Live Review: Kesha, Ben Abraham

Considering that Melbourne singer-songwriter Ben Abraham co-wrote Kesha’s mega-hit Praying it seems only fitting that he would join in as support for her Aussie tour. Abraham welcomes the very receptive crowd with a few words and a couple of songs before telling them that “as a folk musician you dream of the day where you get to stand in front of a fan,” laughing as the wind blows his shirt around. 

Earlier this year Abraham was awarded the Overseas Recognition honour at the APRA Awards for his songwriting work with the likes of Kesha, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Demi Lovato and more. Judging by his performance tonight, the award is more than deserved and hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of him on stage as well as in the studio over the next few years.

A recording of Kesha’s voice and spotlights fill the arena as the lights drop, with a very heavy bass soon rattling the entire venue. The curtain drops and there she is, head to toe in white and silver, flanked by two dancing backup singers.

“I woke up this morning feeling like P Diddy,” she says to a massive cheer teasing the crowd with a few lines of Tik Tok before breaking into Woman, off her latest Grammy Award-nominated album Rainbow, which includes the night’s first confetti explosion.

Blah, Blah, Blah from her first album Animal gets the crowd loudly singing and dancing along. She welcomes the crowd and then apologises for it being a while between trips, telling them, “I feel so at home here.” We R Who We R is dedicated to her LGBTQIA+ fans in the crowd, with Kesha sharing an empowered speech halfway through about human rights which gains the biggest cheer of the night so far.

There’s a costume change - one of many impressive ones throughout the evening - which then sees her return to the stage to play Bastards. The song starts with just her vocals accompanied by an acoustic guitar and it’s apparent that her singing will remain just as flawless as it is on record. Phones light up the crowd as she gets them all waving their arms in unison. 

She shares with the crowd that they don’t normally play Godzilla off her latest album but she’s making an exception this evening due to an overwhelming amount of requests for the track, which we’re thankful for because it’s not too long into the song when Ben Abraham appears dressed in a faux Godzilla onesie, leaping across the stage, which is as much a surprise for Kesha as it is the crowd. 

Timber is reimagined in as a less pop, more rock based version, with Kesha impressively rapping the part that once belonged to Pitbull. She tells the crowd that Take It Off is a song about getting your clothes off and that she won’t start until she has an item from a crowd member, which cues multiple bras, shirts and even a whole dress to be flung onto the stage, which are then carried around throughout the song. A personalised rainbow flag is also thrown which she then proudly wears as a cape. Unfortunately, someone didn’t quite check their pockets before throwing their goods, with the singer coming to the front of the stage after the song ends to throw someone’s wallet back to them. She tells the crowd that they’re ready for their “pretend last song” wrapping up the first set with Blow, complete with Kesha spraying the crowd with confetti from her LED rainbow coloured confetti cannon. 

She disappears from the stage, the crowd chanting, cheering and stamping until she comes back out from the encore break. She once again introduces Abraham and thanks him for joining her on the tour. Of course, it’s Praying that he joins her for, playing piano throughout. It’s a hugely emotional version of the song, with the crowd singing and swaying along. 

“I hope tonight was everything you dreamt of and I love you so fucking much,” she tells the crowd before changing into a tinsel jacket and finishing the night off her biggest single, Tik Tok. Kesha’s warmth, generosity and humour provides many engaging and welcoming moments throughout the night, which create a safe and inclusive environment for everyone in the stadium. We hope it’s not so long between visits next time.