Kevin Silvester- Gig Review (April 24th @ Stay Gold)

Last Thursday night, I had the absolute joy and privilege of being invited to Kevin Silvester’s debut headline show at Stay Gold in Brunswick.

The stage was set up to almost resemble a teenager’s bedroom from an early 2000’s coming of age movie, with a handmade looking backdrop, analogue TV’s and an acoustic guitar sitting on a stand on the side. The band were dressed like they were straight out of an emo or pop-punk music video, wearing white shirts and loose ties as they set up their instruments.

Photo cred: Zac Zerna

While standing in the crowd and waiting for the set to start, I heard someone in front of me say “the next guy up is really good!” to a group of their friends, which caught my attention and amped up my excitement for the performance even more than it already was.

Kevin suddenly comes running from the left side and jumps onto the stage like an absolute rockstar. His outfit gives off major main character energy, with silver studded bracelets, chains, baggy black clothes, New Rock boots and red hair. His energy is immediately infectious and he seeps stage presence and rockstar quality right from the get go. Grabbing his red bedazzled microphone, Kevin immediately erupts into BAD OMEN, a high-energy unreleased song from his upcoming EP.

Photo cred: Huda Shehzad

He then follows up with Villains never die, a moody yet upbeat track about betrayal and heartache, and then plays another catchy and energetic unreleased song called HURT PEOPLE. One of my favourite moments from the night is when Kevin breaks into an angsty and passionate cover of Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby One More Time, inducing the audience to scream along to the lyrics.

Kevin then slows the energy down by picking up the acoustic guitar and playing two heartfelt and emotional unreleased songs, FOOL’S GOLD and SLEEPWALKER which are also from his upcoming EP. The crowd is full of swaying arms and phone flashes, creating a beautiful intimate moment between Kevin and the audience.

After an intermission and outfit change, Kevin jumps out in a silver mesh stop and announces “Let’s bring it back to 2002!”, diving right into DELULU, a grungy and catchy song about being delusional in love.

Another memorable moment from the night is when he then teased his new upcoming single, I Think I Need Therapy. We also got a debut viewing of the unreleased film clip for the track, which played on the analogue TV’s set up on the stage, giving the video a nostalgic vibe.

Photo Cred: Huda Shehzad

Amping the energy all the way back up, Kevin plays a fun mashup of Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend and Taylor Swift's Shake it off. Opening acts Terra Rogue and GETJAXXED join him on stage to perform along for this one, and it is a really cool and enjoyable moment as the crowd dance and scream along.

As the show begins to wrap up, Kevin then performs ORBIT, which he states is his favourite song of his. It is a powerful track with heartfelt lyrics about being led on by someone you have feelings for, as well as speaking on themes of identity and sexuality.

After teasing the crowd with goodbyes and running off the stage, Kevin comes back after a few moments to play one final song, STRANGER, an achingly personal track about mental health and negative self thoughts.

Photo Cred: Zac Zerna

Kevin greeted us after the show with a smear of blood across his cheek (which was from his guitar string), a fitting testament that he literally put his blood and sweat into his performance. Many others in the audience swarmed to take photos, give hugs and speak to him after the show, further indicators of his overall superstar quality and ability to connect to his crowd.

I really think that this performance will permanently stick with me as the beginning of something special, like watching a gig from a star just before they absolutely blow up. His energy, passion and music all resonated deeply with me and I’m definitely looking forward to whatever the future will hold for Kevin!

I Think I Need Therapy will be released on May 9th so keep an eye out on Kevin’s website here, as well as his Instagram here, to be one of the first to hear it when it does!

Also be sure to listen to some of his already released tracks here in the meantime :)