Viagra Boys | Festival Hall Melbourne | January 20th
Swedish punks Viagra Boys radiate an aura that’s hard to define, but I’ll try to anyway. It’s like if DEVO and IDLES mixed their musical and social ideologies together in a bowl and then sprinkled lots of drugs on top. Their career spans four albums since 2018, all of which are critically acclaimed, new wave infused post punk records renowned for their energy and character, and that sound translates incredibly well to a live show.
Photo Credit: Lauren Taylah
I need to quickly shout out Private Function, who opened the night with an explosive set of 15 short and sweet punk songs (emphasis on “short”, as a few tracks were under a second long) that more than warmed up the stage. However, there was a bittersweet undertone to their set, as in case you haven’t seen the news, they’re breaking up. Lead vocalist Chris Penney wasted no time letting the audience know, with his first words after taking the stage being, “Hi, we’re Private Function and we’re breaking up.” Private Function’s current run of shows with Viagra Boys across New Zealand and Australia will be some of the last shows they ever play, so it certainly felt like everyone in that room was experiencing the finale of a great run for the Aussie punk legends, who will surely go down as icons of the scene.
Viagra Boys took to the stage shortly after, opening with ‘Man Made of Meat’, the lead single off their most recent album, 2025’s Viagr Aboys, which set the tone perfectly. A high energy satire of modern society, hyper masculinity and the rapid evolution of technology. Honestly, that sums up a pretty large chunk of the VB discography, but that’s not a bad thing. Tracks from the band’s catalogue such as ‘Punk Rock Loser’ and ‘Medicine for Horses’ demonstrate the band’s dynamic diversity, proving they can pull off moodier, slower tracks without killing the momentum built by more frantic songs like ‘Ain’t No Thief’ and ‘Down in the Basement’.
The band very successfully retained the engagement of the audience for the entire almost two hour long set, with not a single moment feeling dull. If any part of the show was going to lose anyone, it would have been the extended jam outro of ‘Research Chemicals’, which spanned roughly 15 minutes, but that never happened. There was bounciness and movement throughout the venue the entire time.
I believe frontman Sebastian Murphy’s communication with the audience contributed greatly to the overall engagement of the crowd, often using the space between songs to share anecdotes about recent happenings in his life, with a particularly memorable moment about his experience at the Australian Open standing out. Beyond what the audience is hearing, the band is also incredibly engaging visually, with Murphy’s signature heavily tattooed beer gut on full display, or Oskar Carls’ big, shiny tenor sax on stage left glistening under the downlights. Plus, with six band members on stage, there is always someone or something to watch.
Photo Credit: Lauren Taylah
Viagra Boys’ Melbourne stop of The Infinite Anxiety Tour of 2026 was really good fun. As an audience member, I get the sense that they belong here, that Melbourne feels like a second home for them. They always put on a great show, but this one just felt special. Maybe it was the grand send off for Private Function. Maybe it was the fact that VB’s new songs feel so defining for their career. Maybe it was knowing Murphy attended the Australian Open, making him feel like “one of us”. Or maybe it was just really, really good fun.