Words – @ladylane____
Photos – Adamross Williams
After a small break from GOOD THINGS 2025 – I am back! Ready, recharged and raring to go to dive into my first gig of 2026.
Our chums in INERTIA took to the stage with a mighty vigour full of confidence and assurance, performing like a band fully aware of their identity and impact. Launching head first into a blend of crushing, low-tuned guitars and boasting a cinematic atmosphere, INERTIA set a dark and heavy tone from the outset. Their sound is a furious blend of modern metalcore, sprawling with melodic hooks and electronic texture, delivered through a mix of sharply executed breakdowns. A fine balance of brutality and perfectly controlled melodies – intentionality at its finest. Songs from Second Shadow translated powerfully live, building on contrast with tense and restrained verses teamed with expansive and all-consuming choruses, ambient moments woven into forceful riffs. The vocalist’s versatility stood out, moving effortlessly from emotive clean passages to cutting screams, inviting comparisons to acts like Northlane and Spiritbox while still sounding distinctly their own.
INERTIA’s stage presence sealed the set. Tight, disciplined, and visibly feeding off the crowd, they commanded early pits and sustained energy throughout. Rather than merely warming up the room, they demanded engagement. INERTIA’s stage presence sealed the set. Tight, disciplined, and visibly feeding off the crowd, they commanded early pits and sustained energy throughout. Rather than merely warming up the room, they demanded engagement.
As OCEAN GROVE hit the stage, the atmosphere shifted immediately. The Melbourne trio delivered a set that was volatile and exhilarating, leaning fully into the chaos that defines their live shows. From the opening moments, they played with the confidence of a hometown band – unrestrained, deafening, and fearless. Fusing nu-metal groove, hardcore aggression, and hip-hop swagger, OCEAN GROVE transformed the venue into a boiling mass of movement. Their sound was gritty and relentless, built on heavy grooves, barked hooks, and bursts of distortion that kept the crowd in constant motion. When attitude overtook precision, it only heightened the impact. Their connection with the audience was impossible to miss. Circle pits opened instantly, bodies collided, and every call and response was met with full commitment. OCEAN GROVE didn’t simply play to the crowd – they absorbed its energy and hurled it straight back.
Supporting Poppy felt like a natural fit. OCEAN GROVE’s genre-blurring intensity echoed the night’s anything-goes ethos, bridging heavy music and unfiltered performance chaos. The balance between structure and disorder kept the momentum surging.
POPPY’s Melbourne stop was less a concert than a controlled detonation. She effortlessly fused pop-art menace with full-tilt metal precision, snapping between sugar-sweet hooks and feral aggression without warning. Framed by stark, industrial lighting and backed by a ruthlessly tight band, the show leaned hard into her heavier era with fan favourites like ‘BLOODMONEY ‘and ‘Anything Like Me.’ Vocally, she was ice-cold and commanding – every scream and whisper delivered with devious and malicious intent. It was the last half, though, where the show truly bared its teeth. The songs stretched longer, heavier, and more oppressive, locking into grinding riffs and punishing tempos that refused to let the room breathe. Poppy moved with mechanical restraint, weaponising stillness as much as chaos, her presence growing colder and more commanding with each track.
With INERTIA and OCEAN GROVE setting a hostile tone early, Poppy delivered a set that felt deliberately confrontational, part performance art, part sonic assault. It wasn’t built to comfort. Melbourne didn’t just watch Poppy; they were tested by her.
Thank you, INERTIA, OCEAN GROVE, POPPY, the FORUM, LIVE NATION and Dave at DAIMOND CREATIVE for having us!
