Tate McRae has been touring the world since April as part of her 2024 Think Later World Tour. With Australia as the second last country of her tour itinerary, Melbourne was the final Australian city to be graced with the Canadian singer’s presence.
Taking residence over two nights at Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena, Tate McRae’s stage set up was minimal and purposefully placed on an angle. The giant screen block at the back helped to create a cool catwalk, all without needing to extend the stage. Accompanied by a live band and the best dancers you can buy, with what little staging the Think Later World Tour set up had, Tate McRae made up for with her dancing and music. Plus, the minimal staging caused no obstruction, allowing room for more people to attend to watch their favourite Canadian pop star.
The venue was filled with fans adorned in their own sports jerseys, many customised to have their own names on it, or even Tate McRae’s name. This was inspired by the promotional art of Tate photographed in a sparkly sports jersey. Eager for the main event, many patrons were carelessly singing along at the top of their lungs to all the tracks that played while everyone waited for the Canadian pop star to come on stage.
When the lights dimmed and the audience cheered in reaction, patrons were then exhibited to a lit block with flashing lights from red, green and blue in sync with a beeping noise. As the noise played faster, the lights in turn flickered faster, until Tate emerged in a white corset style top and matching white short cuts, complete with dark boots.
Throughout the night, Tate McRae thoroughly entertained the Melbourne audience with her talents and down-to-earth, humble yet undeniably confident personality. I loved the way Tate exhibited her stellar songwriting and sweet vocals with ‘feel like shit’, ‘stay done’, and the epic ‘you broke me first’. McRae also showed off her slick dance moves with tracks ‘uh oh’ which had Tate exhibiting sexy dance moves on a white bench alongside two female dancers, ‘It’s ok I’m ok’ which was crazily mesmerising, and the fun ‘rubberband’ which had the catwalk style stage transform in the blink of an eye into what appeared to be a boxing ring.
Fans sung along for the entirety of the concert but some songs were louder than others; ‘cut my hair’, ‘exes’, ‘we’re not alike’, ‘run for the hills’, ’10:35’, and ‘guilty conscience’, the latter of which McRae had the audience all singing along acapella before the music even chimed in to accompany them both.
However, stand out performances include my favourite Tate McRae track, the rock inspired ‘she’s all i wanna be’ which had everyone animatedly dancing (if they weren’t already), and the moment when Tate performed at her B-stage, taking residence on a simple staircase at Margaret Court Arena. The staircase used was on the same side of the arena as me, so while Tate’s back was towards me during the entirety of the song, it was honestly super cool to see an artist perform from this perspective. It felt like our side of the arena were all backstage with the perfect view – seeing an artist in her element and entertaining the masses with fans all beaming in elation while singing along to the exquisitely stunning ballad, ‘grave’.
Admittedly, my jaw dropped on multiple occasions, wowed by how phenomenal Tate McRae is as a performer. Concluding the night with songs ‘2 hands’ and ‘greedy’, despite Tate sharing with her Melbourne audience at the beginning of the concert that she was feeling a little under the weather, you wouldn’t have been able to tell due to her pure professionalism and her abundance of talents. McRae also was very interactive with the Melbourne crowd, captivating fans and making the arena show feel intimate.
Although our time in the same room with Tate McRae seemed to pass by far too quickly, understandable since she was not feeling 100%, if this is how good she is when not feeling her best, I can’t even begin to imagine how incredible McRae is in full health and energy in comparison.
What I genuinely love about Tate McRae is that while she can definitely sing and dance, there was a time for both, with one activity never compromising the other. It seemed so simple, yet so damn smart! With Tate McRae already keen for her next world tour and new music, I cannot wait to see how much she grows, both as a performer and as a songwriter. It’s only going to get bigger and better from here. She’s only 21 and already, Tate McRae is a master of her craft. Wow.
Tate McRae performed in Melbourne on Saturday the 16th of November at Margaret Court Arena and the Australian leg of her 2024 Think Later World Tour, proudly presented by Secret Sounds and Live Nation Australia, has now concluded. Her final ever show for her 2024 Think Later World Tour will conclude tomorrow (November 21st) at TSB Arena in Wellington, New Zealand.
Photography by Beth Saravo.