Review: Ladyhawke at Powerstation

Ladyhawke revives nostalgic, smoky 80s pop, and the fans lap it up. Photo / Richard Robinson

Ladyhawke, or Pip Brown, giggles between songs and admits she is nervous. It is a night of firsts. She has never played to a crowd this big at an Auckland gig.

Ladyhawke has won the hearts of Americans and Brits, and her performance at the Powerstation on Saturday was a chance to show fellow Kiwis why she took home all those music awards last month.

People are going crazy over Ladyhawke's revival of nostalgic, smoky 80s pop, and she has the added charm of being a girl from Masterton who loves playing loud instruments.

She emerged from a heavily smoked stage with a panda-painted face and skeleton costume and rocked into a neon-lit performance of Magic. "Hello. I thought I would dress as a skeleton, since it's Halloween and all," she said between giggles, before introducing her next track, Professional Suicide.

How a voice so powerful, riffs so thick and a presence so electric can come from such a small, shy thing who hides behind big blond hair is baffling.

She's a bit of a character. She couldn't help re-enacting her less-than-enthralling acceptance speech(es) at the Vodafone Music Awards, when she stood knock-kneed and said: "I just don't know what to say."

At the Powerstation she spoke to the crowd between songs. The crowd pulsed back, reliving the 80s or wishing they had a chance to live them in the first place.

In a kaleidoscopic performance, Ladyhawke delivered all the favourite tracks from her eponymous album: Back of the Van, Paris is Burning, Dusk Till Dawn, Crazy World, Another Runaway and Oh My. She also tested a new song, Danny and Jenny - d-d-d-Danny and Jenny - a sign of more bouncy pop and yearning Ladyhawke vocals to come.

Returning for an encore, Ladyhawke said, "I tricked you. I wasn't really finished at all," then gave herself a chance to honour some of her most revered musicians and prove she doesn't just do the Cyndi Lauper-style singles.

And once the crowd was sufficiently frenzied, she zapped it with the number everyone had been waiting for: an epic dose of Delirium.