While the weather was cold outside, it was a night of warmth and music at Margaret Court arena, as it hosted Colorado heavyweights, The Lumineers.
Hollow Coves were a great opening act for The Lumineers. The duo from Brisbane put on a fantastic set and allowed the atmosphere to rise throughout their performance as the seating and floor filled Margaret Court Arena. They had an impressive crowd and it’s always so nice to see strong support for an opening act.
The Lumineers put on an all-encompassing performance in a close to two-hour long set, covering all of the favourites from their 2012, self-titled debut through to this year’s most recent release, Brightside. It meant that there was a fantastic selection across the setlist from all of their works.
The title track of the newest release started off The Lumineers’ set, before one of their most popular tracks, “Cleopatra” raised the energy of the room, immediately. After running through “Hey Ho”, “Angela” and “AM RADIO”, the room’s energy was almost frenetic. It was the perfect time for the band to play, “Flowers In Your Hair”, getting one of the biggest singalongs of the evening.
While the band’s new album, Brightside was scattered throughout the setlist, it was the old favourites from 2016’s Cleopatra and their self-titled album which really brought out the crowd’s energy. Tracks such as “Sleep On The Floor”, “It Wasn’t Easy Being Happy For You” and “Ophelia” was met with some of the biggest cheers of the evening and huge singalongs.
One of the magical elements of The Lumineers is the band’s ability to have almost as much fun on stage as their fans have off of it. The main keys player, Stelth Ulvang made quite the impression on the MCA stage, at one point, getting up on top of his piano, kicking off a tambourine, and jumping off. It was as if the festivities were affecting him as much as it was the crowd. It was something pure, and fun though, and made the night feel like a celebration of more than just the group’s most recent album, turning the performance into a pure celebration of music itself. Lead singer Wesley Schultz often bringing up how much he missed touring through the pandemic, likening it to everyone being in a slow-motion car crash together; before the band transitioned into “Where We Are”.
The encore was made up of new and old as well as a little cover of “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure, performed by the founding members, Wesley and Jeremiah Fraites, it was nice to see just the two of them play together and felt like a throwback to the early days of the band, but a decade on.
“Submarines” and “REMINGTON” followed on from The Cure cover, before a reprisal of “Brightside” led into “Stubborn Love” to close out the night. The 24-song setlist meant that new or old fans could have their fill over their 105-minute set and after seeing a performance of such gravitas and magnitude from the band, everyone will surely be waiting for when they come back to grace Melbourne again.
FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Sadly, the Brightside tour is over, but hopefully, we’ll see the Lumineers back in Australia soon.
You can see more photos from the night HERE
