Concertgoers have described pop group Aqua’s Perth show as ‘awkward’ and ‘terrible’ after a series of bizarre incidents left the crowd confused.
Mix94.5 producer Shelby Brady talked about the performance on Pete & Kymba for Breakfast on Friday morning, telling the hosts that the show was “instantly bad” but got worse when singer Lene Nystrom left the stage and returned crying in her pajamas.
The Euro-pop band is best known for their 1997 hit single Barbie Girl and kicked off their Australian tour in Perth in Metro City on Thursday evening.
Pop group Aqua left the crowd confused after leaving the stage. Photo: Instagram/Adam1985
After an hour, lead singer Lene Nystrom returned in her pajamas. Photo: Instagram/Adam1985
Brady said the show started wrong before the band had even taken the stage, with the audience seeing an embarrassing mistake on a stage screen.
“I knew they were off to a bad start when the screen behind them said ‘Hello Adelaide,’” she said.
While she described the first song, Cartoon Heroes, as having a “vibe,” the show continued to go downhill when Nystrom disappeared from the stage, saying the departure was the result of a “sound problem.”
The pop star group is best known for their hit single Barbie Girl. Image: supplied
“You could see the leading lady (Lene Nystrom) take her headpiece out during the song, but it didn’t seem like a big deal,” she said
“She walks away and she’s the singer, so they have to continue without her.”
Shelby said the remaining singers sparred before they all left the stage for an hour, confusing hundreds of concertgoers.
“It’s so awkward, no one knows what’s happening,” she said.
“They closed the bar so you couldn’t get drinks, you couldn’t sit anywhere.
‘People left because there was no communication at all. It was just an empty stage, with no one there.’
But the show got even worse when the singer returned to the show visibly upset and put on her pajamas.
‘They arrive again at ten o’clock in the evening. The singer previously wore a fluffy dress, she’s changed out of that and now she’s wearing her real pajamas,” Brady said.
“She was crying… breathing heavily the whole time and that was the whole hour long performance.”
Host Kymba Cahill had empathy for the singer, suggesting she might be having an “episode” and trying to get through the performance.
“Do you think maybe it started out as a good thing? But to me that sounds like she’s having some kind of episode,” Cahill said.
‘If you take off your tight, pleated suit and you’re off stage for an hour and you come back crying and in your pajamas, that indicates something has gone wrong. She’s not doing well.’
The onstage blunder comes as the group was forced to curtail their shows in Australia due to disappointing demand.