Photo: Candice Marshall

Judging by the massive semi-trailers parked outside QPAC (and the consequent parking tickets on the windshield!), tonight’s show by home-grown pop maestro Darren Hayes should be quite a spectacle. The scheduled support act has been cancelled, which leaves most people hitting the bar before the show starts. Once ushered into the performance hall, we’re greeted by some strange sci-fi music which makes sense, seeing it’s the last night of The Time Machine Tour.

The curtain drops and Darren appears standing impressively on a makeshift bridge, accompanied by his two backing singers and an array of musicians and knob twiddlers. They launch straight into The Future Holds A Lion’s Heart from his most recent album This Delicate Thing We’ve Made. It’s all very futuristic, yet also eighties to the max. The set design is quite extravagant, accompanied by visual projections, lasers and robotic dance moves, which all combine to make this a very stylised and extravagant performance. Darren appears more comfortable as the set goes on, while the enthusiastic crowd lap up older hits such as Insatiable and the surprising appearance of the first Savage Garden hit I Want You. A massive crane emerges from the set, and the best part of the night comes in the encore, which starts with a mash up of Affirmation with PiL’s classic Rise, and also includes a mash up of Pop!ular and Prince’s Baby I’m a Star. The set concludes with the laid back The Great Big Disconnect, a fair departure from the flamboyance of the night.

BRIANNA DALTON

Comments (1)

1. Written by Nikki S,, on 03-11-2007 20:57 Was a brilliant night, Darren is an amazing performer!!! Everything was awesome... the set, the lights, and of course Darren himself     My sister and I will have memories of this concert for the rest of our lifes.    Thanks for the great review!

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