I just want to clarify one thing: LANY puts on a good show…
I wasn’t sure how the sometimes-slower paced songs of Paul Jason Klein, Charles Leslie “Les” Priest, and Jake Clifford Goss would translate to a live show. They have a dreamy and synth-pop sound (Which feels a bit 80’s in the BEST of ways) which I was worried would not get a live crowd going.
This was not the case.
Klein is the definition of charisma on stage. The entire night I felt like I was watching him put on a private performance, not as part of a band. That works for LANY. I didn’t need to notice Goss and Priest. Klein swung between his signature style of dance, donning the guitar or belting it out on the keyboard under spotlight. His total command of the stage and the crowd is what made the show. I am of the opinion that he could have started singing nursery rhymes and the crowd would have lost their sh*t.
LANY has a very clear theme within their music: Love, and all the other emotions that come with it. Just like they have done with their latest album, Malibu Nights, LANYtakes you on a journey of that Love in their shows. They opened with ‘Thick And Thin’ before jumping back to some singles and tracks from LANY. Kleinused the next 30 or so minutes to really start to vibe with the crowd before hitting us with ‘Malibu Nights’. Whenever he stopped singing the crowd knew the words and would sing them right back to him. About three quarters of the way through the show Kleintook some time to talk to the crowd, thanking everyone for coming out and declaring his love for Australia. Fighting through tears the entire time, he managed to let everybody know that
“Australia is really really far away from everything”
He is not wrong. After the crowd had showered him with love and he had finished wiping away tears the show went on. Eventually building to “Thru These Tears” x 2 (They played it again for the ‘encore’). Hearing Klein slowly deliver the penultimate song on Malibu Nightswith a spotlight on him and the crowd singing back was magic. Hearing the crowd go wild when they played it again for the encore was better.
The three major songs from Malibu Nights, ‘Thick And Thin’, ‘Malibu Nights’ and ‘Thru These Tears’ come across as Kleingoing sharing the 5 stages of grief with us. You can hear the denial and anger in ‘Thick And Thin’, the bargaining and depression in ‘Malibu Nights’, and the acceptance in ‘Thru These Tears’. How Kleinshared that emotion with the crowd is what made the show. His stage presence is subtle but commanding. Watching him shed tears only helped to illustrate just how much emotion he pours into every song, and you truly feel it.
My only complaints of the night? They came out 3 minutes late and did a pre-planned encore. That’s it.
If you’re a fan of LANY, go see them live. You will NOT regret it. One guy got a drum stick and it seemed like it may have been the best day of his life.
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