17 April 2026 – The Princess Theatre, Brisbane – words and pictures by Zachen Wiki
‘I’m going to need help with this one from you guys, it’s hard to sing,’ an all time favourite on stage banter line of mine from Jonathon Higgs, implying that any song performed on the 10th birthday of their album, Get to Heaven, would require anything less than virtuosic vocal talent to pull off. Everything Everything brought along Hayden Thorpe to celebrate a decade of their iconic release, and his ability as a solo act made it easy to understand why they had their fellow countryman join them.
When Hayden first walked out on stage I was very curious to see exactly how a single man with an acoustic guitar could set the tone for the eclectic style of Everything Everything, and his knack for genuinely connecting with the crowd through honest storytelling in his songs and between them was a perfect way to set the tone for the evening. Accompanied by the brilliant acoustics in the Princess Theatre, his soulful voice reverberated through the building, introducing us with ‘Metafeeling’ and a story of him recalling his last trip to Australia with his previous band, Wild Beasts, 17 years ago before playing their song, ‘Palace’, as a tribute to them. Hopefully, he doesn’t have to wait too long until he graces our shores again.
Everything Everything – Princess Theatre – photos by Zachen Wiki
After granting the patrons enough time to grab a drink, have a cigarette and peruse the merchandise table, the lights went out and the crowd erupted. The energy was palpable as an intro sample built suspense for a room ready to explode, and explode they did in a chorus of ‘So you think there’s no meaning in anything that we do’ as they appropriately opened proceedings with ‘To The Blade’. Despite not having much to say between songs, ‘bants’, as they called it, their charisma and charm oozed through the undeniable swagger with which they consistently delivered their performance. Every note, key, beat and melody was perfect as the group epitomized the meaning of synchronicity, blending their light show so intricately that each strobe, colour and spotlight was placed with an acute attention to detail.
Now, it is no easy feat to compose an album of 11 songs, or a deluxe version of that album with 17 songs, where most other bands would run out of ideas, EE seems to treat it as a challenge to flex their creativity. This riveting release is a rollercoaster of diverse ideas worthy of celebrating and the band brings it to life in every way possible. Improvised guitar solos from Alex Robertshaw sprinkled some additional flavour to these live renditions, never missing a beat alongside bassist, Jeremy Pritchard, who I could only describe as ‘in the pocket’ for the whole evening. Micheal Spearman rounds out the group on drums and backup vocals which are also provided by *checks notes* everyone in the band. The impressiveness of these vocal harmonies were very apparent during ‘The Wheel (Is Turning Now)’ and ‘Regret’, with the other members accompanying Briggs’ and filling in vocal gaps where necessary.
Everything Everything – Princess Theatre – photos by Zachen Wiki
The ‘hard to sing quote’ from the beginning of this article was uttered right before Everything Everything went into ‘Yuppie Supper’, a dominantly instrumental track before requesting genuine crowd assistance for my favourite track of theirs, ‘Spring / Sun / Winter / Dread’, the main contributor to my lost voice the following day. Some technical difficulties derailed the start of ‘Distant Past’, giving the band and crowd some respite and time to recover for what ended up feeling like a 6 song encore due to the delay. To cap off playing the entire 17 songs from the deluxe edition of Get To Heaven, they threw in ‘Cough Cough’, ‘Kemosabe’ and ‘Cold Reactor’, just for good measure.
Undoubtedly one of the most fun live music experiences I’ve ever had, Everything Everything proved their staying power and longevity through the celebration of one of the most interesting albums to be released in the last 10 years.
