Balu Brigada | 170 Russell | Melbourne | 4th June
On a rainy and miserable Thursday evening, 170 Russell became the perfect hideaway for a packed-out night of indie-pop, funk, electronic grooves and, yes, a fairly committed cowboy agenda. The venue itself deserves a mention, because it really did the night a favour. With tiered viewing areas, clean sightlines, a spacious but still intimate main stage and excellent acoustics, it felt tailor-made for a show like this. From where I stood, the vocals were crystal clear, the mix was warm, and the room never swallowed the details.
Opening the night was Cowboy Malfoy, who walked on stage wearing a cowboy hat, wielding a guitar, and immediately making it clear that the cowboy thing was very much the point. The 21-year-old independent songwriter, singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist was only added to the tour two weeks earlier, but you would not have known it. His sound sat somewhere between western indie-pop, bedroom pop and a strange little desert daydream, with dreamy vocal arrangements, orchestral touches, and flashes of Latin and reggae influence. Take Aim pushed his “aggressive Cowboy agenda” even further, while a reggae-flavoured cover of Tame Impala’s Feels Like We Only Go Backwards sounded so natural it almost felt like the song had always been waiting for that twist. By the end, Cowboy Malfoy had warmed the room and made me want to hear more.
By 9 pm, Balu Brigada arrived to a room that was well and truly ready for them. The New Zealand indie-rock band, led by multi-instrumentalist brothers Henry and Pierre Beasley, brought the kind of energy that instantly made the cold outside irrelevant. Joined live by Harper Finn (keyboard) and Jacob Stockman (drums), they sounded slick, playful and ridiculously confident.
Opening with The Portal before bursting into Golden Gate Girl, the band had hands in the air almost immediately. It was bright, pounding and full of movement, the kind of start that makes you realise the crowd will not need much convincing. Sideways followed with a nostalgic but optimistic pull, carrying hints of psychedelic pop while still feeling completely their own. Funny enough, despite the lyric, the whole crowd was looking at them no other way than straight on.
What stood out most was how Balu Brigada write songs that feel like they should have already existed. They are catchy in that instant, annoying, brilliant way, but still soulful and unique enough to never feel lazy. Designer was all funk, intimacy and mistaken-boy-in-love energy, while The Question became one of the night’s most charming moments. After joking about whether it was “Melbourne” or “Melborne”, the band had the room laughing, phones lit up, and voices raised.
From there, the set kept shifting without ever losing momentum. 2good brought a swanky bassline, What Do We Ever Really Know? had everyone moving like some strange rom-com montage, and 4:25 slowed things down in the best way. It felt made for driving alone, trying to convince yourself you are absolutely not thinking about someone, while obviously thinking about them the entire time.
Their cover of Grimes’ Oblivion pushed the room back into dance mode, full of distorted electronics, clapping and jumping bodies. Later, Backseat was easily one of the biggest crowd moments of the night, built for windows-down singing with an almost 80s glow. Butterfly Boy balanced sentimentality with bouncing synths that somehow felt like a bazooka firing lasers, before So Cold closed the main set with a bassline that made the whole room move, shout and forget it was freezing outside.
By the encore, Balu Brigada had more than proved why these shows sold out. They were funny, grateful, polished and genuinely exciting to watch. After more than 12 years of making music together, the brothers have clearly found their lane: songs for cars, crushes, clubs, daydreams and late-night overthinking. At 170 Russell, they made every one of them feel alive.