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SOMBR’S
Brisbane debut
embodies Yearncore

Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane,
11th December 2025
(Live Review)

Review by Audrey Songvilay

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There’s a specific kind of ache that only hits when a song feels like it was written for you. sombr’s Brisbane debut at Fortitude Music Hall was packed with people who had carried pieces of themselves through his music. Broken hearts, first loves, late-night regrets, all waiting to be recognised.

It’s wild to think that all of this began in a teenager’s bedroom. Shane Boose was turning heartbreak into melody before the world even knew his name. Caroline, his breakthrough track, now with 45 million streams, set the stage for a night full of longing and confession.

sombr is volatile in the way love itself is: tender one moment, awkwardly quirky the next, his movements sometimes dorky, sometimes mesmerising. Standing impossibly tall, he seemed to glide across Fortitude Music Hall with a whimsical, almost otherworldly energy. He opened the night in leopard-print pants and a long sequin shirt that caught the lights with every move. He moved across the stage in a fun, bizarre rhythm. Part playful, part chaotic, and at one point flipped a couch and knocked over a vanity mirror.

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He is strangely charming.
“Brisbane, do you wanna hear the f**king hits?” he yelled.

And the hits came: do I ever cross your mind, would’ve been you, undressed. These songs map the trajectory of love: the ache of wondering if someone thinks of you, the sting of rejection, the desperation of wanting someone you can’t have.

Even when his voice cracked at high notes, it felt human, brimming with yearning. Layered backing vocals and mic effects elevated each track, making the live performance feel like the record, but more alive, more intimate.

Mid-set, after switching into zebra-print pants, he laughed, saying, “People call me a performative male.”

There’s an authenticity in the way he owns it.

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The emotional peak came early with in your arms, a song that had everyone holding up their phone lights. From there, the night spiralled through desire and regret: the self-loathing of i wish i knew how to quit you and the bittersweet nostalgia of back to friends. Each track felt like a chapter in an anthology of unspoken feelings.

After a quick mic change, “One, two, one, two…” the finale hit with 12 to 12, sending the room into a screaming uproar. “In a room full of people, I’d look for you.” The show captured the edge of a love you can’t have and screaming it into the void.

sombr walked onto that stage a young artist with radiant momentum. His music is for longing, for heartbreak, and for the messy, beautiful ache of love.

For one wild, chaotic night in Brisbane, he made longing a tangible thing we could all feel.

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Upcoming Tour Dates

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Follow SOMBR
Website – Instagram – Facebook
X – Linktree

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Press Release 25th November 2025 (below) HERE

SPILT MILK
lineup expands with
the addition of
GENESIS OWUSU

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AMNPLIFY – DB