy flow in the crowd. The Triffid was turning into an oven as the sweat from the dancing, bouncing, clapping and singing was dialled up.
Act 4 saw the latest album The Last Laugh featured. The massive hits of I Hope That It’s Fatal, FMK! and the sublime Vogue were performed with humour and style. The singalong with the crowd was huge. Yorke came back on stage and helped perform After Hours with VOILÀ. It was great to hear the female/male response call of that song. Then, Train Of Thoughts closed out the regulation set.
The noise in The Triffid was huge as an encore was demanded. VOILÀ returned to the stage to perform fan favourites Something Blue, Glass Half Empty and Figure You Out to the joyful crowd.
It was a spectacular and truly magical night of music. And voici, VOILÀ delivered.
