8 August 2026 – The Tivoli, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Zachen Wiki
Back for their first tour since Knotfest 2024, and their first headline tour in six years, Florida’s “gatorcore” legends Wage War made their return to Australia for the It Calls Me By Name Australian tour. Named after the band’s brilliant EP that dropped in April, it’s dope to see these guys make Australia a priority just for an EP release. And with Orthodox and HEAVENSGATE on support, this show should be one hell of a ride.
In a night that was light on conversation from bands, and heavy on putting out as many tunes as possible, the best way to kick it off was with Melbourne’s HEAVENSGATE. I’ve been a fan of these lads for a while, and it’s so good to see them ripping up stages again. From the jump, vocalist Nazareth Tharratt told Brisbane to strap in for a good night, and asked the crowd to fuck it up as ‘RAIN’ kicked off the set. ‘RAIN’ is such a good song to open with, as it immediately sets the tone that everyone is about to get their faces kicked in. Blitzing through other songs like ‘OBLIVION’, and ‘VIOLENT JOY’, the crowd continued to get more animated, and just as the set crescendoed with tracks like ‘RATKING’ and ‘A FAWN FLAYED’, it was over. I’m hoping we see more of these lads in 2026. They are one of the hottest acts going in my opinion, and I’d love to see them do more.
356 days since their first show in Brisbane, it should be no surprise Nashville’s Orthodox were back so quick. After absolutely crushing it, opening for Stray from the Path last year, they returned to the Tivoli stage, armed with eleven of their best tracks, ready to re-introduce themselves to Brisbane. After “Bad Moon Rising” and ‘The Door Is Still Open to My Heart’ played across the speakers, Orthodox busted everyone’s eardrums to the set opener, ‘Sacred Place’. The intro for this track is so good, and if you don’t know the track, go listen to the Dean Martin track, then put this straight after to feel the raw power flow through you to want to run through walls. Powerful shit.
Vocalist Adam Easterling asked for circle pits for ‘Blend in With the Weak’, and welcomed all those that didn’t know Orthodox to the party with ‘Commit to Consequence’. ‘Body Chalk’ had Easterling demand people be thrown through walls, and then they went three straight back to back, with ‘One Less Body’, ‘Searching for a Pulse’, and ‘Head on a Spike’. Just sitting down, I was already tired from thrashing my body around. How the pit was even still alive genuinely stumps me. Easterling demanded crowd surfers for ‘Keep Your Blessings’, and even shouted out the security guards at the end of the track for catching the amount of bodies that flew over the barricade. Closing on the massive triple threat of ‘Dread Weight’, ‘Waiting’, and ‘Cave In’, the crowd were begging for more. Hopefully this is a sign for Destroy All Lines that Orthodox need to come back soon for a headliner. The crowd were loving it, and it’s time for Orthodox to dominate Australia in the headline slot.
Dead on 9:25, the lights dimmed out, and with an extended delay, Wage War made their way out onto stage to some of the craziest cheers and applause I’ve heard for any live band all year. Brisbane were losing their minds, and a song hadn’t even been played yet. I’ve been a fan of Wage War for years, but I never realised just how beloved they were here. Super cool to see. The band then ripped straight into the opener, ‘4×4’. In my conversation with Briton and Cody before the tour, I talked about this song being the opener and how good it is, and to see it actually open, holy shit. Insane experience. The crowd then went absolutely ballistic for the second song, ‘Alive’, which is a mad pull from the first record, ‘Blueprints’. Cool to see them dig so deep into the catalog for this headline tour.
‘NAIL5’ had the entire balcony shaking with the crowd getting loud and expressive, and tracks like ‘BLUR’ and ‘KARMA’ lit up the crowd even more. Vocalist Briton Bond said the next one was going to be an old one, as ‘Don’t Let Me Fade Away’ started. After ‘Teeth’, Bond called for another circle pit for the night for ‘TOMBSTONE’, and ‘Low’ sent myself, and Brisbane, into an utter frenzy. Next was the crowd choice song for the night. Bond asked Brisbane to pick between two tracks. ‘Relapse’ was the first song, and ‘Who I Am’ was the second one. The vote seemed super close, but ‘Relapse’ edged it out in the dying seconds. Personally, I would loved to have seen ‘Who I Am’, but ‘Relapse’ was fucking cool as shit to see live.
After ‘Relapse’, the energy in the room almost zapped a little, probably because by this point, everyone was so tired from such a high level of energy being exerted all night. But that dip got a massive injection of thrash, as ‘Death Roll’ brought everyone alive. Wage War then ripped an acoustic version of ‘Gravity’, before ‘Circle the Drain’, which got one of the biggest singalongs of the night. I say this maybe once a show, but sometimes I never realise just how big or beloved a specific song is until I see it live and see how the crowds react. But man, ‘Circle the Drain’ live had Brisbane singing it so loud. But that wouldn’t be my biggest surprise of the night. That would come in a few songs.
Bond asked for the fans who have been down with Wage War from day one to show themselves, and took Brisbane back to 2015, dedicating ‘The River’ just to them. ‘PURIFY’ live is something else as well. The track slams, but live, it’s heavy as fuck and pure filth, in nothing but the most complimentary of ways. With only three songs left of the main set, the rest of the show was all heaters. In the biggest surprise for me personally, the biggest singalong of the night came from the track ‘MAGNETIC’. While this is probably my favorite Wage War song, it’s far from their heaviest, and probably one of their most radio friendly songs. But when I spoke with Adam Easterling in anticipation of this tour, I mentioned how sometimes, Australia just doesn’t care about how “radio friendly” a band is. The song just has to rule. And ‘MAGNETIC’ is a song, that fucking rules.
Closing out the main set was ‘Stitch’ and ‘Manic’, with ‘Manic’ I think being the song the pit got the most animated for. It’s such a sick song, and spotting the crowd from the balcony, I saw some crazy shit going on downstairs. Looks like everyone was having a blast. After adult peekaboo, Wage War walked back on for two more songs. Both tracks were the missing songs from ‘IT CALLS ME BY NAME’, with ‘BLINDFOLD’ up first, and then closing everything down with the ball crushingly heavy track, ‘SONG OF THE SWAMP’. In my opinion, I probably would have swapped the placement of ‘SONG OF THE SWAMP’ and ‘Manic’, but other than that, tonight was an insane show, showing how much love all three of these bands have in Australia. Fingers crossed they all make touring Australia something more of a regular thing, because they are all loved here.
