Thursday 27th July

Supports: Caskets (UK), alt. and Headwreck

Windwaker’s recent national tour was one of the must-see tours of 2023 and the entire bill was a testament to that. What an absolute feat for Windwaker too —  this was a sell out outdoors Brightside event. Being a school/work night, many Brisbane goers still turned up in droves even midway through alt.’s set.

Alt. vocalist Daniel Cullen-Richards had much of the Brightside captivated as his dynamic vocal range drew all ears and eyes to the main stage. alt. are one of those upcoming acts that have been making solid moves across the local scene and for damn good reason. Their live performance and sound is incredibly strong, sitting just a few decibels away from many British alt/metal icons Don Broco.

This brings us into the next band, who literally hail from the other side of the world. Caskets made their live debut in Brisbane that night to quite the loyal following. Having just unleashed their new EP, Believe the other week, the band were welcomed with the warmest of embraces. Frontman Matt Flood helped to carry the band’s edgy blend of post-hardcore throughout the open-air venue and I’m sure you could hear those hard-hitting melodies flowing out into the Valley.

Windwaker took to the stage a mere twenty minutes later, launching straight into ‘Superstitious Fantasy‘. Over a year in the making as dynamic vocalist Liam Guinane proclaimed that night, this tour was the highly anticipated celebration that Love Language deserves. Despite Guinane recovering from a mild sickness, his performance could say otherwise. Highlights from the set include the meticulous, almost deathcore-like breakdown from ‘Trenches‘, which transitioned into the electronically-infused flavours of ‘Nighthawk‘. The entire performance was seamless and grew from strength to strength.

Honestly, if you missed tickets to this show, you lucked out. Windwaker’s stature in the scene is relentless. There is no doubt their popularity will continue to feed into the masses and by the time they swing back into Brisvegas, who knows — they could be selling out the Tivoli next.

Review by Tamara May @citylightstam