It’s really nice when a gig completely exceeds all your expectations and makes you mentally take a step back for a second. Lawrence kicked off their sold out debut Australian tour in Sydney with the first of two nights at The Metro Theatre, and they truly turned that venue into the Church Of Lawrence. From the second they ran onstage right through to the celebratory closer of “Whatcha Want”, they had every member of the audience in complete awe, and throwing their hands up in the air screaming along to every song. It was a euphoria that some artists struggle to master, but Lawrence made to seem to effortless. 

Dubbed “The Family Business Tour” in lieu of their fourth studio album released last year, they immediately brought you into that world with paper boxes and props like landline phone’s and desk name placards left across the stage. Opening with the title track, it felt like a big bang had gone off with the palpable energy that erupted with lead singer Gracie Lawrence’s jaw dropping vocals and the unmissable brass section. Early highlights in the set included “i’m confident that i’m insecure” which just has these incredible heights it reaches vocally and melodically, the fan voted “False Alarms”, and “Guy I Used To Be” which is one of Clyde Lawrence’s strongest moments. 

Keeping with the theme of the show, as they went into the acoustic section which they dubbed the “Acoustic Office”, they changed the set-up with a little call-hold instrumental moment which was interrupted with tone saying “Your call is important to us, thank you for your patience”. Breaking down songs to fall into an “acoustic-ish” feel, Gracie was really taken back by the audience reaction to “The Weather” which she simply replied “okay, slay”. “Something In The Water” was a big show standout to me as they transferred from Acoustic Office to Main Office during the song and made it feel like an award show performance. They really know how to make song’s have cool individual moments, with “Death Of Me” having a mash up with “Funeral” which then came back to to the earlier song in an even bigger way. And I just need to mention it again… Gracie’s vocals – I can’t get over it. She is a queen. 

A cover of *NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna be Me” was a welcomed surprise, while songs like “More”, “23”, and “The Heartburn Song” were clearly crowd favourites. Bringing the stage crew and support act Jaron Jay on stage for the finale of “Whatcha Want”, they closed the show out with an important sense of togetherness, which the whole show crafted so beautifully in an underlining way. 

It may have taken them four albums to get to Australia, but after that crowd reaction and how impressive that show was, I would say they will be back quite soon as they will have a lot of people eager to see them now. 

Check out the full gallery captured by Ruby Boland BELOW:

Photos by Ruby Boland