VacationsIt’s a cold and rainy night for Brisbane standards, and a warm welcome from the Triffid goes a long way to dispel a wet Thursday evening.
The temperature rises again when the audience surges forward to see Campbell Burns, Jake Johnson, Nate Delizzotti and Jospeth Van Lier take the stage. It’s clear that this setting has become their natural habitat since they formed in 2025, although not literally.
It’s usually stages in the US where you can catch Vacations, who have permanently settled in New York with a constant touring cycle, even running their own festival (MATES Festival) earlier in the year.
But tonight we are in Brisbane, Australia, and it’s been a long time since we have seen this four-piece, with frontman Burns even telling The Music last month that returning to Australia will feel like a “reverse culture shock”.
If it’s an adjustment to playing on home turf, then they don’t show it, with their natural banter and presence feeling like we only caught up last week. They tell us all the right things, recounting past Brisbane audiences and the reception they got when they were just an unknown name from Newcastle.
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“I remember playing one of our first-ever out-of-Newcastle shows that I had done with the guys, and we played in Brisbane, and I was blown away that anyone showed up to see us play. You’re all so fucking fun, so thank you so much.”
They were, as we expected, worth the wait, with the guys giving us all our favourite hits from their three records. Holy Grail, their most recent single from their forthcoming album Pursuit of Anything, was played towards the start of the show and easily slipped into the set, with the audience singing it back as if it hadn’t just been released.
The audience did not miss a beat, instantly recognising the start of each track from the instrumentals, and it felt like one of those shows where everyone was a Vacations aficionado. But alas, we still got a taste of something new.
“We have a bit of a weird request,” Burns said. “Do you mind if we play two songs that we have not released yet? Just a fair warning: you will not know the lyrics, and you will not know when to dance or clap or anything… but, like, it could be fun. You might like it. You might not, and that’s fine as well. If you don’t like it, you can let us know. We appreciate feedback.”
Vacations launch into Ready or Not, a ballad from their unreleased work that is fresher than the album they are releasing in October. That’s right - this unreleased music will presumably be coming out after the October arrival of Pursuit of Anything, or could even just be a sidequest the guys are pursuing.
It’s no surprise that they have already lined up the next wave of music, with Burns and the group treating their craft like a demanding job. Burns noted in our recent interview that they would always be making music - regardless of the future and what is toured and released.
As the show was drawing to a close, bandmates let us in to tell us that it was guitarist Delizzotti's birthday today. They then proceeded to sing " Happy Birthday " with the support of the whole venue. Which he said, “That was the cutest, but most awkward thing I have ever been through. Thank you. I love you.”
The boys challenged him, saying they could make the vibe even cuter, and asked the lighting team to turn off all the lights. Then, with light only from a few candles on stage, as well as phone lights and lighters in the audience, they played their final song.
The last song before the encore was a treat: Telephones, from their first album, Changes, which went Platinum in Australia (ARIA) and the United States (RIAA) at the time. It finished, and the applause filled the dome-shaped room before giving way to the chant “One more song”, which continued for a few minutes. The crowd cries worked with two solo songs, Home and Relax, performed.
Gal Musette and Annie Hamilton were the supports for Vacations, and could have easily brought their own full audience with both performances memorable. Sydney artist Annie Hamilton brought that grunge 90s music and was wearing a black lace number with wings at the back that she made herself. The MVP of the night had to be Grace Freeman, who opened the show in the earliest slot, playing as herself, Gal Musette, all the way from California. She also jumped in for Annie Hamilton, who played right after, and then finally for Vacations as their keyboardist.
“Let’s make some fucking noise for Grace Freeman, and make some noise for Annie Hamilton too. One of the best bits of touring is that you get to make wonderful friends all over the world, and it’s been very easy to befriend these incredible musicians. We have a hard job to follow them.”
Vacations resume their tour tonight in Melbourne, and then in Sydney on Saturday and then with a hometown show on Sunday at Newcastle’s Earp Distillery. Their fourth record, Pursuit of Anything, will be released on October 2.
