Benson Boone Review: Crowd Goes Mild as TikTok Fame Meets Arena
Benson Boone opened at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on November 12 and earned two stars from a reviewer. Seven backflips and confetti kept eyes up front, but the crowd stayed quiet through his ballads on the Wanted Man Tour.
The crowd went mild for TikTok sensation Benson Boone at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on November 12, according to a two-star review of the first night of his Wanted Man Tour stop. Tickets cost up to $200.
It was the second Australian city on the final leg of the tour. Reviewer Eliza Westhusing wrote that the audience looked less like a fan base and more like a census sample.
A night of mixed signals
Boone, 24, leaned into local colour. He swapped "American" for "Australian" in Young American Heart, voiced his disdain for flies and showed off a newfound passion for surfing with a spirited onstage demonstration.
He also credited his signature moustache. "I look like everybody else here," Boone told the arena.
Many middle-aged mothers filled the stands, some in matching mother-daughter denim. A handful of pre-teens stood in the highest seats, but the house lights showed rows of stony-faced punters for most of the show.
Where the energy dropped
The review pointed to a sharp split in the room. Boone's three TikTok-viral songs, Beautiful Things, Mystical Magical and Cry, landed differently from his sombre piano ballads.
Even a two-minute spoken-word monologue introducing Momma Song, his 2025 single, did not lift the room. A passionate minority tried a sea of phone torches, to no avail, Westhusing wrote.
She described the production as more primary-school project than professional show, with animated fireworks and twisting strobes. The plain denim wardrobe was a far cry from his signature sequined bodysuits.
An off-script moment also fell flat. Prompted by a fan's homemade sign, Boone paused to workshop baby names with a mother-to-be who said he was only the third person to know she was pregnant. He promised an answer by the end of the show and then forgot.
What worked
Boone's vocals and stamina did the heavy lifting, the review said. Confetti cannons and sporadic stage pyrotechnics kept eyes on the stage even when nobody sang along.
Westhusing argued that social media can be a dangerous catalyst for musical careers. Emerging artists caught in the TikTok-to-superstar pipeline, she wrote, seem to overcompensate to win an audience's attention.
Her verdict on the night: the seven backflips almost saved the day.
