Yungblud | Sidney Myer Music Bowl | Melbourne 13th January
@Frontier
It is a weird dynamic seeing a gritty rock show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Usually you want an artist like Yungblud in a dark and enclosed room where the sweat drips from the ceiling. The noise usually has nowhere to escape in those venues. However, the Australian Open currently has a hold on every indoor arena in Melbourne Park. That meant Dom Harrison and the IDOLS tour had to move outdoors to the Bowl.
I was honestly a bit worried about the open air. I thought the energy might fade away or the lack of a tight mosh pit would kill the vibe. I was wrong.
The lines getting in were intimidating and stretched way back through the gardens. The venue staff were on their game though. Everyone got in fast. Once the place filled up, the scale of the fanbase really hit me. The hill was absolutely packed with people. The noise level was startling. I have been to plenty of shows at the Bowl but the roar when the lights went down was easily one of the loudest I have ever heard. It felt like everyone had been saving up this energy for years just waiting to let it out.
@DrewHillMedia
The show itself was massive. The new IDOLS material is billed as a modern rock opera. You can really feel that theatricality live. The sound was surprisingly punchy for an outdoor gig. It handled the chaotic punk energy of tracks like ‘Zombie’ without losing clarity. Harrison is a force of nature on stage. He does not just perform. He sprints. He made it his mission to connect with everyone. At one point he actually left the stage and ran right out into the crowd to get to the people standing at the very back of the lawn. It was chaotic and proved that no venue is too big for him to make intimate.
The standout moment of the night was not a fast rock song. It was during the cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Changes’ which he dedicated to Ozzy Osbourne. It is usually a sombre moment but the Melbourne crowd had a surprise ready. Midway through the track thousands of fans unfolded pieces of paper that read "You are our north star." It was not just a few people in the front row. It rippled right up the hill. You could see Harrison take a beat to process it. It shifted the whole mood from a rock concert to something that felt like a massive family gathering.
@DrewHillMedia
Dom has never been one to stay quiet between songs. He was chatting constantly and feeding off the crowd. He dropped some massive news for the locals too. First he promised to tour Australia every 18 months for the rest of his life. It is a bold claim but the crowd ate it up. Then came the real kicker. He confirmed that he is bringing his curated festival called Bludfest to Australia in 2027. The scream that tore through the venue at that announcement probably disturbed the tennis players over at Rod Laver Arena.
By the time the night wrapped up nobody cared about the venue change. The band sounded tight. The vocals were raw. The connection was real. If this is what the IDOLS era looks like then 2027 cannot come soon enough.
@DrewHillMedia