By Olivia Burns
Stand Atlantic were set to play their first of three major headlining shows, these headline shows were to be the biggest that the band has played yet. What also makes them special is that these are just off the back of their album ‘Was Here’ which was released only a few days prior. Melbourne’s favourite music venue, the Forum was the first one to get a taste of what a huge headlining show of Stand Atlantic was going to look like. Joining them on this tour was Sly Withers and hailing from New Zealand was Vana.
Vana is an up and coming artist, who is quickly growing a large fan base. She showcases such confidence on stage, she has a soft voice, and then all of a sudden pulls out some powerful screams which contrast hugely, her vocals are paired with heavy guitar and bass. With her scoring tour spots on quite a few big tours recently, I have no doubt she will be a very well known name around the scene in no time.
Alternative rock Perth locals, Sly Withers were up next to wow the crowd and they did just that. They gave all their energy and were very popular among the attendees who showed up early to catch them. During the intermission, people tried to entice them to take part in a shoe, which was politely declined with Sam saying ‘respect your culture but that ain’t me’. As they played the last couple of songs, their track ‘Clarkson’ notably had a loud sing along from the room getting those voices all warmed up for Stand Atlantic.
It was finally time for the main event, the anticipation filled the venue as intro music started over the speaker, Stand Atlantic appeared on stage dressed in white and the screams from the crowd.. They kicked off their set with a live debut of ‘Wake Up Sit Down Shut Up’ from their latest album which got the crowd absolutely pumped for what was to come.
The whole band looked at home up on stage, and they didn’t miss the opportunity to go all out on production, with dancers on poles coming out during certain songs, Co2 guns and sending their dancers out on row boats, crowd surfing and giving away free shirts.
They played a well rounded set list of their old hits, along with a few of their new songs off their just released album – which many people already had all of the words memorised, these songs included ‘Kissing Killer Cobras’ and ‘Nosebleed’. They showcase a dynamic sound which you can’t pinpoint as pop punk like you previously could, they still carry this sound however, they give a fresh sound to the genre.
Days leading up to the show they had been pushing for people to stream and buy their new album to get the number one spot on the ARIA Top10 albums released this week, and coaxed people to purchase it to go into the draw to win customised drum skins that the band had decorated. So towards the end of the night we had a draw to announce those lucky winners.
After prize handouts had finished, it was time for the night to come to an end, finishing off with a very energetic performance of ‘Girl$’, band and crowd alike giving their absolute all to finish off the evening on an incredible high, and what a show it was to kick off their biggest headline tour yet!
So excited to see Stand Atlantic on an uphill trajectory. Every album just keeps getting better as they become more in tune with the music they want to create, without restricting themselves to a certain sound and it certainly is working!
