From the moment Laurel steps out on stage, her striking presence and effortless confidence captivates the audience at The Night Cat in Melbourne.

Beginning with ‘Deathwish’, she showcases her incredible vocal talent with emotional depth.

“I’m so happy to be here. This is one of my favourite countries to play – maybe even my favourite city but don’t tell the other cities, “She says.

Laurel looks around the stage that’s in the middle of the room surrounded by her audience. “They didn’t tell me this when I booked the show that it was a 360-degree stage and I came in at sound check and I was like how does this work? But if feels fun and I’m enjoying it. You’re going to see like my bum for at least 3 minutes, so I hope you enjoy that,” she laughs.

She accidently stands on some of the equipment during the start of her next song ‘Best I Ever Had’ so she needs to restart after the first chorus, but the crowd doesn’t mind at all. Next, she takes it back with an older song called ‘Same Mistakes’ but pre-warns us that we’re going to do some angry crying to.

“It’s been an interesting period in my life where everything’s changing, and I’ve been tested a few times. But it forced me to look inwards and ask myself what I really wanted and what I wanted to make,” Laurel reveals. She shares a brand song that came out of that called ‘Fucking You To Death,’ which feels very genuine and straight-forward to the heart – something she says she’s always wanted to make but wondered if anyone actually wanted to hear.

Laurel recalls the last time she was in Australia for ‘Groovin’ The Moo’ when she released the next song ‘Change’ that boasts her unique blend of indie pop featuring her ethereal vocals and a lush instrumentation. Tonight, she shares the stage with an exceptional drummer to really elevate the live delivery.

Her performance is raw, honest and spontaneous. Her guitar falls off at one point and she needs to re-tune it. “I think the best shows are when things get messed up,” she jokes before launching back in with ‘Appetite’ that sparks an audience singalong.

She shares a brand-new song that’s part her new era with very sad girl vibes called ‘Bitter.’ The venue lights are then turned off for ‘Only One’ and the crowd lights up the room with their phone torches as she comes into the crowd to sing with us in the 360 setting. She forgets the words, but fans help her out with the verses.

“The first gig I played in Australia was about 5 years ago and I think that’s why I forgot the words just now. It was kind of a fucked-up week for me because the person I wrote my first album about had just killed themselves,” she reveals.

“It was kina intense so I decided to go on tour that week and it was a wonderful experience but I got to my first gig, and I was in shock but had to play this album that had just passed away but I started playing and I forgot who I was on stage and I couldn’t remember anything – I completely froze. I was mortified. But then the most amazing thing happened, you guys had me and you sung the whole fucking set for me. I remember feeling that it was the worst thing that could happen but then I woke up the next day thinking that was the best gig I ever played, and I didn’t even sing. It was just so fucking wonderful. I bring it up because I’m going to play the song now that was kind of the moment where I lost my shit on stage, but I have my lyrics – I’m prepared this time. Thank you if you were at that show cos it really was one of my favourite experiences in life,” she tells before sharing ‘Sun King’ and ‘Life Worth Living.’

There’s nowhere to hide so she remains on the stage for the electrifying encore of ‘Scream Go Faster’ with full-blown pop full of synth-wave and retro ’80s vibes to get everybody dancing the rest of the night away.

Words by Michael Prebeg

Behind the lens Josh Braybrook