LIVE REVIEW: SOUTH ARCADE + WHITT’S END @ THE TRIFFID 21/08/26
Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi Photos Rod Fletcher
Well, what a night! The Triffid went off! A sold-out crowd told the story: as the growing and excited line of fans waited for doors to open and then when the sweat-covered, or “glowing”, and elated crowd left the venue. The fans poured out of the sweat-drenched venue after seeing two bands, South Arcade and Whitt’s End, really deliver an amazing pumped-up mix of in-your-face pop-punk blended with classic rock. It was indeed an ‘Ode To Music’!
I was early to the venue but the crowd was already lined up down Stratton Street and starting to go around the corner. When I got inside, the front of the stage was already six lines deep so I took myself up to the mezzanine and parked myself in a spot, dead centre, to watch. And I am glad I did. It was great to see The Triffid totally full with at least 30 minutes to go before the opening band Whitt’s End took to the stage.
And, there was no ‘Impending Doom’ or ‘Save It For Another Day’ this evening as Brisbane based band Whitt’s End cranked up the sound and proceeded to ‘rock da house’ with good vibes and times. The band came to the stage, checked their instruments and then said hello – and immediately detonated into a high-energy ball of amazing jumps, whirls and moves with huge guitar riffs and solos, slapping bass, great drumming and fantastic vocals.
There is nothing more thrilling than watching a talented band grow and get better and better with each performance. This was my fourth time seeing the three-piece band Whitt’s End fronted by brothers Saxon and Jarvis Whittaker,with Nicolas Fernier on drums. This band has got it together with great songwriting and a musicaldelivery that packs a punch of bouncy, high-energy and mosh focused sets.Musically, Whitt’s End have a love of 1990s grunge, rock and punk and their fantastic original songs carry that DNA, but for the crowd tonight the cover of Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Can’t Stop’ performed with skill and precision had the crowd reaching for their phones as Spotify follows were hit. It was amazing to watch!
Whitt’s End set started with the melodic rock and fun of ‘Impending Doom’ and that had the Whitt’s End fans going off and the mosh bouncing right from the start. Then, ‘Corner Of My Eye’, ‘Times We Spent Together’ and the funky ‘Save It For Another Day’followed. The band already had the crowd in the palm of their hands when they smashed them with that cover that had the place boiling. Whitt’s End engaged the crowd so well with “love to the heart” as they delivered a new song, ‘What’s Your Name’, to be released soon. Then, an earlier original song in ‘Is This A Reality?’ was performed.
Whitt’s End’s sense ofhumour came through with their great lyricism and stage antics. The band are great to watch! They are musically tight and Jarvis bounces around with added choreography, jumps, backward rolls and wriggling all over the stage while maintaining guitar playing even when he causes “technical difficulties”. The band closed out their dynamic set with ‘Ode To Music (It Doesn’t Matter)’ and it’s a great song about the love of music.
You might want to see this band before big stages and venues whisk them away from Brisbane. There was only one complaint to me about the set: the Mezzanine crowd told me: “we needed to hear the band name – get them to introduce themselves early.” I took that feedback on board as I spelled out WHITT’S END! It was a perfectly executed opening set.
After a short break, the crowd prepared themselves for South Arcade. The crowd seemed to have got bigger. The photographers had to fight to get to the pit through the crowd pushing forward into the barrier. I had seen South Arcade at Good Things in 2025, but nothing prepared me for what we were going to see on this official headline tour.
Well, it really was lights, camera, action introduction as Cody, Harry, Ollie and Harmony bounced out onto the stage and lit the fuse. South Arcade detonated on stage and the crowd exploded! What a start!
You know when people say, “South Arcade are taking the world by storm,” well, it looks like the Oxford band are doing just that as Harmony Cavelle led the way with her pinpoint control as Harry Winks directed the mosh and the crowd. The bassist Ollie Green,played with paper airplanes in between keeping the rhythm section tight with Cody Jones on drums.
After that introduction, the set opened with ‘How 2 Get Away With Murder’ and the crowd was in rock heaven. ‘Fear Of Heights’ was performed with Harry Wicks jumping off the stage and into the mosh to play guitar as the crowd circled around him. It was awesome to watch. Then, ‘Supermodels and ‘Nepo Baby’ were delivered at breakneck speed. Harmony Cavelle slowed things down for ‘Danger and had the crowd singing along.
Then, the next big highlight hit with ‘Bleed Out’, an Australian fanbase favourite as noted by the band. South Arcade also expressed their thanks to Good Things for the exposure as the band’s popularity hits the stratosphere. Then, it was back to firing on all cylinders, as South Arcade delivered ‘Drive Myself Home’ and ‘Superman’. The mosh was going off! The band followed with an unreleased song called ‘Famous’ and immediately followed it with their new song ‘Deadmeat’ and, if the crowd weren’t wild enough, it went up another level.
‘Riptide’ and ‘Sound Of An Empty Room’ came next as the “shoey” was called for by the crowd. Someone’s shoe almost took Harmony Cavelle out. As she stated: “the shoey? Do you love us or hate us?” Thankfully, the soft toy, drinks and shirt thrown or delivered onto the stage weren’t as dangerous and appreciated! In response, South Arcade did a “collective shoey” as a band and in their own shoes. It was a fun moment!
The band really started to ramp up the gig as the huge hit of ‘Stone Cold Summer’ was performed. Harmony Cavelle got down off the stage and sang to the crowd from the barrier.And then, suddenly, the amazing high-energy set was over. The crowd called for more and very quickly South Arcade returned to the stage to deliver their tongue in-cheek song ‘2005’.
South Arcade are a band full of creativity and catchy music. It was an awesome gig. The whole night from start to finish was musically brilliant. This was a live show that will stick with the crowd. Brisbane really does go off!
