Ocean Grove | 170 Russell | Melbourne | 15th August
It was the 15th of August, a busy Saturday night we were braving traffic into the city to finally make it to the destination of the night, 170 Russell St. The Melbourne streets were alive and bustling, everyone turning out for Ocean Grove’s hometown leg of ‘Oddworld Underground’ Tour. On the roster for the night of supporting bands held a vast list, seeing the likes of Blinder and Deficit before Cane Hill took over the stage.
Although it was an earlier start to the night than can usually be expected for a bigger show like this, as the clock ticked over to 6:30pm blinder made their way onto the stage. Unfortunately, due to some issues of too many photo and review passes having been handed out mistakenly at the door this resulted in us being delayed entry and missing around half of blinders set. Nevertheless, for my first time seeing blinder live, what I was able to witness was impeccable performance execution and melodic vocals that weren’t seen to be overbearing or jarring, instead working cohesively with all the bands instruments. Blinder is an Adelaide based Nu-Gaze alternative band merging subgenres of deep shoegaze with an emphasis on instrumentation tending to showcase the heavy echoing guitar sounds creating an idealised ‘wall of sound’ associated with that subgenre. The emerging band only having formed in early 2025 consists of Vocalist and Frontman Will Wright, Vocalist and guitarist Dane Unwin, Vocalist and Bassist Ella Phillips and Drummer Frankie Wright. With this being their first time being associated with a tour, Ocean grove is certainly one hell of a band to start with, propelling the promising band further into the live music scene.
Next up to command the room on stage stood Deficit, their magnetism first captivating the audience as they opened with their 2023 single ‘Trailblazer’ that is currently sitting 3rd on the band’s top songs on Spotify. Forged and fed out of western Sydney back in 2019 the hardcore heavy nu-metal sounds that are orchestrated perfectly blend with Nathan Newman’s gritty and intense vocals. Within minutes of the stage lighting up Newman was already deep in amongst the crowd, the pit becoming a wall-to-wall frenzy and the unruly crowd became one of the most integral components. The unique instrumentation from the rest of the band is showcased by Guitarist Macleane Ryan, Guitarist and Multi-instrumentalist Michael Campbell, Bassist Blake Fry and finally Drummer Zak Borg. With 5 EPs to their name, ‘Deathstyle’ is the bands most recently released EP featuring the title track ‘Deathstyle’ as well as other ranked hits like ‘Final Boss’ and ‘Bloodspot’. Having had previously been apart of sold-out tours and opening for massive acts like Alpha wolf, Paledusk and Ocean Sleeper, it’s clear the band has quite a lengthy history within the industry and the surging recognition is only raking in an ever-increasing number of monthly listeners with no end in sight.
Trudging all the way from the swamps of New Orleans, Louisiana, Special Guests Cane Hill are finally back in Australia for the first time in well over 10 years. Being the only international support featured on this tour, the American Nu-metal band truly showed 170 Russel St. one hell of a Louisiana welcome. Having been together since 2011 the band consists of Vocalist Elijah Witt, Guitarist James Barnett, Bassist Ryan Henriquez as well as Drummer Devin Clark. Opening their set of the night with ‘Power of the High’ which was a single released in 2021 this kept the crowd entranced before going on to play hit tracks such as ‘permanence in sleep’ and ‘Drowning Therapy’ both featured on the most recently released album ‘a piece of me I never let you find.’. Having mastered not only the aggressive industrial sound base the band also showcased their versatility letting the crowd know it was time to get down and get slutty for this last portion of the night. Following this shift of atmosphere, next on the setlist was ‘Fade’ which can be seen once again on the 2024 album ‘a piece of me I never let you find.’. Since having heard this song, it has quickly become a personal favourite of mine, as it tempts fans with iconic riffs that melt into the alluring lyrics. Cane Hill only has three performances remaining in Australia with Ocean Grove, following this they will go on to joining various other massive tours in the US throughout October and November supporting industry legends like We Came as Romans as well as an enormous tour with Wage War.
Last but certainly not least taking ahold of not just the stage but utterly awakening the pit was Melbourne’s very own Ocean Grove, the lights taking ahold and the crowd severing down the middle out of instinct completely customary of what’s to come. The ‘Oddworld Underground’ tour has returned mid-way through 2026, this time it’s back and on familiar soil joined by some truly distinctive supporting artists. Ocean Grove have truly flourished within the alterative and electronic metal scene over the past few years, despite having lost a couple of members throughout the years, the band has managed to stay true to the original infectious melodies. Comprised of Vocalist and Frontman Dale Tanner we are also blessed with the vocals and Bass talents of Twiggy Hunter as well as the works of Producer and Bassist Sam Bassal. Having Heard the true versatility of Ocean Grove’s sound, it’s certainly no wonder as to how the band has sky rocketed to their stardom and as the night went on it truly reminded me the reasons, I so quickly became a fan in first place. ‘Superstar’ was next to be showcased on stage having been featured as one of 12 songs on the bands 3rd album ‘Flip Phone Fantasy’. Another popular track from that album titled ‘Ask for the Anthem’ was first released as a single but was later also added in to be featured on the album. Melbourne was always set to be a special night for the band as it was set to be a return to their roots, although it became increasingly more memorable for Vocalist Dale Tanner as both his mother and future mother-in-law were both in attendance. The ‘OddWorld’ Underground tour includes discography that features the bands usual rhythmically playful vocals, whilst also exploring breakdowns into the subgenres of hardcore punk with influences of hip hop that encompasses their sound. Less than a week left until Ocean Grove hit Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane there is just enough time to secure your tickets for the final leg of the ‘Oddworld Underground’ Australian tour.
As the night drew to a close, the impressive line-up left everyone more than satisfied, Blinder, Deficit and Cane Hill all came through as expected and this is certainly not the last we will see of ocean grove within the coming years as they set aboard the Hellbound II metal cruise joining the jam-packed line up featuring Amity Affliction, Parkway Drive and Alpha Wolf, be sure to not miss out.