Sunday 1 March
Artists featured: Anberlin, Cartel, Hot Chelle Rae, Broadside, This Wild Life
An Emo Extravaganza made its debut over the weekend and we were there to catch the tail end of the tour at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall. Featuring an all-American lineup of 2000s emo and pop punk, it was an interesting lineup to say the least. However, for those that bought a ticket would have definitely thought the night worth it if emo/pop punk was their jam back in the day.
This Wild Life kicked off the night, performing their debut album Clouded in its entirety for the first time. Now I remember listening to these guys back in 2012 when they were known as full band rather than an acoustic. Anyone else out there who recalls their record, Heart Flip is the real MVP though. The now acoustic duo however, featuring vocalist/guitarist Kevin Jordan and guitarist/percussionist Anthony Del Grosso were ecstatic to perform some unreal deep cuts that night.
Although the crowd was small and people were still coming through, the duo acted like they were on top of the world, playing in Brisbane for the first time in over a decade.
Things levelled up a notch however, when Broadside took to the stage for their very first stint in Brisbane. The band tore through a ferociously energetic set of career highlights, serving as a masterclass in how far they’ve come in pop punk since the raw, scrappy days of Old Bones.
Vocalist Ollie Baxter carried a loose, almost nonchalant presence throughout. Whether that was tour fatigue talking or just his natural disposition, his deadpan between-song musings didn’t exactly warm the room. But the crowd wasn’t there for small talk. That did not deter the crowd from jumping along to punchy anthems like ‘Coffee Talk’, ‘Dazed & Confused’ and their brand new track ‘Warning Signs’ though. These are songs built to be screamed back, and Brisbane obliged without hesitation. If this set was any indication, the Broadside fans in Australia aren’t just loyal. They’re hungry, and they’ll be first in line when the next record (Nowhere, At Last) drops on April 10.
The party band of the tour had to be Hot Chelle Rae. Many listeners would be synonymous with tracks like ‘I Like It Like That’, ‘Whatever’ and ‘Tonight, Tonight’ and guitarist/frontman Nash Overstreet led the room through a euphoric, rose-tinted trip back to the mid-2000s, anchored by a full live run-through of Whatever in its entirety.
There’s something in the cultural water right now that makes this feel perfectly timed. 2026 is a return to sugary, bubblegum pop, thanks to Hilary Duff making a swing back into the spotlight, and Hot Chelle Rae slot into 2026 like they never left. These songs don’t just sound good; they transport you. ‘I Like It Like That’ is the kind of track that hits like a memory you didn’t know you’d stored. For me, it’s a carefree 23-year-old losing their iPhone partying somewhere in the USA. Fast forward thirteen years, two beers deep, and that same song is soundtracking a far more responsible evening. iPhone intact, but memories still being made.
Overstreet’s energy was infectious in the best possible way. While he may be nearing 40 like the rest of us, but on stage, that’s entirely irrelevant. The spirit is still reckless, still joyful, still gloriously unfiltered. And honestly? That’s the energy we all need, even when the mortgage or rent you’re paying doesn’t care about your vibe.
Oh ,and their set closed with a genuinely exciting reveal. Hot Chelle Rae threw out to select fans a USB stick containing their upcoming album in full. No release date attached, no fanfare. Just a quiet signal that the Whatever party is far from over.
Watching Cartel deliver a track-by-track of Chroma in full was like jumping in a time machine back to 2005, inclusive of vocalist Will Pugh’s boyish haircut. As a casual Cartel listener growing up, my world had only ever extended to the bigger cuts, so opening with ‘Say Anything (Else)’ felt like the Hot Chelle Rae nostalgia trip going one stop further back. It was, genuinely, like falling in love with pop punk all over again. In 2026, they simply don’t write them like this anymore, bands like Cartel and Simple Plan occupy their own VIP lane of effortless, hook-laden songwriting that the new crop of bands rarely touch.
‘Luckie St’ was a particular highlight, it’s the kind of track you vaguely remember stumbling across on MySpace or a dodgy Limewire download at 2am, and somehow sounds even better live two decades later. There’s a reason the crowd knew every word.
For a band that has long flown under the radar relative to their peers, tonight was a timely reminder of just how criminally underrated Cartel are. They seemed to feel it too, announcing to the room that they’re thrilled to be back on Australian soil and that they’re far from winding down. A new record is reportedly on the way before the year is out. If it carries even a fraction of what Chroma delivered tonight, consider the pre-order already justified.
Anberlin took out the night with a celebration of their debut, Never Take Friendship Personal. With current vocalist Matty Mullins taking the reigns (the wider music community will be familiar with him through Memphis May Fire), the Seattle rock outfit performed in Brisbane that night, bringing with them some serious emo deepcuts.
While I’m not too overly familiar with the band, a strong live performance has a way of doing the selling for you, and ‘Feel Good Drag‘ was the moment that reeled me in. Slick, punchy and delivered with real conviction, it’s the kind of song that makes you wish you’d paid closer attention the first time around.
Unfortunately the stage lighting during Anberlin delivered a relentless wash of red that, rather than amplifying the atmosphere, felt like it worked against it. Whether it clouded the audience’s connection to the performance is hard to say definitively, but it was a distraction that didn’t do the band any favours. Anberlin pushed through regardless, and the message was delivered loud and clear: emo, done right, still hits as hard as it ever did. For the uninitiated in the crowd, tonight may well have been the beginning of a very overdue discovery.
Review by Tamara May
Photos by Reece Trudgen
