Having built a career on collaborating with the best up and coming artists it was only fitting that Ronson bring along some big supports and cameos to help him deliver his Splendour sideshows to an enthusiastic Australian audience.
Having kicked off the Party with sets by Yolanda Be Cool and Jones Jnr, the real party started when young superstar Tkay Maidza hit the stage. Bringing a combination of tight rhymes and smooth vocal riffs, Tkay and her DJ got the slowly filling crowd to their feet for the first time with the crowd stomping their feet along to hits “Brontosaurus” and “MoB”. If you haven’t seen Tkay before your missing one hell of a show, this girl is so energetic that she puts the Duracell bunny to shame.
After another quick filler set by Yolanda, psychedelic rock band POND took to the stage to show Melbourne how they rock. What followed was wave after wave of slamming guitar riffs and the chaotic eccentrics of lead singer Nick Allbrook.
After a short break it was time for the Uptown Special. Standing atop his thrown of lights, the man of the hour, or should I say hour and a half, Mr Mark Ronson hit the stage, the unfortunate thing though was rather than own it he felt the need to hide in the rafters and let his guests have all the spotlight.
What followed was 80 minutes of Ronson’s bests collaborations feat the Bamboos Ella Thompson for “Bang Bang”, Kyle Falconer from the View for “The Bike Song”, Daniel Merriweather for “Stop Me” just to name a few.
The real highlight of the night came from homegrown hero, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, with Ronson himself proclaiming that Parker was one of his favourite artists and what a joy it is to be able to play songs like “Daffodils” and “Leaving Los Feliz” live. Parker really does have an amazing voice and he definitely owns the stage more than anyone else tonight.
Impressing the crowd as always Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt played a MC role during his songs, embracing that nobody can cover Boy George like the man himself and getting the crowd to sing along during collaboration Somebody to Love me and a funkadelic version of Miike Snow‘s smash hit “Animal”.
Watching this set, you really see how Ronson has had an incredible career both in his own records and behind the scenes, and with a lovely dedication to his old friend Amy Winehouse with a sing along version of “Valerie” its clear that Ronson has an honest and respectful relationship with the Artists he works with.
After what could be one of the most unique encore chants I’ve ever heard at a gig, the crowd screamed the dododoo bass line from Ronson’s recent smash hit “Uptown Funk” only to have Ronson and his whole crew of guests and supports hit the stage at once to sing along and dance leaving me thinking that every gig should end with an Uptown Funk Stage Party,
Well Played Mr. Ronson, well played.
Mark Ronson – https://www.facebook.com/markronson
With guests including Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, Tkay Maidza, Andrew Wyatt, Yolanda be cool , Daniel Merriweather, Theophilus London, Keyone Starr and POND
POND – https://www.facebook.com/pondling
Tkay Maidza – https://www.facebook.com/TkayMaidzaMusic
Venue: Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne – https://www.facebook.com/MCourtArena
Date: July 29, 2015
Click here for our Mark Ronson photos
Click here for our photos of support bands POND and Tkay Maidza