Dylan is Natasha Woods from the UK, and her first New Zealand show sees a brash and confident Pop star in the making.
Only 24 years old and she appears to have come out of nowhere. Already she has been on the support bill for the Ed Sheeran +-=:x tour of 2022. In the same year she also supported Tate McRae.
That is the power of social media and the immediate access that it can allow. But it has also raised the bar in the standards that needs to be met to break through. The risk may be in expanding too quickly.
Dylan was born and raised in the village of Bures in the UK. She did learn guitar at age 10. Other instruments were self-taught.
This is her Rebel Tour, and she starts with a rock grenade in Rebel Child and lays into it in the best Joan Jett snarling fashion.
A slim blonde wielding a guitar and an attitude. With her is another young blonde woman who switches between bass and six-string that she names Axl Rose, and a male drummer dubbed Phil Collins.
They are in fact Rosie Botteril and Connor Hopkins respectively.
Coming to get you/ Baby, I was born a rebel child. I am sure she ad-libs I was born a virgin towards the end. Making a nod to Madonna.
She has a powerful Rock Chick voice which also has the deeper muscular tones of a Miley Cyrus.
There is no nervous build-up or tension, her performance is fully formed from the start.
She wants to out-passion the show next door at the Arena, some DJ named Fred Again. Some of that massive audience seem to have found their way in here and we are close to three quarters full.
But that audience of predominantly young women can SCREAM on cue when Dylan asks them to.
They also are quick to recognise and chant along with many of her predominantly original songs.
Girl of Your Dreams and she gets to strut and jump to a sexy rocker.
She has described herself as a Pop singer with a Rock Heart. That was her father who was a man of the classics. AC-DC and Zeppelin Stones.
Mother was more a Barbra Streisand type. The parents did support her drive to be a successful performer.
Nineteen is where we hear her Rock sound morphing into Power Pop. She does the Miley Cyrus lower tone vocal husk here to best advantage.
Every Heart but Mine. You can hear some similarity to the later-period Ramones, where their Pop sensibilities came to the fore, whilst retaining their basic incendiary guitar fire.
There are a few new songs, a preview for an album which will drop soon.
Perfect Revenge does have a hard Disco rhythm, as she promised.
Bad is one of the best tonight. She phrases in R’n’B fashion, sexy and funny. Some of Sam Smith’s Unholy is tacked on.
Dylan makes big promises for that new album with those two songs tonight.
We get a couple of covers when she picks up her acoustic guitar. A little bit of Harry Styles’ Kiwi, and all of Taylor Swift’s Looking at it Now.
She is ambitious and is obviously looking at the competition with the clear aim to rise to that level.
Liar, Liar. Her confident stage manner does indicate a lot of practice and training, but that is the necessary precursor to success. Even if it appears to be overnight.
Brand new single Alibi is seductive and rages. Obsessive love to the point of devotion. Devil in disguise, lover/ I won’t forget/ You’re all of my mistakes/ You’re the one I regret.
She does address one of her favourite artists directly. You’re Not Harry Styles is a young woman’s bedroom Pop with great humour.
Big songs finish the show.
No Romeo includes electro-beats and interesting rhythmic shifts.
Nothing Lasts Forever celebrates living in the Glorious Present.
Dylan performs like a star already. She had a good Rock and Roll Heart to begin with. She seems to be a natural winner to back.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Chloe Tredgett
Dylan
Paige
Discover more from Red Raven News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.