25 January 2025 – The Tivoli, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
In just over two months, English rock group You Me At Six will call it quits forever, and are currently on their final tour ever. Before they call it quits though, they stormed through Brisbane, and their spiritual home of Australia, to give Australia fans one more night of Six. A tour of this size, also means huge supports. And those supports included another band who’s second home seems to be Australia, in Holding Absence, and Aussie singer songwriter, Hevenshe.
Out first was Sydney act Hevenshe. The fully independent project of Tonight Alive’s Jenna McDougall, I didn’t even know that this was a thing until I rocked up to the venue. I haven’t kept up with Tonight Alive for a while, so this was a pleasant surprise! In what would be a running theme through the night, Jenna spoke about her own personal history with You Me at Six, and how she was thrilled to be part of their final run through the country, as she asked to send You Me at Six off with love. As for the set itself, the sound gave a bit more of a 90s alternative rock vibe than I was expecting. But there were some great tunes in the set. I’m not sure what the song was called, but the second last song of the set was my favorite.
Hevenshe – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
While not necessarily part of the show itself, something I do want to shout out and call love to, is the energy of crowds between sets. And it was on full display tonight. Before Holding Absence took to the stage, ‘The Diary of Jane’ by Breaking Benjamin played over the speakers, and literally every soul in that room was belting the words out at full volume, in unison. We need to normalise more of this at shows.
Just before the bridge for ‘The Diary of Jane’ has time to kick in, the lights dimmed for the Welsh quartet, as Holding Absence blistered onto stage to a massive ovation. Opening on ‘Like a Shadow’, the set was frenetic and super fun. Lead singer Lucas Woodland encouraged dancing before ‘Gravity’ kicked in, before talking about how they were there to warm us up for the GOATs. After ‘False Dawn’ and a shout out to Hevenshe, Lucas spoke from the heart about the impact You Me At Six has had on both the band, and the industry as a whole, and how cool it was to be with them on their final shows. The set closed out with ‘A Crooked Melody’, ‘Afterlife’, and ‘Wilt’, with the crowd begging for more Holding Absence. Fingers crossed a headline tour is in the cards for these lads.
Holding Absence – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
As ‘All Night Long’ by Lionel Richie rang out in The Tivoli, the song faded into the intro, for You Me At Six’s final show in Brisbane. The crowd, thoroughly warmed up by Hevenshe and Holding Absence, were rabid, as the band walked out and opened with ‘Room to Breathe’. Lead singer Josh Franceschi welcomed Brisbane to the Final Night of Six, as the band blistered through a greatest hits to rival any other bands greatest hits set. The first third of the set was littered with classics like ‘Loverboy’, ‘Save It for the Bedroom’, ‘Deep Cuts’ and ‘Give’, as Brisbane screamed, danced, and celebrated.
‘Night People’ got an epic ‘We Will Rock You’ style entrance, and Franceschi asked for circle pits during ‘Fresh Start Fever’. It was at this moment, I think the band had a moment to take in exactly what was happening, as they talked about the show being a sell out and how electric the crowd was. Josh then asked for crowd surfers, was sad about the lack of response for crowd surfing, and asked Brisbane to lie to him, because he wanted crowd surfers. The aura and charisma this man has is infectious. After being satisfied with “the appropriate amount of noise”, he introduced ‘Lived a Lie’, as bodies tumbled over the barrier.
You Me At Six – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
‘Crash’ drew a huge reaction, and The Tivoli turned into a dance party for ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ and ‘MAKEMEFEELALIVE’. Josh spoke about how since the band started, they were five boys travelling the world, looking for joy, acceptance, and fulfillment. And right as Josh said that all they needed to do to feel those things, was come to Brisbane, ‘Mixed Emotions’ kicked in, which could not have been a more appropriate song choice for that moment. After reminiscing about their first time in Australia as part of Soundwave 2010, they played ‘No One Does It Better’, with the final ‘No One Does It Better’, being replaced by ‘Brisbane Does It Better’. A beautiful moment.
After a lengthy storytime about how Josh and Max founded the band, we got an acoustic rendition of ‘Liquid Confidence’. Josh then offered the crowd the democratic option on a vote on if he should do a shoey. The crowd overwhelming voted yes, and someone hilariously threw a prosthetic leg on stage. The fact since Covid, I’ve seen three bands do shoeys from prosthetic legs, feels concerning. The phone lights came out for ‘Take On the World’, as the set closed out with a final declaration of ‘We Will Always Be You Me At Six’, as ‘Beautiful Way’ sent the show off before the encore.
You Me At Six – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
As fans begged for on more song, the band returned as Franceschi asked who wants three more?, as ‘Bite My Tongue’ kicked off a hectic three songs run. Despite You Me At Six being a poppier band, Franceschi can rip a mean gutteral. Had no idea he had it in him. ‘Reckless’ had the crowd moving so much the balcony shook, as Franceschi lead the crowd in the final chorus, and ‘Underdog’ closed out an unforgettable night, and the final time You Me At Six will grace Brisbane. The band looked incredibly emotional as the fans gave the band an extended farewell reception, as each member soaked in the adulation and left one at a time.
