If any artist has gained popularity overnight through one hit song, it has definitely been Gotye - the Belgian-Australian singer who's been honing his craft since 2003. It's more so about the listener to credit his popularity too; it's hard to find a highly relatable song with charming electronics, simple lyrics and great vocals.
Over the course of a few months, the venue traveled twice, going from a capacity of 750 people to 6x its size, ending up at the Aragon Ballroom; a complimentary space that Kimbra even commented on saying she ‘felt like she was in Disneyworld'.
Kimbra opened the show for Gotye, flaunting her feminine, funk-rock songs wearing a red 'cucaracha' dress and her hair black and cropped like she had in Gotye's music video. Her loud belts and rapid hand movements kept you listening and watching for more. Needless to say it was an excellent warm up to the rest of the night.
Gotye started with 'Eyes Wide Open', their music gaining traction from the start. Their music is indescribable; it's a new sound with xylophones, electronic, haunting, with a full feeling. A large percentage of entertainment came from visuals in the background screen; ethereal movies and images playing on a loop. They were animated in different styles telling stories alongside the lyrics, some of them haunting, others entertaining and hypnotic, complimentary to their music.
Songs from new and old albums were played, and in the middle of the show (finally) he played the hit song that brought the theater together; ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’. (Now, I won't tell you that he initially forgot the lyrics to his own song which got him to start over again.) At her part, Kimbra came out slowly wearing a small glittery black dress. Their harmony together was exact to the original studio recording, and the crowd went wild singing along.
I was surprised and pleased he did not save the song for the encore when a lot of bands keep their fans waiting in anticipation. It was refreshing (as I was not quite tired yet) to fully enjoy that song while I was still attentive and had energy left.
The rest of the show went by quickly but enjoyably, playing a 2 song encore. The crowd was cooperative and the music was identical to how it sounds on the album recording. I'd give it a 5 guitar rating!
Review by Becca Waterloo
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