Sunday 24 November
Supports: CHEZ, Friends of Friends
US emo/pop trio Set It Off returned to Australia this month and played what were some of their biggest shows in the southern hemisphere to date. The band are one of the hardest working acts in the scene, having had a rollercoaster of a career and we could not be proud of the boys for what they’ve managed to achieved thus far.
Kicking off the evening we had the pleasure of witnessing Perth artist CHEZ for the second time in 2024. We were blown away following her appearance in September with SCENE QUEEN and so, seeing her perform to a bigger crowd and a venue like The Triffid was next level. Luring fans in with sultry pop tracks ‘So Good‘ and latest bop ‘Honey‘ proved this female artist is only on the ups in the local music scene. CHEZ scaled back to basics to bare honesty and vulnerability with fresh new single ‘Deja vu‘ and proved this is just the beginning of her next chapter.
Following this were Brisbane local boys Friends of Friends, who I had heard of quite a bit but have yet to see live. They brought a different ambience to that evening, sporadically different from CHEZ’s vibrant pop, but vocalist Barnaby Baker had the audience swooning with his soulful words of indie alternative/rock. Simmering summery guitar tones with a forceful wind of punk rock led to many heads in the room nodding their heads. It was a thrill to finally catch these guys live, and no doubt I’ll be anticipating the next gig I see them at soon.
I’ve never witnessed the Triffid so packed out before tonight, but the overall evening had an excited buzz in the air. This was the final show of Set It Off’s first ever Australian headliner and with every single show holding a “SOLD OUT” sign, the pressure to celebrate only elevated. The US pop punk trio took to the stage and kicked in with ‘Parasite‘ and from here, their performance was nothing short of awesome. Frontman Cody Carson has been one of my favourite vocalists since forever, due to his empowering strength and hypnotising stance live. The energy that man gives off is contagious – so contagious that you cannot help but throw yourself into the music being played. This was consistent through almost every song on the setlist.
As Cody led the crowd through seamless singalongs of the band’s more recent collection of singles, it was split up by a special rendition of ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing‘. Taken from their breakthrough Duality days, it almost brought me to tears of happiness seeing how far Set It Off have come over the last decade. They haven’t had the easiest of careers, but Cody, alongside drummer Maxx Danzinger and guitarist Zach De Wall, take it all into perspective and perservere. Coming through with the goods with a back-to-back showcase of ‘Ancient History‘ and ‘Forever Stuck in Our Youth‘ made longtime fans like myself extremely fulfilled.
Cody reassured fans that despite their tumultuous and unconventional path to success, the boys are on a new independent musical wave. Reinforcing their strength with a searing, empowering version of 2019’s ‘Killer in the Mirror’, the defiance pounding the walls of the Triffid could be felt beyond the venue’s limits.
While Set It Off have never been offered a festival spot in Australia, it was evident on this tour that the trio are more than worthy of playing the bigger stages in our country. Having toured a few times before but selling out their first headliner in its entirety? Now if that ain’t worthy of a Good Things slot, I don’t know what is. I couldn’t be more proud of Cody, Maxx and Zach and am excited to see the guys take Set It Off into 2025 and beyond.
Review by Tamara May
Photos by Jessica Asher
