Wednesday on a Wednesday - what a way to sweep away the winter blues. Rushing into the Metro Theatre with George Street all lit up in the blue and red of another incident, there is an atmosphere, a buzz.
The band boasting one of the best southern-fried sounds of now returns Down Under after a few years, buoyed by the critical and popular success of their 2025 album release, Bleeds. What started with metal and a scream from frontwoman Karly Hartzman built into a night of country-infused rock, heavy jams and a warm hug that stretched from the stage all the way to the back of the place.
Reality TV Argument Bleeds spells a departure from the sweetness of their earlier records, still melodic but harder with the perfect balance between heaviness and the softer moments that let the lyrics shine through, reminiscent of Grunge. Instantly, the crowd is into it.
A performatively brattish count-in led into Got Shocked from their 2023 LP, Rat Saw God. In the instrumental breakdown between singing Hartzman hit that silver guitar like a blunted saw.
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The band expressed humility by big-upping their opener – Naaki Soul, with Hartzman relaying a fateful delivery: “About three years ago she mailed her music to my PO box and I’ve been a fan ever since and this is our first time playing together. So, I don’t know, that’s pretty cool!”
While the lyrics were often lost in the mix, tracks like Fate Is… saw the band and in turn the audience losing themselves in an emotive cry that cut through. As Hartzman summarised: “The pit formeth. If you like to join the pit, the pit might expand…expandeth.”
Wound Up Here (By Holdin On) is elegiac and wistful, detailing the fall of a high school star before moving into a tale of woe. The titular chorus was delivered back to the crowd with much passion.
In Candy Breath – a bouncy and bass-forward track with a howlingly joyous feeling to it – Hartzman stopped in the middle of the song – “Oh wait, I did the wrong one” – playing with the audience in a genuine and tantalising manner before moving back into the pre-chorus, unifying the crowd on the line “Surrounded by my sh-sh-sh-sh-shame.”
Trouble in the crowd? Hartzman has you: “If the guy who has a nosebleed needs towels I think we have hella backstage,” she invites. A lanky reveller holds his nose and moves through the crowd, mounting the stairs towards the bathroom in the midst of the next song.
“This next one’s a real quiet one now that we got y’all riled up”: the slide-guitar drenched ballad How Can You Live If You Can't Love How Can You If You Do moves across the crowd in a pensive lull that recharges the crowd in a moment of tenderness, showing the band’s versatility and songwriting chops.
Before Phish Pepsi Hartzman let us know, “So we’re gonna have a little help on this one. Our friend on the shaker – let’s hear it again for Naaki Soul.” A raucous romping track with a picking style flowed out after a short band practice that saw Soul return on the shaker.
Hartzman and Xandy Chelmis went back and forth with the audience, asking:
“Any of you bitches from North Carolina?”
“Let’s hear it for Sydney!”
“This song is about North Carolina so I’m dedicating it to my friends from Raleigh and Charlotte!”
Chosen To Deserve – an ode to their native state – gives a realistic and lyrical portrayal of life back home which would have brought a tear to those three Americans in the crowd and made everyone smile and bounce along.
Heavy breathing pre-empted the exuberance of what was to come: “This next song is a cover…” Everyone exploded into a joyous frenzy as the band dove into She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinking Doubles). Wednesday’s rendition of Gary Stewart’s 1975 is true to form – a fun and rollicking hoedown of a track and the crowd complied, belting out the chorus.
In Pick Up That Knife, a cathartic outpouring on the chorus “I’ll meet you outside” had the mosh going mad with crooked hands thrust in the air and the odd jump and jostle as streaming lights beamed through the space. A waifish figure was picked up and hauled out up front into the arms of the security guard who whisked him away.
Hartzman often discoursed with the crowd with care and wit: “What’s going on now – lost another phone? A beer? A battery? We’re gonna lose our humanity out here. What year is your phone from? I lost my 8-track in the crowd…”
As the night unfolded, the infectious energy of Elderberry Wine had the crowd singing along, a joyful cacophony of voices that echoed through the venue. Hartzman, ever the playful frontwoman, quipped about the potential chaos of lost belongings, reminding us all of the shared humanity in these moments.
Afterwards, Chelmis joked, “We were anticipating the crowd to sing along but not to sing too loud.”
With only four songs left – “We’re trying to do away with the whole encore thing,” she noted – the band leaned into their authenticity, opting for genuine connection over tradition. What versatility and verve. Vivid without the lights!
