21 June 2026 – Riverstage, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
On a night that was predicted for heavy rain, the threat of it didn’t stop Brisbane from showing out for what I’ve been calling the “Kurt Angle” tour (wrestling fans will get that joke, probably), as I Prevail were set to take over the Riverstage for the first time, with Imminence and Invent Animate. Another monster triple bill Australia has been blessed with in 2026, and this one, like the rest, is looking like it’s going to be a huge night.
It’s a bit of a shame the rain held off for Invent Animate, as they opened with their latest track, ‘Fall Like Rain’. I can imagine the aesthetic of that song playing as rain fell over Brisbane, but it didn’t. The song is solid live too. The studio version is great but live, it goes up another level. The rest of the set was all tracks from 2023’s Heavener, which the band toured the last time they were here with Alpha Wolf. But it was literally my five favourite songs from that record. ‘Shade Astray’ had vocalist Marcus Vik encouraging Brisbane to get in the pit and show the band what Brisbane has, and after ‘False Meridian’ (my favourite Invent Animate track), we got the absolute behemoth that is ‘Heavener’.
Invent Animate – Riverstage – photos by Bec Harbour
The riff on ‘Heavener’ is so deep live that I felt my stomach rumble alongside it. The crowd was bouncing for ‘Without a Whisper’ as Vik talked about how amazing these moments in time are, where they get the chance to play a beautiful venue like the Riverstage, in such a beautiful city, before closing out with the heaviest track of the set, ‘Immolation of Night’. Guitarist Trey Celaya asked Brisbane for ‘some evil shit’ and wanted to see the biggest Australian circle pit they’ve ever seen, which opened up massively for them. If anyone walking into this show wasn’t an Invent Animate fan, they sure have to be now.
Invent Animate – Riverstage – photos by Bec Harbour
Next up were Swedish melodic metalcore group, Imminence. It’s been cool to see the growth of these guys in Australia, as before their appearance at Good Things 2024, I hadn’t heard many people talking about them. Now, post Good Things, and their headline tour last year, Imminence got to come back and play some of the biggest shows in Australia yet, as the Riverstage was entranced from the outset. The set was only nine songs, and the band didn’t do much talking, but rather, let the performance for the evening capture everyone instead. And it was beautiful.
Opening on ‘Temptation’, it was a free flow of tracks like ‘Desolations’, ‘Heaven Shall Burn’, and ‘Erase’, as the energy from the Brisbane crowd did not dip once after Invent Animate. Vocalist Eddie Berg even signaled a circle pit without saying a word, by simply twirling his violin bow above his head, which was cool to see, as it’s something I’d never seen before. After ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’, Berg spoke briefly to introduce the band’s new song, ‘The Sword That Never Bends’, before they ran through ‘Infectious’ and ‘God Fearing Man’. After giving shout outs to Invent Animate and I Prevail, Berg gave the final word of ‘we’ve been Imminence from Sweden. This is ‘The Black’’’ as ‘The Black’ took over the Riverstage, in a chills-inducing performance. In more stuff I have never seen before, Berg used the strings on his violin to scream into like a microphone, which gave an incredible sound, and at the very end, Berg was left alone on stage to finish the song on his violin as Brisbane exploded at the end for more.
Closing out the show with a straight 80 minutes was I Prevail. And after Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz played over the speakers, and started to distort, the screens warned as the band walked out to a massive ovation. Lead vocalist Eric Vanlerberghe shouted out Brisbane with a big ‘what the fuck is up?’ as the set started off strong with ‘NWO’. They then ripped through tracks from different records, like ‘Bow Down’, ‘Self-Destruction’, and ‘There’s Fear in Letting Go’, before we got the signature banter from the lads. This is my fourth time seeing I Prevail now, and every tour they just get funnier on stage. Tonight, was no different.
I Prevail – Riverstage – photos by Bec Harbour
In what would be a common trend through the night, Vanlerberghe and rhythm guitarist Dylan Bowman would riff back and forth all night. After Vanlerberghe talked about supporting the Parkway anniversary tour, Vanlerberghe and Bowman did some word association. Vanlerberghe said French, Bowman said revolution. Vanlerberghe said peanut butter, Bowman said dog stuff. This one genuinely caught Vanlerberghe off guard, as he was laughing so hard wondering why Bowman said this, as the crowd was dying laughing. Vanlerberghe said violent, Bowman said nature, as the crowd got amped for more tunes and I Prevail ripped out the title track to their new record, Violent Nature. Vanlerberghe also opened the gnarliest wall of death for the night with this track too.
I Prevail – Riverstage – photos by Bec Harbour
After shouting the crowd out for being better than Adelaide, we got the Taylor Swift ‘Blank Space’ cover, which is so cool to have in the rotation now. They said on the Parkway tour they wanted to lean out of it, but have fully embraced the track now, and it’s cool to see it part of the set, as the crowd absolutely loved it. Vanlerberghe then went back to the dog stuff joke from earlier, seemingly haven’t gotten over how insane it was, as Bowman mentioned how he was on microphone probation and he just got off his probation, and wanted Brisbane to engage in his weird behaviour, because Brisbane loves being weird too, which got a massive applause. Someone then passed up an entire unopened box of Magic the Gathering cards for Eric, who is a massive Magic fan, who expressed his excitement to get drunk after the show and rip packs. Bowman was then allowed to say one weirder thing, to which he screamed ‘there is not enough Shrek porn’ as Vanlerberghe nearly fell over laughing as ‘Into Hell’ kicked in. Sometimes, you think these bits are rehearsed, but after tonight, I’m convinced these guys thrive off chaos.
I Prevail – Riverstage – photos by Bec Harbour
‘Bad Things’ was dedicated to the Magic Box guy, and Vanlerberghe told Brisbane to shake their asses right before the breakdown. Then, they ripped out a really sick cover of ‘Sad But True’ by Metallica, which needs a studio version ASAP. It was so sick. After ‘Rain’, drummer Gabe Helguera got a showcase with an awesome drum solo to a distorted remix of ‘Satisfaction’ by Benny Benassi. I wish I had filmed this because it was one of the coolest drum solos I’ve seen. It was short, but absolutely ruled. After some Aussie Aussie Aussie chants, the inevitable chant for a shoey came through, as Vanlerberghe told their stage guy Christian to ‘bring him the shoe’. The crowd erupted, and Vanlerberghe talked about how they’ve been to Australia seven times, and done 30 something shows, and every single show, he’s ripped a shoey for Australia because he loves it here. The mad man even went back to back, and did a second one. After joking that ‘if my wife sees this, she’s going to kill me’, the crowd chanted for a third one as the band started laughing.
I Prevail – Riverstage – photos by Bec Harbour
Vanlerberghe then said ‘I did something for you, you do something for me’ as he got Brisbane jumping for ‘Choke’, and then got Brisbane to raise their fists and break their fucking necks on the breakdown. After ‘Choke’, Vanlerberghe told anyone who filmed that song to go back and find the part where instead of screaming, he burped the vocals because of the shoeys, saying he gave Brisbane a ‘Where’s Waldo’ moment for them to scour the footage to find it. After saying it, and genuinely meaning it, that Brisbane has been their favourite show of the tour, they threw it back to a really old track with ‘Come and Get It’, before saying ‘no encores, no peekaboo shit’, as they closed out the show with ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Gasoline’, which encouraged the insane Brisbane crowd to burn the Riverstage to the ground for the final song. Every time these guys come back, they just get better and better.
Hopefully next time, we see them headlining somewhere massive like the Entertainment Centre. Australia loves I Prevail, and the love feels definitely reciprocated.
