Amy Shark’s triumphant homecoming show at The Riverstage wasn’t just a celebration of a Queensland girl coming home after a whirlwind world tour but it also marked her biggest headlining show to date. With the excited Brisbane crowd packing the grass hill, her shadow cast against the giant curtain before it dropped to reveal an impressive stage set up. “Brisbane, are you ready!” she screamed as she launched into ‘Blood Brothers’ with the explosion of fireworks proving that she really wasn’t going to hold back with this show. Album favourites ‘I Got You’, ‘Psycho’ and ‘Don’t Turn Around’ showed that the audience knew all the words and Amy was in awe. “I can see the Shark cult is very big in Brisbane, my hometown. This means so much to me” she gushed. Her in between song banter was a little scripted as she linked them with song titles for tracks like ‘Mess Her Up’, ‘Leave Us Alone’ and ‘You Think I Think I Sound Like God’ which felt a little insincere at times. But one thing that was super humble was how excited she was to be home. She candidly told stories from her European tour where people would come up to her and say strange things like that she was their second favourite Australian singer behind Sia and ask to “make a photo”. But with all the global touring put aside, she was excited to be back where it all began and playing to the OG Shark fans and she paid homage to them by playing one of her first ever releases, ’Spits On Girls’. 

The euphoric touch of ‘Weekends’ and the aggressive nature of ‘Drive You Mad’ had everyone dancing before she stripped it back with covers of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ and ‘Girls Like You’. With the end of the show approaching she told the crowd that she was going to bow out after ‘All Loved Up’ but would return to play two of the biggest songs of her career after they cheered her name. She explained that she’s always dreamed about hearing people cheer her name at The Riverstage before an encore so she was going to indulge them with her fantasy. As the fireworks lit up the stage she walked off the stage to which the crowd immediately started chanting for her to come back. Returning for the breakthrough hit ‘Adore’ she officially closed the show with ‘I Said Hi’ which saw more fireworks and confetti filling the sky. “Thank you so much Brisbane” she exclaimed with a giant smile on her face. And as you looked around to everyone on the hill, they all looked so proud to see a Queensland girl make it in such a big way. Intertwined with a massive production, this show saw Amy Shark transforming into the pop star she was always meant to become. Her confidence and stage presence has grown so much from the days she opened for Cub Sport or even from her first headline shows at Woolly Mammoth. 

Joined by Erthlings and Slowly Slowly, the vibes for the show were very eclectic. The Sydney four piece Erthlings kicked off the evenings proceedings with a shy set of mostly unreleased material. As they graced through their dreamy indie-folk pop, they finally built up to the two Triple J endorsed singles ‘Bridges’ and ‘Cuts & Bruises’. Switching up the vibes, Slowly Slowly brought some punk-rock to the stage with a polished pop delivery. It was quite a diverse difference as they bursted with energy and confidence. Their infectious new single ‘Jellyfish’ received quite the singalong from the crowd which had the band smiling with excitement. 

Check out the full gallery captured by Lyndon James Photography HERE; 

Photos by Lyndon James