One of my favourite bands ever is The Lumineers. I decided to make a trip to Sydney on the way back from Melbourne once I heard they were playing an exclusive one-off show at the Enmore Theatre as I also love that venue and knew it would be worth a pit stop.

The Lumineers have been a staple for me ever since 2011 when I heard one minute of “Ho Hey” in an episode of Hart of Dixie – I became obsessed wit h the song and needed to hear more. Their music is so unique and different to anything else I’ve ever heard, but in case you have never heard of them before I would describe them as Americana indie folk rock band. You feel the music in your body and the lyrics resonate deeply in your soul, even if you’ve never experienced the situations or scenarios they are talking about. Their music is so well-crafted, and I have to say I am loving their newer songs to. They played a couple of new ones and my favourite from the new album III so far is”It Wasn’t Easy To Be Happy For You“. Of course the songs from their first self-titled album were absolutely incredible to hear again and the crowd went nuts during the likes of Ho Hey, Stubborn Love, Submarines, Flowers in Your Hair, Big Parade, and Charlie Boy. The Lumineers are professionals at what they do and although they remain quite private when it comes to their personal lives, there is no emotional distance between the crowd and the band when you’re at their show.

At previous gigs I’ve been to I’ve never liked the support acts very much, but this time around surprised me. I had never heard of Tyne-James Organ before but was pleasantly surprised by how professional he was and the songs were awesome. His style reminds me of British pop rock, kind of like Oasis, The 1975 or the band Williamette Stone from the movie If I Stay (which was led by a British actor who used The 1975 as inspiration). I would highly recommend the song Graceful as it has been stuck in my head since the show and I don’t want it to leave any time soon.

*Photos taken with Fujifilm X30 and edited in Lightroom.

When those electronic first notes of Dumb Stuff began and the crowd began to roar, I knew I was in for a good show.

I saw LANY last year in Sydney but unfortunately was sick and had to leave halfway through the show so I missed all the hits. When I heard they were coming to Brisbane I knew I had to get tickets and they did not disappoint. I personally thought the crowd was more enthusiastic in Sydney but Brisbane held up pretty well. As magical as the Brisbane show was for the crowd, it seems like it was just as amazing for Paul:

 

brisbane i have no words for what just happened in that room. top 5 maybe top 1 show for me. insane intimate indescribable. the love you gave tonight will carry my soul for weeks thank you x

— paul klein (@pauljasonklein) March 23, 2018

If you haven’t heard of LANY, you probably don’t have Spotify or a Tumblr account. LANY is an American alternative-indie-pop band that formed in 2014 and has risen to popularity over the last few years. They released their first album last year, and it was incredibly popular amongst young adults. Just last week, one of their most recent singles Super Far hit 10,000,000 streams on Spotify which doesn’t include the 19,000,000+ views the video accumulated (to-date) on YouTube.

With a lot of bands it’s about ego, but LANY is about connection. You might think that it’s about aesthetic and synth-pop if you look at their online presence, but being in their presence you realise they have a true love and passion for the music and performing live. The shared connection between LANY and their fans is through feelings, experiences, youth, and self-expression. Even if you haven’t experienced the exact situation or emotion that a song is about, you can still feel it and by the time the audience erupts into applause, it’s almost like you have experienced it.

Of course their first smash hit ILYSB closed out the evening. It was the first song I ever heard of theirs and it did not disappoint hearing it live for the first time.

I wasn’t expecting to like them as I’m not usually into that kind of music, but they really surprised me and I enjoyed their performance a lot. The lighting was also fantastic during their set which is a luxury for a support act but it made all the difference and got the crowd hyped for LANY.

Follow LANY on facebook, instagram, twitter, and their official website which is a tumblr account.

Last night I went to see One Direction’s Take Me Home Tour in Brisbane! I was lucky enough to catch their last tour in April last year and hoped and prayed I’d be able to get tickets again this year. For days before they went on sale I felt ill at the thought of not getting tickets. I wanted to get Soundcheck tickets and hoped there’d be some left so when I logged in and clicked the link and saw that there was soundcheck tickets I was ecstatic! Then I bought them and realised I was to be seated in Row AA – the front row! Five hundred and some odd days later I was sitting pretty much right in the centre front row with three lovely girls either side of me (they were all 16 so I felt a little old) waiting for 5 Seconds of Summer to take the stage. But lets rewind to Sound Check – I met a lovely girl called Melissa there who I chatted to for most of the soundcheck portion of the evening.

I had a awkward moment with Harry. I was wearing a necklace and it felt kind of annoying so I had my arms around my neck trying to fix it and then Harry kind of looked at me and then crossed his arms around his chest kind of mimicking what I was doing which was funny. It’s like he was teasing me. Harry is so freaking charismatic it’s ridiculous. His eyes bore into yours from across the room. There’s a reason he’s the most popular one of the group – his charm is undeniable.