LIVE REVIEW: EVERYTHING EVERYTHING + HAYDEN THORPE @ THE PRINCESS THEATRE 17/04/26

Words by Cecilia Pattison-Lev Photos Rod Fletcher

The UK’s indie rock band Everything Everything brought their fans a way to ‘Get To Heaven’ as they performed at the Princess Theatre in Brisbane to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their critically acclaimed album. The musician Hayden Thorpe (of the Wild Beasts) opened up the night with his modern contemporary stripped-back pop-rock sound. 

Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe performed his first very solo set in Brisbane. He also told the crowd that it was his first time back in the city in 17 years. His last visit was when he was touring Australia with his band Wild Beasts. With his black electric guitar and his lovely voice, Hayden Thorpe delivered a short five song set.

His chiming guitar chords rang out as he introduced himself as the “other pom for the evening”, as he performed ‘They’ and quickly followed it up with ‘This Is Our Lot’, and the spacey ‘Metafeeling’. The crowd was loving what they were hearing. Hayden Thorpe’s music was melodic, and his lyricism was poetic.

His chill and quirky set had a lovely song dedication in ‘Palace’ to his mum, who lives in Byron Bay and “got him his Australian passport”. There were jokes about yoga and the Byron lifestyle as he said, “she moved there ages ago but he could do some yoga but probably more likely drink the beer” that Byron is famous for producing. Hayden Thorpe ended his set with ‘Golden Ratio’ and it was an interesting song. He thanked the crowd for their attention as he left the stage, and they responded with huge cheers as they appreciated his set.

After a short break, the stage had the front checked, setlists were placed down, and the music started getting louder. I must admit the playlist was full of songs I didn’t know, and I started to wonder where I was in the mid-2010’s.

As the venue went dark, the crowd’s anticipation built as they waited for the arrival of Everything Everything to the stage. The band is noted for creating unique and eclectic soundscapes, paired with unusual lyrics. The large crowd who was present tonight demonstrated that Everything Everything have a dedicated fan base who appreciate their artistic vision and the idea that each album has a different purpose and sound, but remains fundamentally them.  

The set tonight was to celebrate Everything Everything’s 10th anniversary of their 2015 album ‘Get to Heaven’. The album was a call to listeners through the band’s indie pop-rock lyricism and musicality to bring complex ideas and narratives to them. The band wanted to re-engage listeners and fans with genuinely meaningful music.

Everything Everything took to the stage and they were dressed in matching utilitarian-style yellow and grey outfits with black armbands and biohazard patterning. The stage was lit up with a variety of different lights, blue, red, yellow, and green as the band set about delivering their album “in full but not in order”. They opened their 20-song set with ‘To The Blade’. The song was predominatly an electronic-tinged psychedelic pop-rock soundscape of driving synths underscored by melodic, lively guitars and drums that allowed the crowd to enter and delve into the band’s technicolour universe.

The second song ‘Blast Doors’ drove on this frantic energy. It was followed by the title song ‘Get To Heaven’, then a rhythmically driven dark song with satirical undertones followed in ‘President Heartbeat’, and ‘Brainchild’. The ‘Get to Heaven’ album’s songs are all very different and have their own distinctive style. What they had in common was the heavy synth tone that was full of electronic synths, jittery drumbeats, both electronic and organic, and Jonathan Higgs’ idiosyncratic rapping and vocal delivery.

The huge crowd singalong followed in the song ‘Regret’ that had the crowd in raptures as it listed reasons for either remorse or letting things go. The mostly millennial-aged crowd really got into the performance. Then, the pace of the set was taken down for a while as the tracks ‘Only As Good As My God’, and ‘The Wheel (Is Turning Now)’ were delivered.

Everything Everything regained speed with ‘Fortune 500’ and its lyricism around the sinister nature of corporate culture. Then, ‘We Sleep In Pairs’, the proto-punkish electronic aggression of ‘Zero Pharaoh’, and ‘Yuppie Supper’ with its twitchy electro-pop and Jonathan Higgs’ frantic vocal phrasing, ending the lyrical cluster about the issues of wealth and its distortion on society and relationships.  

The energetic and playful ‘Hapsburg Lippp’ was performed next and it really was “off the wall” with its weird, wacky lyrics and infectious rhythms. Then, the last and biggest songs from the album were delivered, and the fan reaction was huge when ‘Spring / Sun / Winter / Dread’ was played. Then, the opening notes of ‘Distant Past’ started, and then dramatically stopped. The “laptop” had broken down.

The crowd called for the band to “skull a beer”, the band looked confused as they tried to engage in chat about “visiting Brisbane” and the “coming Olympics” as they resisted the calls for doing a “shoey”. At this point, it was obvious something was quite wrong, and the crowd was left hanging as the technical issue led the band to walk off stage, and abandon one of their most popular songs. The lead singer stated: “we were close to the encore anyway”, and “when things are fixed, we will be back”. I have to ask a question here, the band was fully kitted up with instruments so why not just play on?

Everything Everything did return to the stage when the “laptop” was functional and resumed the set with ‘No Reptiles’. However, the “laptop” issues continued, and a fan even yelled out: “get a new keyboard” as the issues also affected the performance of ‘Warm Healer’. But the crowd was not going to be deterred from having fun, and the gig settled again with non-album songs delivered in ‘Cough Cough’, the new track ‘Kemosabe’, that had its tour “debut”. But it was the last song ‘Cold Reactor’ that was truly outstanding. The band showed their musical growth in their intricate and melodic electronic-rock sounds and style in that song that defines the band.  

It was exciting for the crowd to hear, and see this album performed in its entirety. The lightning was meticulously timed to accompany each song, and it helped with the immersive experience. The crowd was certainly loving Everything Everything and the setlist – despite some transmission issues. Even after ten years, this album holds its own with the band and their fans as they made the performance of this album an enjoyable and fun experience.