Sunday, August 27
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Over the past two decades, Delta Goodrem has carved a career as one of Australia’s most successful pop acts and while she found international fame early on, it’s taken 20 years for her to finally embark on her first headline tour of the UK and Europe.
As recent as this spring, it seemed the run might not happen after the powerhouse vocalist was forced to postpone the dates after straining her cords, but at the end of the summer she finally stepped out onto the stage and, arriving in the capital for the third date of an extended series of gigs, appeared at the top of her game as she launched into her epic 2008 single Wings.
Across a 25+ song set, the singer-songwriter divided her time between belting out classic after classic front and centre, and positioning herself behind the piano and showcasing the musicality that saw the then-teenager pen such enduring hits as Born To Try, Lost Without You and Innocent Eyes.
A packed-out crowd seemed comfortably acquainted with tracks from across the years, including selections from her most-recent LP, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Dreams’ (2021), such as rocking early tune The Power, which along with cuts like the anthemic singalong Sitting On Top Of The World showed off the power of her belt.
A victory lap set that spanned each of the performer’s eras to date, she also opened the floor to fans to submit their own requests mid-way through the show, delivering the Commonwealth Games track Together We Are One, along with ‘Innocent Eyes’ (2003) song Butterfly, Last Night On Earth from 2004’s ‘Mistaken Identity’ and ‘Wings Of The Wild’ (2016) single The River.
Off the cuff renditions of John Paul Young’s Love Is In The Air – following an on-stage proposal – and the ‘Neighbours’ theme also featured, while a soaring cover of Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time nodded towards her much-anticipated, ‘80s-inspired forthcoming album.
From that record, Goodrem brought out Hearts On The Run – the title of the tour – for only its second performance, along with the lead release Back To Your Heart, which had the whole venue pumped up and singing back every word as she closed out the main set.
Returning to the stage for a three-song encore, it was Believe Again from her third album, ‘Delta’ (2007), that rounded out the evening after two hours, bringing to an end a triumphant set before an audience that would easily have lapped it up all over again.
In recent years, Goodrem has placed her focus largely on her audience Down Under, but if her latest run of live shows represents anything it’s that she has a global fanbase that, two decades in the making, are 100 per cent here for her next move and hungry for what’s next.
Standing out most of all, though, is the phenomenal performer that she’s become; the 2,000 capacity venue could easily have been stadium-sized and she’d have worked the place with ease – from the songs, to her vocals and superb band, it was indeed a masterclass of a live show.
