Live Review: Macy Gray, Sunny Amoreena

Local darling Sunny Amoreena graced the stage first, as lifelong Gray fans seeped in and filled the rows of chairs. It felt a lot more like a show than a concert, and the (slightly older) crowd appeared exceptionally polite, well behaved and sober during the delightful entrée of the night. 

Amoreena radiated a really beautiful, sincere, positive form of energy, delivering honest acoustic vocals, and announcing each song. Boys Like You was a highlight, with the young woman singing and playing the keyboard, a drummer and back-up vocalist supporting her performance. 

In true “sexy diva” etiquette fashion, Macy Gray waltzed on stage close to three quarters of an hour after her scheduled set time, sporting her signature ‘fro and dressed in a red and gold sequinned maxi dress, red stilettos, black leather fingerless gloves and a shaggy pink feather boa. All four members of her band wore synchronised colour-changing light-up ties. It was wonderful. 

Gray’s regular speaking voice sounds exactly like her singing voice – raspy, loud and luscious – and she kicked off the night with crowd favourite, Why Didn’t You Call Me. She introduced us to “the greatest band in the whole wide world” before singing a track off her new album, The Way, titled Bang Bang. She swayed and swung herself around her diamante-encrusted microphone stand before announcing, “You sure know how to party out here!” leaving us with a solo performance by her drummer. 

She emerged close to 20 minutes later wearing a bronzed, brown cloth-like dress and dangling what appeared to be two fur (fake, let’s hope) foxtails sewn together around her neck. Gray sang her cover of Radiohead’s Creep and followed through with relatable, personal thoughts on being oneself and not having to hide, announcing, “All the sexy people, I just want you to be free, do what you wanna do... shake it how you wanna shake it!” to which almost everyone in the crowd was more than happy to oblige. She followed through with I Try, reminding us all of how we first came to love that distinctly irresistible, husky voice.