Live Review: Ethel Cain @ Palais Theatre, Melbourne

Ethel Cain offers an outstanding launch of the Willoughby Tucker Forever Tour in Australia.

Ethel Cain @ Auckland Town Hall(Credit: Azrie Azizzi)

One of the most exciting things a fan can do is to see their favourite artist grow. Whether it's in terms of artistic evolution, increased critical praise, or simply the bold decision to embark upon a new creative jaunt.

For Ethel Cain, the three years since making her debut on Australian shores has been a meteoric rise on all of those counts.

The musical persona of Floridian artist Hayden Anhedönia, the Ethel Cain project made its debut in around 2019, with a series of EPs giving rise to 2022's Preacher's Daughter.

That record, which felt as though it blurred the lines between fact and fiction as it delivered a Southern Gothic narrative heavily inspired by elements of Cain's own life, was a widely acclaimed success. It also resulted in the Australian debut of the Ethel Cain live show, with dates in 2023 as part of Vivid LIVE, RISING, and Dark MOFO.

In early January of 2025, Cain returned with the musical project Perverts. Not quite an album, but an uncategorisable recording, this 90-minute droning piece of ambient work was a mesmerising undertaking that was as uncomfortable as it was beautiful.

Not content with letting this take the spotlight for the year, August brought with it the Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You album. A prequel to Preacher's Daughter, it's an ambitious blending of slowcore and Americana, offering up a heart-rending narrative which many (including this writer) named as the best record of 2025.

Understandably, anticipation was high for the Australian leg of Cain's Willoughby Tucker Forever Tour, which officially began at Melbourne's Palais Theatre on February 16th.

Launching proceedings for the evening was the New Zealand two-piece Elliot & Vincent. Comprising drummer and vocalist Elliot Finn and guitarist Vincent Cherry, the pair's all-too short set was a blistering showcase of their combined talents.

As Finn's driving, rhythmic style complemented her enthralling vocals, Cherry's frenetic guitarwork was as intricate as it was impressive. Bathed in a simple, rust-coloured light, the duo's avant garde approach to the traditional garage rock duo undeniably won over fans with each and every cut.

While scant applause quickly turned to rapture as the set progressed, it was clear that this was an exercise in expert mood curation. If the choice of a support act is to complement the vibe of the main set, kudos needs to be given for the selection of Elliott & Vincent.

One only need look toward the choice of tracks such as Numb for proof that if the Kiwi pair had been the only band on the bill that night, there likely would've been no complaints at all.

As the standard intermission between acts took place, the seaside venue took on an almost eerie feeling. While myriad white dresses were found everywhere within the crowd, on the stage, an unsettling set-up loomed large.

With stations provided for each member of Cain’s band, a wispy row of fauna stood at the front of the stage, behind which Cain would take pride of place. The mic stand from which she would perform took the form of a telephone pole in the symbolic shape of a crucifix.

Underlining the rural, southern gothic narrative of her work and the pervasive themes of religion, it – set against a moody, smoky light – set the stage for the ethereal vibe of what would be following soon.

As Cain's four-piece band took to the stage, so too did she follow, decked in cowboy boots, denim cut-offs, and a distressed T-shirt and cap. Launching into proceedings with the 2019 cut Sunday Morning, the voracious applause from her legion of followers was almost visceral, with the pulse-like drumbeat and crashing wave of soothing instrumentation pairing with her absolutely stunning voice.

While it may have been a somewhat slow opener, it was an auspicious sign of things to come, with Cain commanding the crowd to rise for the communal American Teenager.

Itself a uniting, anthemic ode to survival and intergenerational trauma, it became clear that all who gathered to witness this spectacle were themselves united – with Cain speaking to each and every member of the sold-out audience as if she had penned the song about them.

One of the most striking aspects of the Willoughby Tucker Forever Tour is indeed the flow of the set. With the selection of euphoric anthems such as American Teenager sitting alongside the Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You opener Janie, it almost feels like emotional whiplash at times.

But such is the experience of listening to Cain's music. As the haunting Nettles gave way to its album followers Willoughby's Interlude and the exceptionally moving Dust Bowl, so too did the dark atmosphere of Perverts cuts Punish and Thatorchia wash over the crowd like a menacing omen.

Prior to offering up fan favourites such as the subversively alluring Gibson Girl, the evening almost reached an apocalyptic crescendo with the likes of Ptolemaea, which came to a crashing end with Cain's almost otherworldly convulsions providing a deeply unsettling (yet incredibly fitting) moment as visceral as it was beautiful.

Closing the main set with the "slowest and saddest" track of the night – 2021's slick Crush – it was clear that Cain had the crowd in the palm of her hand, with the unifying cry of "He fucking loves me!" almost loud enough to be heard over in Sydney.

As the band returned to the stage after an encore break, so too did an immensely eager Cain run back on deck to deliver a transcendent one-two punch of Strangers and Thoroughfare – the latter an anthemic piece of Americana bolstered by acoustic guitar and harmonica.

However, as those devoted fans of Cain filed out of the venue into the cool, beachside air, it was clear that many lives had been transformed by what they had just witnessed.

While we've seen Cain's profile and artistry evolve so much in these past three years, so too had the gathered masses evolved in the preceding 90 minutes. We don't yet know where Cain will be in another three years, but the journey towards that discovery will be more than worth it.

Presented by Frontier Touring and Penny Drop