Live Review: Delta Goodrem – Innocent Eyes 20th Anniversary Tour
Delta Goodrem – Innocent Eyes 20th Anniversary Tour at Perth Riverside Theatre on 7th of October 2023
Review by Sheldon Ang
Photography: Kinga Nowicka
Alright Perth…you wanted the best…you got the best…the hottest album in the world (by an Australian female)…Innocent Eyes!
Promoter TEG Live dominated Australia on two fronts tonight, with KISS also performing in their last ever concert in Australia – apparently, in Sydney. Over here in the west, the sandgropers were enthralled by a candid soundtrack in the coming-of-age version of Delta Goodrem, showcasing an early autobiographical composition of lyrical finesse and show-womanship. The story teller propelled the Deltans onto a roller coaster journey, thawing the crystallised chapters of vulnerability, first love rekindles, betrayal, serendipity, redemption, friendship, self-discovery and recovery. Her stories were poignant in parts, celebratory in others – projected by the vocal and physical radiance, as the songstress weaved between the enigma of aural translucence and fiery empowerment.
Welcome to the live journey of Delta Goodrem, narrated under two hours…
Twenty years have elapsed since the release of Delta Goodrem’s debut album. For a legacy album to be successfully commemorated through a national tour, it would need to slither through the unforgiving metamorphosing world of pop culture, social demographics and contemporary overtures. Such is Innocent Eyes, that went fifteen times Platinum, conceiving five number one singles while garnering eight ARIA awards. With sales of over 1.2 million copies sold in Australia of the 4.5 million worldwide, the seminal piece is the highest selling album in Australia after John Farnham’s Whispering Jack. The debut, piano-driven album reigned supreme for twenty nine weeks in the bedrooms of so many Deltans in this theatre. Unsurprisingly, not long after the announcement, not a single seat was available in the national tour Delta Goodrem – Innocent Eyes 20th Anniversary Tour.
At five past the hour, Delta graced the stage with Born To Try. Donned in an elegant white jump suit embroidered in a layered, baby blue overlay, her godly hologram-like presence protrudes under the key light, as the wistful piano melody sparked the emotions from the dawn of the millennium, seducing the audience onto the start of the journey and into the climax as her voice soared at the almighty crescendo. It was the right spark to an old flame, because for one, it is listed as track number one on the Innocent Eyes. Moreover, the storyline and musical composition were a symbolic triumph through the sonic grace that brew into a practical anthem for the young and restless, and the stagnated soul searchers. With that, the Deltans were drenched under the rain of high school nostalgia. As for the new recruits with their mums and aunties, they have discovered the beauty of a well-crafted ballad.
The thematic chapter of self-discovery continued with the track title, Innocent Eyes – a time of endearing naivety and melodrama fused in a periodical format. The nostalgic inducement took us through the story of the seven year old and the fifteen year old Delta with her respective hopes, dreams and ambition. The upbeat tempo transformed the melodrama into a pop squeeze, a rock-esque intrusion with the drums and guitar spearing the rhythm. By chapter two, fans were well pinned into the journey of Delta, and to witness the transition live – was hypnotising.
I am so gratefully to have you spend here tonight, and it is truly the greatest honour of my life to have written an album that might have meant something to you or being part of your life. So tonight my wish for everybody to go on your journey that you see your own life and see in different moments; your first heartbreak, your first love…the time you put the album into the CD player…in this show we are playing this album from the beginning to the end – in the order of the album.
There’s no doubt that Delta reigns supreme when she’s on the piano, drawing similarities in dexterity with the piano men Elton John and Billy Joel. Put simply, the link between Delta Goodrem and the grand piano is inexorably symbiotic, as both complementing each other and forming an organic unity in a power of singularity. It was as if she possessed the piano into life, and the requited love from the piano drew her honesty, energising the whirlwind spirit in within and oozing the delectable spirituality through a visceral outpour that is uniquely Delta.
And when the rhythm section took a break in her power ballads, every wavelength of her vocals shined. Delta soared in the mezzo operatic version at the intro of This Is Not Me, a version not heard in the album , before progressing onto the piano. A Year Ago Today was another ballad that projected a soaring crescendo that could only be appreciated through a live absorption. Will You Fall For Me saw her intertwined with the violist, a duality between the instruments, commanded by Delta and wistfully elevated by the string.
As we know, the journey of Delta Goodrem wasn’t all stars and shine, as she told the heartfelt, poignant story through Butterfly. Fans held their digital lighter as visual support to the glitters and sparkles reflection from the disco ball throughout the venue.
Delta told the story behind each song before performing, and this one of them.
This song was a halfway turn, the first album was forming, we were forming a deep connection, there was so much going on, the first 3 songs were so deeply connected, the album was on number one for three, four months. And my life took a very different turn, where it started from being on planes, trains and automobiles and music and people to spending a lot more time with the beautiful nurses at the hospital, and being diagnosed with cancer. I know there a lot of people who are survivors in here, there are people in the fight, so this song is definitely for you tonight, and what good is it if we can’t make something good with it. It was overwhelming for an 18 year old to have a number one album and diagnosed with cancer in the same week. I thought to myself for the rest of my life it was a part of my heart, it was important that we are able to give back as much love as I was given in that time. I am very proud standing here as someone who has been working hard to build the Delta Goodrem Foundation…my girl Gemma in Perth is working hard. I was imagining sitting in that hospital, that this song had the energy and protection and softness about it that says, ‘one day you can look forward to sing this song with everybody’…this is Butterfly
As for Delta’s guitarist, Matthew Copley – also soon to be Mr Goodrem, scintillated on a controlled, fiery display in tracks like Predictable, as if he was begging Delta to do a cover of Michael Jackson’s Give in To Me or November Rain so he could rip the stage like Slash. But the man is faithful. And for that, we are grateful. While we’re on those two, the chemistry between the two on stage are professionally unprofessional – in a good way, even dubbing as the “engagement tour” prior to an onstage smooch.
A series of medley beyond Innocent Eyes were showcased. She invited the Deltans to stand. Like a puppet, everyone moved to the cadence of her vocals, transforming the night into a party central, as fans were strutting through the likes of Out of the Blue, Believe Again, Wings, and fittingly Power.
Like a true autobiographical journey, a Q&A session with the audience was held before the encore, an supplementary reflecting Delta’s character as a people’s person. The fans were blended into her world; she was relatable, not an unctuous celebrity.
The night ended with Here I am and Born To Try again, where everyone was invited to extol their karaoke vocals.
Regardless of the chapter, the Deltans were dazzled by her emotional embrace and musicianship, and encapsulated by her interpretation of honesty and strength without the poppy allegories. The stage was beautifully balanced without being overbearing and noisy, with the butterfly on the piano the perfect accompaniment that’s symbolically entwined into the journey of Delta Goodrem.
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Sheldon Ang Media expresses his gratitude to, Revolutions Per Minute, TEG Live and Delta Goodrem for the media accreditation.
About the Writer: Sheldon Ang Media (est. May 2022) have been accredited to photograph and review the majors in Perth including KISS, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Post Malone, Sting, Harry Styles, Backstreet Boy and Florence + The Machine with reviews shared by the likes of Delta Goodrem, UB40, The Fabulous Caprittos and Synthony on social media. He has interviewed rockers Ace Frehley (KISS), John Steel (The Animals), Frank Ferrer (Guns N Roses), Phil X (Bon Jovi), Andrew Farris (INXS), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Ian Moss (Cold Chisel) and forty other legends.
