28 November 2025 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane – words and pictures by Bec Harbour
It was one of those muggy Brisbane nights where the air feels like soup, and honestly, the first hero of the evening was the Fortitude Music Hall’s air-con. Whoever installed that deserves a medal. You could feel the entire crowd sigh with relief the moment we walked in for Kaiser Chiefs on Friday night.
The Delta Riggs kicked things off, with Elliott Hammond doing the full-body, big-stage thing he does best. The early crowd loved them. They tore through their usual favourites and had the room nicely warmed up — not too sweaty yet, just the right amount of chaotic.
Then the lights dropped. A UK brutalist employment-office backdrop flickered to life with a narrator — just in case we’d forgotten the band’s Leeds origins and that we were getting the whole Employment album. ‘Walk the Dinosaur’ played over the speakers, and out came Ricky Wilson in the famous striped blazer, followed by the rest of the band.
First up from Employment was, of course, ‘Everyday I Love You Less and Less’ which caused an immediate eruption from the crowd, everyone singing at the top of their lungs. They went straight into ‘I Predict a Riot’ and Brisbane very nearly obliged. Afterward, Ricky Wilson mentioned he thought he might be losing his voice earlier in the day — not that it mattered. The crowd was so loud he could’ve mimed the entire first two songs and no one would’ve noticed.
We rolled into ‘Modern Way’ with the audience still singing so loudly they nearly drowned Wilson out. Then came ‘Na Na Na Na Naa’ and the room went completely unhinged — drinks in the air, floor bouncing, everyone’s inner 2005 self fully unlocked. At one point, Wilson let the crowd carry an entire refrain, the “whoa-oh-oh” bit from ‘You Can Have It All’ standing back with a grin like a proud dad.
The middle of the set had zero filler — Employment is an album that’s entirely listenable from beginning to end, and hearing it live was incredible. They powered through the rest of the tracklist:
- “Oh My God” – the punter choir was next level.
- “Born to Be a Dancer”
- “Saturday Night”
- “What Did I Ever Give to You”
- “Time Honoured Tradition”
- “Caroline, Yes” – complete with the drawn-out “in my liiifeeee!!!” from the punter choir
They wrapped the main set with ‘Team Mate’ bringing the Employment run to a close. By then, Brisbane was basically one giant sweaty choir. As the last chord rang out, the backdrop morphed into a Crash Bandicoot–style platform game, all chunky pixel graphics, ending with: YOU LOSE… which only made the crowd cheer louder.
The encore opened with the Jurassic Park theme (gotta keep the dinosaur thread going), before they slammed straight into a Ramones ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ cover that instantly reignited the room.
At some point, the backdrop switched to kittens shooting lasers from their eyes — entirely appropriate for the early-2000s energy buzzing through the place. A woman near us kept trying to change the chorus of ‘Ruby’ to “Lollie, Lollie.” Wilson joked he probably wouldn’t remember by the time they got to it. (I think he did try — but the crowd was in full choir mode for that beloved song.)
Ricky Wilson definitely did not lose his voice — or maybe he did and Brisbane just sang it for him. Either way, he looked absolutely thrilled the whole night.
There wasn’t much chit-chat between songs, but the band fed off the crowd’s energy, especially with everyone knowing Employment front to back. That album lived in every CD player in the mid-2000s, so it’s no surprise it’s basically muscle memory now.
