[Live Review] SETH SENTRY

Seth Sentry - credit Alicia Stephenson - 24

Encore Theatre, Sydney
Friday July 15, 2016 :

Walking in to see the first act perform, the Enmore Theatre was barely a quarter full. A placid crowd watched local opener Sarah Connor. Regardless of the handful of punters that seemed to be paying attention, Sarah gave the performance her all. However, she probably could have done without the woman following her on stage, taking pictures the entire time. It was distracting and immediately caused me to think of a scene straight out of Mean Girls; Mrs George (Amy Poehler) videotaping Regina George’s sexy Santa dance routine.

Supporting act Remi performed to a significantly larger crowd; whipping them up into a frenzy, having them eat out of the palm of his hand, as the crowd waited impatiently for Seth.

Seth appeared on stage about 20 minutes later than anticipated. By this point, the crowd was ecstatic; chanting, clapping and screaming out for him. The room was almost full; Seth’s largest Sydney show yet, having usually performed at The Metro on previous tours.

Seth appeared on stage beginning with ‘Pripyat’, sliding into the hit song ‘Dumb’, and then launching seamlessly into ‘Vacation’. DJ Sizzle was given more freedom than ever; spending a significant amount of time out from behind his DJ equipment and instead out the front with Seth. The addition of a drummer brought the performance to a whole new level.

It was, without a doubt, one of the slickest and most polished Seth Sentry shows I have ever seen. The performances and song transitions were almost perfect and the lighting choreography was incredible. I had forgotten, until he stepped onto that stage, what a powerhouse of a performer Seth is. I remember watching him at Groovin’ the Moo a few years ago; when he stepped off that stage he sunk right to the floor, exhausted and his energy completely spent.

Seth gives the audience everything he can. He does his utmost to give the best show possible and it was clear that he had set out on this tour with the intention of giving each show his all.

What I witnessed that evening was a fantastic hip-hop show with an artist whose music I respected and loved, but I still felt a little disappointment. The show lacked the spontaneity of past tours I’d seen; there was no moment where Seth brought out his supports and they practised their freestyle raps. There was little ad-libbing and talking between Seth and DJ Sizzle. The backing track Seth rapped along with felt distracting in some moments of the set, like he was being drowned out by his own voice and music. Sure, there was a great moment where Seth became Moses and parted the crowd as if they were the red sea, but it was a shtick he openly admitted to doing at every show on the tour.

Seth’s set featured almost all the hits from new and past albums; ‘Run’, ‘Float Away’, ‘Hate Love’, ‘The Waitress Song’, ‘Hell Boy’, ‘Fake Champagne’, ‘Dear Science’. Throughout the show, Seth hinted that he was writing a new album; saying that this would be the last time he performs for a while. In that respect, ending the set with ‘Sorry’ seemed almost an inevitable choice. Sorry to the thousands of punters who will have to wait for what could be a year or more, to see more of Seth Sentry.

I, for one, definitely can’t wait to see what he does next.

Reviewer : Amy Powter
Photographer : Alicia Stephenson

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