Sunshine Coast indie-rockers, Nana’s Pie, made the trip down the Bruce Highway to the Triffid in Brisbane last night for the first stop of their Till the Morning tour.
Brisbane provided predictably humid spring weather. As the crowd of mostly young fans spilled in, they sighed with relief at the air conditioning under the Triffid’s iconic arched roof.
The show was part of Live Nation’s Next On program, which aims to give up-and-coming artists access to sought-after venues and remove industry barriers for those beginning their careers.
Local singer-songwriter Meiia was a breath of fresh air to start the evening, and the crowd was soon swaying along to her new song Practice as she danced around the stage.
Everyone quickly forgot the collective experience of being sapped by queuing in the oppressive November night as they sang along to her anti-AI anthem, Fix it Anyway.
The Brisbane local typically performs solo but brought along her band of housemates and friends tonight to accompany her. She seemed to be having a blast on stage as she took turns singing to each band member and couldn’t help but laugh when her guitarist pulled a face mid-song.
Her setlist of released and unreleased originals was accompanied by a cover of Phoebe Bridgers’ 2026 love song Bobby, saying, “I just love this song, I had to play it”.
After Meiia left the room echoing with a singalong of her closing track In My Head, Fergus Hogan bounced onto the stage with his own group of friends and youthful energy to spare.
His excited stage presence and upbeat banter were the perfect contrast to Meiia’s emotive, heartfelt songwriting.
The 20-year-old Brisbanite grabbed the crowd straight away, debuting Cool Kids Don’t Cry from his freshly released EP, Invite Me To Your Party. The EP was released while Hogan was onstage, as he spoiled fans with live versions of tracks released only minutes ago.
Hogan mixed it up with a cover of One Direction’s Steal My Girl; he had the entire crowd wrapped up in his boyband aura. Swapping a loose-fitting linen shirt for a cropped baby tee cheekily adorned with the phrase “It’s my birthday” before playing his closing track, In My Head.
After thanks from Hogan, and a brief, humid interlude, Nana’s Pie came on stage to the soundtrack of Daddy Cool’s Eagle Rock. Guitarist Nash Hindmarsh remarked, “I’m not used to hearing this song with my pants on, but there’s a time and a place”—a nod to the time-honoured Australian tradition of dropping your pants when you hear the track.
Joined by their friend David on saxophone and keys, the three founding members, twins Nash and Adam Hindmarsh, and their “brother from another mother” lead singer Tyler Hammill took the stage.
Opening with Someone Like Me, the quartet filled the iconic venue with their sun-soaked sound. The room was instantly lifted into elation as the crowd sang along to the chorus of “When someone like me gets some loving from you”.
The fact that the band have known each other since kindergarten was clear as their onstage ease and tight instrumentation seemed right at home at the front of the Triffid despite it being their biggest headline show to date.
Nana’s Pie have been busy making a name for themselves this year, sharing stages with Boy & Bear, The Dreggs, and Pacific Avenue. But they were clearly happy to be back at the top of the poster, with Hammill saying, “We are so glad that you’re supporting us at the biggest venue we’ve headlined in our lives”.
Drawing on their time supporting artists, their musicality was polished, playing with a relaxed perfection you only get from playing with your best friends. But it was clear how much the show meant to them, with Hammill expressing gratitude for the opportunity throughout the night.
Bouncing off one another, their energy, carried by their indelible riffs and earnest songwriting, spread to the crowd as they shouted along to their 2022 song 18 Again. Hammill said, “This is a song we wrote when we were quite young”, as he introduced it to the crowd, recounting their start at open mics on the Sunshine Coast.
The additional saxophone accompaniment brought their discography to a new level. Joined in the crowd by a number of air saxophones, the woodwind perfectly offset the band’s laid-back sound, bringing a touch of 80s maximalism to their usual straightforward indie sensibility.
The tour’s eponymous track Till the Morning was the night’s centre point as Hammill said, “it’s the whole reason we’re here right now”.
Everyone instantly lifted as he broke out into reminiscent lyrics about holding onto love in tough situations. It felt like a rallying cry, with the chorus: “Please don’t fade away, wish that you could stay till the morning”.
The crowd’s love of the song was mirrored onstage, as Hammill added, “We’re not even trying to promote it; we’re just playing it because we love it.”
As the night drew on, the band manifested a potential triple j appearance, with Hammill saying, “Maybe one day we might be able to do a triple j Like A Version of this song soon, who knows?” before running offstage to fetch a tambourine for their version of Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s Rein Me In. “We whipped that one up yesterday. How good’s that song?” Hammill added nonchalantly.
The band played, followed by an older song from their catalogue. Hammill announced, “This is a song about a person who goes on a television show, but their music is not for the television; it’s for the people,” launching into Television Screens.
Their music being for the people was evident on the night, with surprisingly few phones filming and everyone dancing with friends; the atmosphere in the Triffid was communal. The band’s humble monologues between songs added further to the wholesome feel of the night.
They also teased more original music to come, mentioning an upcoming EP before playing the unreleased Rushing Through, a continuation of form for the band with more of their signature songwriting underpinned by the newly added saxophone. “It’s the first time we’ve played that one live,” Hammill added, glad the crowd responded to it so well.
The Sunshine Coast boys carried an air of being pleasantly surprised with how far they’ve come the entire night. Nash Hindmarsh introduced their song BLIND, which has 32,000 streams on Spotify to date, by saying, “We didn’t expect this song to do so well.”
It was clear they had a small but strong following by this point in the night. As the band moved into Losing You, it felt like the Triffid was hosting a pub choir as the crowd sang “I just keep losing you again and again and again”.
As the instrumentation cut out, the boys walked offstage and left the beaming crowd crying out for an encore. There was a brief pause, no more than 30 seconds, before the band obliged, running back onstage and playing For the Weekend.
“We were trying to be polite; it’s a school night, so we were only going to do an encore if you guys asked,” Hammill added, laughing after the song. Nana’s Pie managed to bring a Sunny Coast afternoon breeze to those in the Triffid despite it being 10.30 pm on an oppressively hot ‘school-night’ in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.
Equally as pleased as all the patrons walking out of the venue, Hammill farewelled the crowd, signing off with “thank you all for coming, you are the reason we can do this.”
The Till the Morning tour continues with dates at Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel, Newtown’s Bootlegger’s and Fitzroy’s Workers Club.
