Project Description

GEORGE MAPLE 

+ MIMI + CXLOE

@ The Gov Adelaide 

23/02/18

Reviewer: Chelsea Wood

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George Maple

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When it comes to the live production of a tour, it’s safe to say George Maple is at the top. By fusing together the elements of lighting, visual effects, choreography, and costuming, Maple has brought her debut album, Lover, to life providing her audience with an immersive show that showcased her signature sultry vocals. The masterpiece that is Lover,  explores the pain, desire, intimacy, and vulnerability that’s felt over the course of a relationship; and Maple’s show and personas certainly reflect this. Her energy and demeanour was second to none as she, along with her all female line up for the evening, accentuated the relationship between power and femininity.

Over the years, George Maple has made her name collaborating and writing with the likes of Flume, Flight FacilitiesSnakehips, DJ SnakeTkay Maidza, and What So Not, as well as bringing her own flair to her own tours and festival slots.  I’ve seen her multiple times before, with each performance as energetic as the last, catering for crowds of thousands ranging to only a few hundred. With the Lover tour however, Maple has shown a darker side. We see her be humbled by her audience between songs and then be driven back into character, with each song reflecting the album’s personas of the heroine, femme fatale, and diva. With this came not just a show, but a visual and somewhat cinematic experience also.

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George Maple

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The night opened with Melbourne Dj, MIMI followed by Sydney artist, CxloeCxloe’s incredible vocals and energy were impressive, with a set that included a cover of Billie Eilish’s Bellyache, which in turn drew a decent crowd.

After an introduction of a video montage accompanied by the album’s introductory track, To Be a Lover (Intro), two dancers appeared onstage, serving the purpose of visually expressing the meaning of each song. To me it seemed as though their choreography was the story of a relationship, with Maple providing the narrative. Maple, fitted out in a bodysuit, a black netted hood and sunglasses, all of which screamed of Grace Jones inspiration, strutted onto stage and burst into the album’s title track, LoverSticks and Horses followed, with Maple left alone onstage to mesmerise the crowd. This song in particular perfectly showed off her seductive vocals and persona of the powerful heroine, with it then blending into a short rendition of Kanye West’s Mercy, which allowed Maple to challenge the idea of masculinity while holding a diva stance.

After leaving for a second costume change, Maple returned to the stage in a silver hooded cape, ready for crowd favourite, Vacant Space. By this time, the crowd were well and truly warmed up and ready to match Maple’s volume. Her two collaborations with What So Not, Buried and Gemini got the audience on shoulders and on an energetic high, fitting the tracks and Maple’s stage presence perfectly.

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George Maple

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The third costume change produced an embezzled fedora and a suit set ready for the slower paced part of Maple’s set. Everybody Here Wants You began this, with Maple mirroring the movements of her dancer, further hinting at the tracks being a reflection of her experiences; while the ballads, Slow Dancing and Hold Me By The Waist, perfectly showed off her haunting vocal work. This solemn period was soon brought to a halt with the juxtaposition of Beyonce’s Diva, which in turn got the crowd moving and reignited Maple’s diva persona.

The high energy Kryptonite came next, to be followed then by her 2014 single, Talk Talk which in turn flowed into Dj Snake’s remix, providing the show with a tropical club feel. Her final track of the night was a beautiful medley of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Maple’s 2017 hit, Hero.

During this tour, George Maple has given her fans an intimate insight into the production process by openly inviting them to each venue for soundcheck drinks. Before exiting the stage, Maple apologised to her Adelaide fans, as technical and delivery issues had meant she hadn’t been able to do her soundcheck, expressing that she felt they needed something more. So, she asked her fans what acoustic (acapella) they wanted to hear from her and treated us to a medley of, Fixed, Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, and a repeat of Hero. The audience were delighted by this exclusive moment and burst into applause and cheers for a final time.

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George Maple

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