LIVE REVIEW + GALLERY: Renee Rapp – Hordern Pavilion

Renee Rapp is a pop star who is doing things her way, and I’m absolutely obsessed. Her long overdue Australian debut comes whilst in the middle of her Bite Me Tour, which is a 90 minute affair of powerhouse vocals, strong band arrangements, and a whole lot of hilarious sass from Renee herself.

The show was segmented by video interludes that saw her being interrogated, and she opened the show with the unapologetic anthem “Leave Me Alone” and the playful “Kiss It Kiss It” which played into that theme. Wearing a leather jacket, sunglasses, and baggy bedazzled blue jeans she commanded the stage with this nonchalant and cheeky energy that the crowd immediately ate up. While the setlist was predominately showcasing her new album “Bite Me”, she did throw it back to her incredible debut album “Snow Angel” early on in the show with “Talk Too Much” and “Poison Poison” which ignited some loud singalongs.

As someone who didn’t love “Bite Me” as much as her debut, I found myself having a complete new appreciation for the songs in the live setting with “Mad” and “Sometimes” stealing the show for me. Renee just has this natural star power as she struts up and down the stage where you can’t keep your eyes off her. But a really special part of the show is when she just sits down and sings songs like “Why Is She Still Here?” and “That’s So Funny” and serves you pure vocals, reminding you that she comes from a musical theatre background and can deliver some powerhouse notes.

Getting into the crowd during “Swim”, she walks up and down the barricade with a camera as she gets up close and personal with fans who had been camping out the night before to be as close as possible to the pop star. “Tummy Hurts” and “Pretty Girls” were unsurprisingly big moments in the set, but “Snow Angel” kinda was THE moment. Teasing fans with a snippet of “Not My Fault”, she closed out the show with “At Least I’m Hot”, which felt like an underwhelming finish to what had been such an incredible show.

But Renee Rapp is the real deal. She is THE pop star you should be keeping your eyes on, because she is a force to be reckoned with.

Check out the full gallery of Renee Rapp and Cat & Calmell captured by Jazmin Pezzano BELOW: