REVIEW - DELTA GOODREM Live @ SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
mistaken identity
a night of celebration
Presented by TEG [LIVE]
Author and Photographer: RA
15th April 2025
Twenty years ago, a young Delta Goodrem, on the eve of her twentieth birthday, released her second studio album mistaken identity, achieving triple-platinum status. Twenty years later, night two of two, to a sold out audience, we celebrated the amazing journey through Delta’s intimate life and deep connection to music for the twentieth anniversary of ‘mistaken identity’, in the landmark Sydney Opera House. A performance showcasing her strengths, compassion, resilience, and of course, her incredible talent to tell her stories through lyrics and music.
Image: Delta Goodrem
Image: Delta Goodrem and band
Image: Delta Goodrem
It’s an Autumn Tuesday night here in Sydney. The Opera House Concert Hall is illuminated with a vibrant blue hue. A strings set of eight, in pairs, line the back of the stage on a platform. Two back up singers on stage right , a keyboardist, bass guitarist, drummer and guitarist stand below in front. A grand piano sits patiently centre stage. The hall is filling with eager fans from the very young to the more mature. As the figures on stage turn to silhouettes and the music begins to play, multi - ARIA award winner Delta Goodrem walks out wearing a black sequined flowing ball length gown, arms up waving at the admiring fans. Cheers have already begun from the audience and there was no letting up through the rest of the performance. ‘Out of the Blue’, begins tonight’s set, the scene matching perfectly, for out of the blue she came. Delta takes to the mic, and her vocals are flawless. Classically trained Delta swiftly moves from the mic to piano, giving a nod to The Beatles 1968 ‘Hey Jude’ part way through, her creative talent shines through. Setting the tempo for the rest of the night, it seems Delta really wants to break out and party while mastering the art of mashing the more sombre songs from the album with up-beat covers. I guess in a sense, in the words of Sir Paul McCartney, “take a sad song and make it better”.
Image: Delta Goodrem and band on stage @ Sydney Opera House
‘The Analyst’ track two, saw the Hall in a purple and blue haze. ‘mistaken identity’ albums name sake and title of track three was dark and moody, a blood red stage drew upon the depth of character Delta maintains throughout her life, facing all that she has and keeping an outwardly positive nature with grace and beauty. It’s pretty incredible really, seeing her now twenty years later through all her experiences and wisdom gained, her amazing voice of reason and sound telling the stories behind these beautiful songs with love and humour.
Image: Delta Goodrem playing grand piano
Image: Delta Goodrem and band
Image: Delta Goodrem and band
Now making my way to my seat, I notice I am sat next to another Australian music icon, endearing Kate Ceberano and director husband Lee Rogers whom are both genuinely lovely, fully embracing Delta’s performance, dancing to and applauding from their chairs. As the night rolls on, so do the hits, one after the other. Between songs, we get glimpses at Delta’s life, like snapshots, she tells us about her time at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Snoop Dog with his security and her brother Trent and her specially dedicated song for him. Delta takes the time during a hyper interlude session to introduce the band, The Maestro, her fiancé/husband Matt on guitars, Costa on drums, Tom bass guitar, Darryl on keys and sisters from anther mister ‘Sister2Sister’ backing vocals.
Image: Delta Goodrem and band
Image: Delta Goodrem
Image: Delta Goodrem
Playing and singing through ‘mistaken identity’ it was a clever choice for the arrangement not just in tempo, but lyrically where one shows fragility, there is strength, ‘Fragile’ being mixed with Christina Aguilera’s ‘Fighter’ as one example from the night. Special guest Josh Teskey joins Delta to sing ‘Almost Here’ for a beautiful duet.
Image: Delta Goodrem leaning into audience
Delta takes all forms of compliments and screams of “I love you” from the audience with pure grace, yelling back “I love you too”. Young girls with pigtails dance the night away admiring Delta from their chairs singing along to every lyric. To bring the night to a fantastic close with the words “Nobody listens, (but they’re listening now)” with a cheeky grin as she turns and walks away. Returning to a standing ovation for the encore, Delta buzzes through in a melody mix up, blending tracks from her career spanning catalogue, delighting the dancing fans and, it’s at this point I wish I still had my camera in my hand as star confetti falls from the rafters. Delta stands atop of the grand Piano singing ‘Sitting on top of the world’, now wearing a blue sparkly cocktail dress and barefoot. “God bless everyone” - Delta Goodrem.
Image: Delta Goodrem Live on stage @ Sydney Opera House and audience
Thank you to all that put this amazing performance on, to TEG [LIVE] for the opportunity, and to Delta, for sharing your love of music and your intimate life stories with so many of us.
Image: Delta Goodrem playing piano
Author: RA
