LIVE REVIEW - Spacey Jane leaves Brisbane crowd enamoured

Ready and hot off the press of their most recent album launch comes Spacey Jane on an admittedly repetitive tour, but only in that hitting up the same city and venue several nights in a row across multiple cities must be exhausting. As a reprieve, they've now been able to call every city they find themselves in a proper home.

It's ‘a surprise to be sure but a welcome one’ as The Moving Stills start the night with their best and greatest as everyone knows to expect from them with ‘Best Friend’ following a swift ‘Welcome to Country’. Groovers like ‘In Your City’ and their week-old release 'Can’t Be Like This Forever' keep the crowd moving from the front to the nosebleed and bleachers as the indie pop aficionados bring everything to life. Back from a recent four-show New Zealand tour, they show no weariness as Angus Christie of Teenage Dads holds the bass parts down, even all the way through a dreamy cover of ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ from Tears for Fears. Brand new and old songs follow, all reminiscent of the golden days of Vacation Manor in a manner only describable as “silky smooth”. Announcing their coming show in August, the set came polished with ‘Westside’ in the bliss of a harmonica solo that any inland Kernaghan worshipper would shed a tear at.

Phoebe Go brought us out of a 20-minute daze to a full room of people happier to see them than a primary schooler coming home to a new puppy as ’7 Up’ got us started. The people beside me are bringing the vibes, colluding with another group on the other side of the venue to share love and clap for the artists on stage and for each other. I've seen the influence of alcohol and I've seen the influence of atmosphere and adoration both can bring one to compel others to the infatuation of strangers in a shared experience; this was easily the latter. Phoebe picks up on every moment of it at the end of ‘Rainbow Hotel’ and the flashlights come out in response, thanks in entirety to that same infatuating moment. ‘Good Fight’ and ‘Taking Care of It’ - both supported by harmonies from the incredible Elena Jones - feel complete in every sense; my friend, Jazzie, put it best in one of her most recent reviews as “a song born in a bedroom and destined for the stage”. A ballad of mellow shrouded in beauty, sitting below a lone acacia tree across sweeping endless plains. ‘Leave’ got the live treatment which was a nice change after the studio version graced my 2024 Wrapped with the depressing absence of a guitar solo at the end. ‘We Don’t Talk’ closes out an intimate and tracks-complemented set as Phoebe calls for staff to pass water to the middle of the crowd before making a beeline for the merch desk to greet eager fans.

Another 30 minutes between acts and the eagerness between every member of the crowd is tangible, an excitement balanced out by the aches in my aging 24-year-old joints. Bodies push against bodies to find the middle of the venue, squeezing another twenty-something medical major partying in the middle of the week in a one-way negotiation for the better deal in an unforgiving pit. Venue staff come by offering cold cups of water for the outside of the crowd as a reprieve to battle would-be sour attitudes later in the night.

The lights dim and there's that feeling again where a joyful applause fills the room and becomes overshadowed by a familiar song. ‘Through My Teeth’ cues in with a louder crowd than the vocalist can muster in a tug-of-war where the only loser is late-night noise regulations. The acoustic guitar enters much earlier than anyone could expect with ‘Estimated Delivery’ as a complete and ambient light panel display sparkles to the energy mirrored by the front row alone. Peppa Lane’s vocals carried out the remainder of a final chorus to a well-met enthusiasm from the crowd. What is seemingly a trigger from the tracks activated the sleeper agents of Spacey Jane at the beginning of ‘One Bad Day’. Coming and going with the display of colours adorning the band name on-screen, it’s so clear that the onstage members are enjoying every second of their time in front of the sold-out crowd. Flanked on all sides by a panorama of faces, Caleb Harper confesses his love for Brisbane, claiming it to be the must-go for every tour after every album release. An experimental guitar solo from Ashton rings through the stacked PA while Caleb flashes his wealth with a Rickenbacker. ‘Sawteeth’ and ‘Housemates’ come swiftly welcomed with the latter using the light blocks behind the drummer to represent the synth notes in perfectly synchronised spikes.

But the highlight moments in the set came from ‘Good For You’ with Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu on guitar employing his own tricks and jumping straight over Peppa Lane during the climax of the song. What about ‘Head Cold’ where we got a crowd chorus of our own or ‘Skin’ where crowd members sang the guitar line before it had a chance to start? Caleb dragged the mic stand like it owed him money… not that he needed the projection since the crowd was more than sufficient during every pre-chorus. My personal highlight of their recent album, ‘Whatever’, went without a hitch, feeling as though the harmonies on the original record were reflected in every crowd member around the 3000-capacity venue. The meme of “I hope they play HOT TO GO” comes in here where I think of my own twisted version replacing Chappell Roan’s hit with ‘Booster Seat' when the very same guitar lick triggers another bout of cheers against the blue-yellow light show. 

Leaving the stage, it seems the band left something up there for a moment when I realised what it was: they hadn’t played ‘Lots of Nothing’ yet. They realised it soon after and came back out to correct a silly mistake such as that to bring a night of camaraderie among strangers and stunning live music presentation to an end.

Cassie Jones' gallery for the night is available here.