26 June 2025 – The Tivoli, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – picture by Bec Harbour
Twenty-five years, three months, two weeks, and two days after the day Reflector was released, Australian rock legends Killing Heidi made another bold mark on the city of Brisbane. They returned to give us a tour, playing their landmark record, live and in full. My own musical journey has been deeply influenced with this record, as Killing Heidi, and Linkin Park, have fingerprints all over my life. So being able to hear this record front to back, live, was something I was so incredibly excited for. Making the tour even more fun, were supports from an amazing double act, in Perth singer songwriter Siobhan Cotchin, and Melbourne based indie pop act, Hassall.
Unfortunately, due to travel issues, I missed a fair bit of the openers set, Hassal. From what I did see, the stage vibe was cool, and the songs were pretty good. I heard the last two songs, which on the setlist were titled ‘Simple’, and ‘Dumbest’. I have no idea what songs those are tied to, but they were super fun, and made me want to deep dive the discography to learn more.
Hassal – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
Walking out to a small applause, Siobhan Cotchin walked out to start off her set, with the slow building track ‘Didn’t See the Sun’. After a quick “how ya doing?”, the set flowed into the heavier tune ‘Cross the Line’. Cotchin then led a quick introduction of the band, and a thanks for the early show out, advising the crowd to strap in. Up next was a song about drinking, adequately titled ‘Fill My Cup’. A couple of songs really did stand out through the set. ‘Ghost of Us’, ‘Give It Up’, and set closer ‘Overdrive’, all super fun tracks. Ella spoke later in the show about how cool it was to be doing an all female focus tour, which I agree with. So seeing Cotchin and Hassall playing with the legend that is Killing Heidi, is definitely amazing for the Australian rock scene.
Siobhan Cotchin – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
9:30pm rolled around, as Jesse Hooper and the crew walked out, with lead vocalist Ella Hooper getting a little solo entrance after, as the band rocked straight into the opening track of their 2000 debut record, ‘Mascara’. Ella and Jesse were having so much fun with the entire crowd screaming every word. Ella then screamed “we said we’d play the whole thing front to back”, before launching into the other massive song, ‘Weir’. Ella even did the big hold note, with the crowd egging her on to keep it going as long as she could, which was so fun.
A big “holy freaking moley” came from Ella, as her and Jesse reminisced on all the best nights they spent in Brisbane over the course of their careers. We then got the run of ‘Superman/Supergirl’, and the tone dropper, ‘Astral Boy’, which honestly, I think is a song they should incorporate more into their sets. I know the song is a bit of a lull song. But to split the set up with wall to wall bangers, this should be the go to.
Killing Heidi – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
Ella sounded like she might have been holding back tears, even saying “you’re all gonna make me cry four songs in”, which drew a bit of a laugh. We then got back to “the teen angst” with ‘Leave Me Alone’, ‘You Don’t Know’, and ‘A Jar Labelled Small’, with the crowd bopping and jiving along to the nostalgia. Ella and Jesse then spoke about how this tour came to be, citing the difficulties of playing the record at Good Things, and they wanted to do it right. When we interviewed Jesse last year at Good Things, he alluded to us this tour was going to happen, so hearing it was off the back of some difficulties kinda sucks. But at the same time, I’m glad it happened.
Killing Heidi – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
We got taken back to school with ‘Class Celebrities’, as the back end of the record played through, with my favourite song off the album, ‘Live Without It, Real People’, which had a massive ending to it, ‘Jon’s Song’, and album closer ‘Black Sheep’. We then played adult peekaboo with the band, as the crowd chanted for one more song. Jesse returned to advise we were getting more, and Ella talked about how their song ‘Kettle’, on cassette, lead to all of this. Best quote of the night, was from Ella, with “It’s been so long, that Jesse lost his hair, and I grew some tits”. Massive laugh from the audience. Ella and Jesse gave a final “thanks for hanging around” before ‘Calm Down’ opened the encore. They then immediately transitioned into ‘Heavensent’, before Jesse signalled one last song, as ‘I Am’ closed out an incredible nostalgia fueled night.
Killing Heidi – Tivoli – photos by Bec Harbour
