The final instalment of Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week was the hottest musical property this year – new global superstar Tones and I.
When Tones and I took the stage, around 200 fans at The Lair in The Metro made her feel right at home as she proceeded to perform tracks from her EP, The Kids are Coming – Never Seen The Rain, Colourblind, Johnny Run Away, Jimmy, and other Tones and I numbers such as You’re So Fucking Cool.
Toni Watson fans love that she is almost anti-showbiz as she refuses to bow to celebrity clichés. Coming onstage at The Lair the first thing she did was kick off her shoes before performing the entire set in her socks.
She told stories about visiting the US and going to a celebrity party in Hollywood. She didn’t feel comfortable though and ended the night back in her hotel room with takeaway watching Netflix.
Between each song she explained what it meant to her, and attributed most of her creativity to her friends and experiences in Byron Bay busking.
Watson acknowledges and celebrates pop tradition while at the same time gently mocking it.
From humble beginnings busking on the streets of Melbourne and then Byron Bay in early 2018, the now four time ARIA Award winner (including Best Female Artist) took a moment to thank fans and her record label, Sony Music, for believing in her and her vision, as Sony Music CEO Denis Handlin and some of his team watched on and enjoyed the show and the audience reaction.
Close to the end of the set came the tune from Tones that everybody wanted to hear – Dance Monkey.
As news came through just before she took to the stage that the single had managed to claim top spot again on the ARIA Singles Chart, some wondered if she could perhaps hold on to be the Christmas #1?
Guests in the audience included Sony Music chief Denis Handlin who is about to start his 50th year in the business after securing the biggest-ever chart success in all those years. He was joined by a number of colleagues including Dan Nitschke, Nova’s chief commercial officer Peter Charlton, smoothfm and Nova 96.9 program director Peter Clay, Channel 7 newsreader Sally Bowery, Home & Away stars James Stewart and Sarah Roberts and Nova 96.9’s breakfast hosts Fitzy & Wippa [and EP Tommy Ivey with his breakfast team who had been out celebrating hard their 2019].
Nova Entertainment’s Claire Marshall and her music marketing team have raised the bar yet again in delivering an even more potent music mix for ARIA Week 2019.
They won’t get much of a break though with Nova announcing this morning Lizzo as the first Nova Red Room of 2020 in January.
Marshall said, “It’s been another incredible year working with our industry friends and partners. Everything we work toward is done in true partnership and in 2019 we’ve had the privilege of working with some incredible people. Both established and break out, artists have been very generous with their time and we can’t wait to for Lizzo to connect with her fans up close and personal in Nova’s Red Room in 2020. What a way to kick off a new decade!”