The Van Buren hosted an explosion of color for The Midnight’s Time Machines tour on Wednesday night. The band- now composed of singer Tyler Lyle and his live crew- brought pop queen Bonnie McKee out with them for the ultimate collaborative experience in front of a packed house.
Pop sensation Bonnie McKee- now an independent artist and massively successful songwriter- opened the show with her tropical paradise built right onto The Van Buren’s stage. From her disco boots to her leopard print leotard, McKee strutted across the stage, whipped her signature red hair to “Jenn’t Got a Boyfriend” and “Hot City”. She spoke about her artist journey between songs as the audience cheered in solidarity for her decision to move forward without a record label’s support. McKee returned that energy, encouraging everyone there to pursue their passions and dreams. Her set ended with a rousing rendition of “American Girl”, interspersed with some of McKee’s biggest songwriting credits from the Katy Perry song catalog.
The tropical paradise came down and The Midnight’s sparse synthwave set went up just in time for the band to emerge into a sea of deep blue light. Phoenix fans clearly thought the band had been away too long and they sang loudly to “Friction” and “Gloria” to kick off a lengthy and surprisingly emotional performance.
Lyle sang and spoke directly to the audience, getting them to take over on vocals during “Lost Boy” and “The Comeback Kid”- both euphoric moments that raised the sound all the way to the ceiling. The best surprise of the night was McKee joining the band for “Runaways” and “Jason”, two tracks that put plenty of boogie into the room.
The show took a more sentimental turn as Lyle described writing “Los Angeles” before relocating to the East Coast many years ago and its anthemic sounds and hopeful lyrics had fans swaying and smiling in unison. After an instrumental medley, the night wound down with “Good in Red” and “Days of Thunder” before a brief encore brought the show home on “Sunset”. Having The Midnight back in Phoenix was an event that was not to be missed and hundreds of eager fans made it a priority, even in the middle of a busy week. The vibes were high and the audience left satisfied- we’ll be waiting for a time machine (or maybe just a tour bus) to bring the band back to Arizona as soon as possible.
