The Veronicas First US Tour in 15 Years
Lara Gandour ‘27 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
The Aussies are back! Identical twin sisters The Veronicas (Lisa & Jessica) performed in Boston on April 21st. It was a part of their first time back touring in the US since 2009. The duo is famous for their pop-rock heartbreak songs. Their most popular song “Untouched” came out in 2007 and has over 177 million streams on Spotify. Their debut single “4ever” came out in 2005 and was #2 on the Australian Singles Chart. The Veronicas released their newest album “Gothic Summer” in late March and reached the charts as the #1 album in Australia.
Their opener, Jesse Jo Stark is a pop singer from LA. She sang about 11 songs (one unreleased & one cover) and finished around 8:45 while using a Frankenstein popup as a prop on stage with a static mic to sing two songs. Jesse Jo Stark set the stage for the grunge pop-filled night with a studded leather jacket and swift movement, dancing freely across the stage. She got the crowd engaged and interested in some of her alternative/indie music while amping everyone up for Lisa & Jessica.
The Royale was the perfect venue in Boston for The Veronicas’ comeback to the US, with a mid-sized space for the intimacy between the artist and audience to flow. The crowd ranged from all ages, from the middle-aged to the youngest at eight years old. The entire concert was explosive, with amazing energy as everyone shouted the lyrics to their songs. Die-hard fans & newcomers were brought together in a space with all attention to The Veronicas. It has been a long time coming.
They performed for just about an hour and opened with “Take Me on the Floor” around 9:20 as an upbeat track to get the crowd into their vibe. Then they performed “Everything I’m Not,” a more somber song, about a relationship ending because of another girl being “everything I’m not.” Switching from their older songs into the new album, they performed “Detox,” evoking high energy out of the previous somewhat somber song while they shook water out of a bottle onto the audience to amp them up.
They then went back to one of their classics for fans: “Hook Me Up,” while switching their vibe from dancing around the stage singing into the mics to playing guitar. After performing “Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were),” they talked to the audience for a while, reminiscing about how these songs were from their angsty teenage years and how the audience was able to grow up with them to see them through everything in their music (primarily being centered around heartbreak). After having their talk with the audience they sat on stools mellowing the vibe with their song “This Love.”
They continued the mellow songs with a classic fan favorite “You Ruin Me” off of their self-titled album released in 2014 with the whole audience singing along with their somber tones. They then picked up the energy by dancing with the mic stands, rocking with them back and forth, and singing “This Is How It Feels.” They switched to electro-pop energy by playing guitar and a sound pad beatmaker to “Lolita” with the lights flashing green to create an electric vibe. They then performed one of their more recent hits “In My Blood” released in 2016 but put on their 2021 album GODZILLA. The song now boasts over 54 million streams on Spotify. Red lights blared overhead to mimic the passion and imagery behind the song.
Straying more toward their recent songs, they performed “Jungle” off of their latest album, going back to the green lights with a more carefree vibe by incorporating a tambourine. Lisa & Jessica sang “Here To Dance” from the same album, keeping the audience dancing. Their second to last song was “4ever,” amping up the energy to another mini talk as an intro to their last song “Untouched.” After realizing what the last song was, the entire audience screamed the lyrics loudly and had high energy, dancing on the floor, ending the show with a memorable closer.
The Veronicas’ return to the US will not be their last as they said “we cannot wait to come back here for the 20th anniversary” and fans can’t wait to see where they go next!