LIVE REVIEW: FELONY @ THE BLACK BEAR LODGE 02/08/25

Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi

The Black Bear Lodge was the venue of return for Felony (aka Layla Borhani) as life had made its way full circle – a true revolution – that is emblazoned on her guitar. She stated “I played my first gig here to like four people. Now we are sold out and it’s a dream come true. I can’t thank you enough for all coming along”. Viva la revolution!

Felony has performed her first “official” headline gig with her ‘Midnight Money’ Tour at The Black Bear Lodge to a sold-out crowd. She, now, has an amazing catalogue of songs to deliver. It’s her time to shine and show people, her skill in song writing, how to perform those songs on stage and to stick her colours to the mast with her influences and where she is going. She brought along the new breed of youthful alternative indie-rock groups in Double Date and Mt. Nadir along for the late-night ride.

The evening started with the Brisbane band Double Date. The four band members brought the rock ‘n’ roll antics early to the crowd with an energetic display of indie-folk meets post-punk influences all done through a proximity effect microphone that distorted the vocals into an off-kilter sound.

Double Date delivered a seven set of songs. They opened the night of music with ‘Cheryll Linn’ and followed with ‘Say It Again’ and ‘BASF 9’. The guitar duties with guitars were swapped during the set between Ellis and Wes as they performed ‘Do You Know Me’ and ‘Leader’. The band’s strongest songs of the night were ‘Lay With Labour’ and ‘Rat King’.

The next band to take the stage was the impressive Mt. Nadir. The band’s large sonic palette delivered indie-rock with open, dreamy and spacey guitar work. The band were tight and their lead singer was flamboyant and fun.

Mt. Nadir consists of lead singer Frankie Rosbrook, guitarist Arjun Singh, drummer Conor Harris, guitarist Magnus Hooper and usually bassist Jake Mallet but with this performance “the lovely Jared” played guest on bass. The band kicked off their set with ‘Hero Worship’ and ‘I Still Care’ and the crowd were singing along with them. The song ‘Clandestine’ was delivered with flair.

Frankie Rosbrook brought the chemistry to the crowd. He was great at engaging people with his pouty vibe. The band were having a good time. But what really shone out was the fabulous dreamscape guitar sounds with tight bass and drums that they were making. Mt Nadir’s instrumentation on the songs like the lovely ‘Bones’ and the absolute winner of ‘Ocean’ that closed the set showed the quality of the music they are making. There was a lot to like in watching Mt. Nadir play, and listening to those lovely melodies, further investigation is warranted. I suggest getting along to one of their gigs.

After a huge stripped back of the stage, where lights were moved, the synth was put into place and cabling was re-laid. A more functional stage was set-up for Felony to play mostly in the dark. It was blue, red and an occasional flash of white light decorating the venue.

It was wonderful after all the setbacks and ‘back to start moments’ this year that Felony has suffered that she finally got to deliver her first headline performance in her home town as the Midnight Money Australian Tour has now officially kicked off. After so much hard work supporting international acts such as Foals, Declan McKenna, Griff, Holly Humberstone, The Maine and Joan as well as other Australian acts like Pacific Avenue and Mallrat – it is her time to take her work to the next level. And, she did!

Felony is dynamic live performer and her songs resonate with real rock ‘n’ roll moxy. She radiates rockstar and so do her fabulous songs. The 13 song setlist is a dream with a mix of her early songs, new songs and a wonderful cover of David Bowie’s ‘Hereos’.

Photo Justin White

Felony’s band with the sexy keyboardist, the great guitarist and drummer were tight and controlled as they generated the refreshing live rhythms. Felony opened her set with three fantastic songs: the amazing opener ‘Head.Lights.Jump.Start’ which is exactly what you want to do at one of her gigs. Then, ‘Crossfire’ before the huge hit of ‘Oh Modernity’ was delivered and the crowd were just into the set right from the start and the sing along moments were huge.

The crowd and fan favourite ‘Your New Girl’ was the next massive sing along as it dawned on Felony that this gig was about her and her songs – it was a powerful moment of realisation. Then, she and her band delivered the fabulous new single ‘Far Away Need Some’ about break-ups and things the things that impact life. Felony nailed her love of innovate 1970’s Berlin rock with a great cover of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ which showed the crowd the influences that she has been taking in. And, there is no better source than David Bowie.

Then, she delivered ‘Bag of Youth’ which is unadulterated spiky alternative pop-rock, poured straight from the bottle of dissatisfied youth. It’s a stellar song of pulsing drums, a dramatic synths, and fiercely strummed guitars with Felony’s vocals sweetly floating over the top with those barbed lyrics hitting their mark.

The songs ‘Culture Is Coming With Me’, ‘Anything To Feel Anything’ and the remarkable ‘Tongue’ showed off Felony’s incredibly powerful rock voice. It also demonstrated how far her song writing has developed. She is confident in her craft and her own skin. It showed through her use of melody and lyricism. In such a short time, all that effort she has poured into her songs, has taken her work up into the next level. She is ready to tour internationally with these songs.

Felony took us back in time with another fan favourite ‘Everyone I Like Wants To Kill Themselves’ which was another huge sing along moment but Felony declared “It’s not like that anymore!”. Then, a brand-new song that will be available on the vinyl coming out soon on the great Impressed Records label was showcased ‘Just A Girl And So Are You’ and the crowd listened intently.

Felony, then stated, “no fake encores – as there is nowhere to go” as she and the band closed out the night on a high with her uplifting energy, positive rock vibes, driving melodic and upbeat rock song: ‘Midnight Money’. What a way to finish!

Felony and her band put on a fabulous performance, in the dark, but it was wonderful to watch and listen to her deliver great indie-rock with class. The days of bespoke gigs are over. See Felony and her band before they are playing stadiums, you have been warned.