4 October 2024 – The Triffid, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell
On the precipice of the release of their latest record, Oddworld, Victorian metallers Ocean Grove returned to Brisbane for the My Disaster tour, and we were lucky to be there for night one of the show at The Triffid. Bolstered by some awesome supports in Paledusk, Inertia, and Sunbleached, this has all the makings to be one killer night of live music.
Sunbleached kicked off the show with a high energy performance, where I think they were a little let down by the crowd. I’ve been a fan of these guys for a while, and I feel like they’re on the cusp of something amazing. They just need the audience behind them to do so. Those up the front for the Brissy locals were loving every second. But the lack of movement three rows from the front is a little bit of a vibe killer, but the band didn’t let that stop them tearing it down, closing on ‘Flowers Grow from Ugly Places’, and we’re only on act one.
Next up are Inertia, and I tell you what, these are my favorite find of 2024. After discovering them on the opening slot for the Dayseeker tour back in July, I’ve been obsessed with their new record, Second Shadow. It’s legitimately an album of the year contender for me, and lucky for me, that most of the set was songs from the new album. Opening strong with ‘Leviathan’, the band led us through a seven song set that was all quality tunes. ‘Dying to Let You Go’ is so good live, as was the heavy shit like ‘Dominion’. We even got a throwback track with ‘Parallels’, before jumping back to the new record, with ‘Enrapture’, ‘Static’, and set closer ‘Too Far Gone’. If these guys aren’t on your Spotify Daily Mix, change that ASAP. They’re gonna be huge.
On their fourth tour of Australia in three years, Japan’s best kept secret, Paledusk, walked out and played along to a backing track of ‘Lose Yourself’ by Eminem. So now, all I want is them to do a full cover of it so I can have a studio version. They immediately blew into ‘AREA PD’, which the crowd popped huge for. The set overall was pretty solid, with songs like ‘BLACK ICE’, and ‘TRANQUILIO!’ sending the crowd ballistic.
After they played ‘9 Smiles’, lead singer Kaito spoke to the crowd for a bit, and asked who had seen them live before, which drew a huge scream from the crowd. This is the third time I’ve caught these guys from their last four tours, and this was easily the most energetic and fun they’ve been. As Kaito screamed out for ‘I’m ready to die for my friends’, the crowd went nuts again. The solo for this track rips so much on the album, but it’s so much cooler live. The rest of the set included ‘PALEHELL’, ‘BBB’, ‘SLAY!!’, and set closer ‘RUMBLE’. I was expecting songs like ‘Lights’, and ‘HAPPY TALK’ in the set, but for the time we got with them, I’m so glad we got what we got.
After a set changeover, the familiar beat of ‘Fly Away’ started as the boys in Ocean Grove took to the stage for a massive ovation. After ‘Lights on Kind of Lover’, vocalist Dale Tanner welcomed Brisbane to the Oddworld, before basically going back to back with a bunch of songs, starting with ‘Superstar’. The set was heavy on the Flip Phone Fantasy songs, with songs like ‘Neo Guys From the Gord’, and ‘Ask for the Anthem’ filling up the midpoint of the set. But we also got the debut of a new song, ‘Raindrop’, as well as ‘No Offense Detected’, and some throwbacks like ‘Mr Centipede’ and ‘Stratosphere Love’, which Dale brought Kaito from Paledusk out to play.
Dale talked about how excited he was for Oddworld to drop, and mentioned how nothing for Ocean Grove will be the same after this record drops. I’m inclined to believe him, because all the songs that have dropped have been certified bangers. ‘My Disaster’ is so sick live, and the set closed out with ‘Silver Lining’, but not before Dale spoke about how awesome it is to see the Australian scene exploding the way it has been. Ocean Grove ran back on for the encore of ‘Sunny’ and ‘Junkie$’ to close out a really fun night of live music.
