There was something fitting about South Summit closing out the week at Sydney’s Metro Theatre – not just their biggest headline crowd yet, but also six years of grinding away finally landing in one room at once. It didn’t feel like just another gig, it felt like a statement for what they’ve got planned next.
You could feel it as soon as they walked on stage – this band was having the time of their lives, and they wanted everyone in the room right there with them. Watching the Perth boys soak up the size of the night, their biggest headline show to date, there was a genuine joy to it. They kicked off with ‘On The Dash’ and straight away, frontman Isaiah had the whole room in his hand, picking and choosing where to put his time, pulling the energy up and down exactly when the songs needed it.
The Like A Version cover’s become such a staple of many Aussie bands’ setlists these days, but their cover of The Police’s ‘Roxanne’ properly hit in the room. It brought a smile to my face seeing bass player Josh Trindall rip his in-ears out with a very audible “holy fuck” as the whole theatre sang the opening lines straight back at Isaiah.
The tour’s built around latest album Run It Back, but there was zero ego about it – the back half of the set, plus a well-earned encore, was handed straight over to the crowd favourites that got them here in the first place. A highlight of the night was Isaiah wading out into the middle of the crowd for a singalong of ‘Side Lines’, the room just swallowed him up, like it’d been waiting all night to share that moment.
Nights like this have a way of turning into legend – the ones people refelct and brag about being at once the venues get bigger and the names climb higher up the lineup. As I write this, I feel like they’ve already outgrown the mighty Metro Theatre.
