21 June 2024 – The Triffid, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
On an incredible night of live music, indie rock icons DZ Deathrays are currently touring the country to celebrate the 10th anniversary of arguably their best record, Black Rat. We were lucky enough to catch the first night of two nights in Brisbane to celebrate this landmark release. Stacking out the bill, pop punkers VOIID and genre bending metal crew The Melancholiac were also part of this insane all Brisbane line up.
The Melancholiac started out the night, and immediately had the crowd in the palm of their hand. The band bled together a seven song set that melded progressive metal, thrash, and grunge, this is a set that had me fired up for the night. We got a little tease of the bands new music, which is scheduled to drop later this year according to some on stage banter, and even got a killer cover of ‘Freak’ by Silverchair that had the whole pit moving.
The Melancholiac – Triffid – photos by Bec Harbour
After a super fast 20 minute change over, VOIID took to the stage rocking out to a Charli XCX song that the band clearly didn’t want to end. It has been a few months between shows for the band, but they sounded awesome. Lead singer Anji Greenwood spoke throughout the set about quitting her job that day, and looking after your mental health, while banging away a solid 40 minutes of infectious pop punk. Something that was cool to see though, was that all the bands seemed like massive fans of each other, with Greenwood singing the praises of The Melancholiac during the set.
VOIID – Triffid – photos by Bec Harbour
30 minutes after VOIID left the stage, DZ Deathrays blasted their way through the curtain to a massive ovation, as they went straight into playing Black Rat front to back. The self-titled track and ‘Gina Works at Hearts’ went gang busters, with songs like ‘Reflective Skull’ and ‘Northern Lights’ really getting a shine live. Something I didn’t know was that until this tour, ‘Nightwalking’ had never been part of the band’s live rotation. It’s such an underrated song and I hope the reception it got makes the band consider adding it in at some point.
DZ Deathrays – Triffid – photos by Bec Harbour
The back half of the album set was just as hot, with ‘Fixations’, ‘Ocean Exploder’, and ‘Tonight Alright’ getting some massive sing alongs, and album closer ‘Night Slave’ rounding out the Black Rat set for the evening. After chants for one more song, the original two members Simon and Shane returned to the stage, and did two songs solo, in what was to me, a throw back to the days where I saw these guys playing places like The Zoo as a two piece.
DZ Deathrays – Triffid – photos by Bec Harbour
Rounding out to a four piece live gives the band an incredible sound live. But nostalgia takes over when it’s just Simon and Shane together on stage. And to really throw into the nostalgia, we had the OG two piece play my two favorite DZ songs, ‘The Mess Up’, and ‘Gebbie Street’. Lachlan and Luke returned to the stage, to close out another three songs, including ‘Paranoid’, ‘My Mind is Eating Me Alive’, and the obligatory ‘Shred for Summer’ finale to send this all ages crowd home very happy.
DZ Deathrays – Triffid – photos by Bec Harbour
