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British rockers You Me At Six love Australia. It’s a simple fact, proven with their constant visits to the country since their Soundwave debut in 2010. After their year-long break from touring, You Me At Six return, riding on the success of their recent album Night People with three special east coast shows. Bringing their Sydney friends in Hellions as well as Brisbane underdogs Columbus along for the ride, it was evident that these shows would have huge expectations to deliver. And without a doubt, there was a different kind of excitement filling Sydney’s Luna Park last night, an anticipation for a music-filled night filled with passion and adoration as fans eagerly awaited one of Britain’s greatest exports.

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Alex Moses of Columbus – by Jessica Neal

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Inside Luna Park’s Big Top, Brisbane’s Columbus first took the stage with an emotion-filled set to hype up the crowd. The emo-infused trio played a variety of crowd favourites from their previous releases including ‘Downsides of Being Honest’ from the critically-acclaimed EP Home Remedy and ‘Say What You Want’ from their debut LP Spring Forever. Despite the melancholy in vocalist Alex Moses’ voice, the band were very elated to be there and loved the reaction from the crowd singing along with every melodic chorus. Crowd surfers were greeted with drummer Daniel Seymour’s constant smile as they smashed out an energetic set, proving that Columbus are truly one of Australia’s best punk acts.

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Dre Faivre of Hellions – by Jessica Neal

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Hellions greeted their hometown soon after with the melodic ‘Thresher’ that had everybody on their feet singing along. Singing hits from their Aria-nominated album Opera Oblivia, vocalist Dre Faivre encouraged everyone to ‘feel the rhythm’ in each song while running around the stage and interacting with the crowd and its rowdiness. The contagious atmosphere took everyone’s inhibitions, turning the room into a orchestra of flashing lights and intense finger pointing through some of Hellions’ heaviest songs like ‘Hellions’, with Faivre stating, “this song doesn’t really fit here, but we’ll make it fit”. Ending with their latest single ’24’, Hellions sparked a fire inside every person in the building, satisfying both dedicated fans as well as those who fell in love with them within their 35 minute set.

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Josh Franceschi of You Me At Six – by Jessica Neal

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Not before long, the lights dimmed with screams of anticipation filling the room. There appeared You Me At Six vocalist Josh Franceschi, solo on the stage in a single spotlight holding captive over the audience with the lyrics of ‘Spell It Out’. Franceschi‘s bandmates silently take on the stage around him before playing in full force, surrounded by smoke making this an awfully chilling performance. But that doesn’t stop everyone from going insane. Followed are fan favourite hits from previous albums like ‘Bite My Tongue’, ‘Fresh Start Fever’ and their 2014 single ‘The Swarm’, embedded in a monstrous 17-song set.

Franceschi’s stature oozes confidence and control as he plays the role of conductor to the crowd. His commands to sit, jump and sing along don’t go unnoticed. But these actions don’t go without between-song banter with the crowd. He runs to each side of the stage, take cameras from photographers and even flirts with the crowd, asking guys for their numbers when they start undressing in the pit.

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Matt Barnes and Max Helyer of You Me At Six – by Jessica Neal

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After the uplifting ‘Take On The World’, Franceschi states that that the band “almost didn’t come to Australia on this album cycle”, expressing an immense amount of strain the band has been under recently. But goes to express his gratitude by stating “the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning every single day is nights like tonight”, a honest feeling that everyone in the room sympathises with. Franceschi, along with guitarist Max Helyer, perform an acoustic “Too Young To Feel This Old”, before driving home a four-song encore filled with some of their biggest hits to date.

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Josh Franceschi of You Me At Six – by Jessica Neal

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With 13 years under their belt and a sixth album on the way, You Me At Six still prove strong even in strife. There’s a unspeakable connection between them and their Australian fans which tells me we won’t be waiting too long for their next Australian appearance. At least, I hope it’s not too long.

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AMNPLIFY – DB

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