You can’t always say the NRL has made the right call with its grand final entertainment.
While there have been Australian performers who deserved their place in front of a packed stadium and two or three million viewers at home, including Jimmy Barnes both with and without Cold Chisel, the Hoodoo Gurus, Jessica Mauboy, Dan Sultan, Amy Shark and King Stingray, the list of overseas veterans imported for the biggest day in Australian rugby league is long and not exactly distinguished.
The Kid Laroi put on a powerful performance for the NRL grand final.Credit: Nine
Tina Turner is the exception. Her performance back in 1993, paid tribute to by the cast of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical last year, is still the best at the grand final. A close second is Macklemore in 2017.
But there have also been grand final paydays for Tom Jones, poor Billy “just waitin’ for some power” Idol, Meat Loaf, Ricky Martin, Slash and Richie Sambora among others.
But this year, the NRL nailed it with The Kid Laroi.
He seemed like a smart choice: a genuine international star with a connection to the game, growing up in public housing at Waterloo supporting the Rabbitohs, that put Katy Perry and her cheesy overseas star call-outs (“Where’s all my Swans at? Where’s all my Lions at?“, “I love you Australia”) into stark perspective at the AFL grand final last weekend.
So successful is Laroi, whose name reflects his Kamilaroi heritage, that it’s hard to believe he’s still only 21. Even most die-hard, rock-loving league fans must have heard Laroi’s hits Stay, with Justin Bieber, and Without You, which he has recorded both solo and with Miley Cyrus.
Laroi, who told American friends that performing at the grand final was “my Super Bowl”, admitted in a pre-performance TV interview he was nervous.
But after a scene-setting montage about his Redfern roots, Laroi seemed instantly comfortable as he strode out of his dressing room dressed all in white, wearing sunglasses.
The back of his hoodie read “Watch this”, which would have seemed like hubris if he’d bombed.
But having performed at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Coachella and on Saturday Night Live, Laroi seemed to find nothing intimidating about 80,000 league fans at Accor Stadium.
He started with two songs from this year, the poppy Baby I’m Back and the catchy Girls, before a cutdown version of 2021’s Stay.
Amid fireworks and smoke – a little too much smoke at times – Laroi moved from a polished Nights Like This to 2020’s Without You.
There was no surprise cameo, as had been rumoured from western Sydney rappers OneFour, who are supporting him on his tour next month. But after missing half a line with a dropped mic stand, there was a surprise to finish, a rousing cover of INXS’s Never Tear Us Apart.
Performing in the evening helped Laroi, given there were none of the background shots of blank-faced fans as there had been during Perry’s set at the AFL. There were also no cheesy call-outs, dozens of back-up dancers, “goon-bag” style vehicles or visual effects for the home audience either.
Just a short set that showed, six years after his first EP, how polished Laroi is as a performer and songwriter and how effective the emotional edge to his voice is.
Earlier, Troy Cassar-Daley performed Some Days to accompany an In Memoriam segment that featured such well-known players as Terry Hill, Carl Webb and Geoff Robinson as well as broadcaster David Morrow and journalist Ian Heads.
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