Gang of Youths at the Sydney Opera House

Grateful and lucky

I am incredibly grateful and lucky to have been at not just one but both shows at the Sydney Opera House. I didn't even try to get tickets to their more intimate show down in Thirroul on the Thursday, but I had a friend go (the same friend who managed to get me tickets to both Opera House shows, so yes, he went to all three) and it looked absolutely incredible.

Both shows were incredible, of course they were going to be. They were the band's first shows in four to five years, so it had been a while for them.

A private band in a content-driven era

Gang of Youths (GoY) are known to be quite a private band, which is honestly a little rare these days. With the modern marketing push for constant TikTok and Reels, and music increasingly treated as content rather than artwork, it's a breath of fresh air that GoY are able to stay so private. That might also be tied to the fact they really blew up about ten years ago with "Magnolia" and their sophomore album, ‘Go Farther in Lightness’.

Hearing the new material first

Being able to be some of the first people in the world to hear not one, not two, but three brand new songs of theirs was incredible. I'm really liking two of them; the third not so much as of yet, but I think its placement in the set has something to do with that.

The setlist, by the numbers

The set featured four songs from ‘Go Farther in Lightness’, six from ‘angel in realtime’ (five on the Monday), "Magnolia," a Jimmy Buffett cover, and three new unreleased songs.

Go Farther in Lightness is, in my opinion, one of the best albums of all time (big claim, I know), so I would've loved to hear much more from that album, especially some of the bigger songs, like "What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out" (an incredible song to open a set with, which I've seen them do in the past) and "Heart Is A Muscle."

The Go Farther in Lightness crescendo

I was not expecting them to play the title track from ‘Go Farther in Lightness’, but they played it immediately after "Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane," as it does on the album, and it was one of my favourite moments from the shows. "Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane" is probably my favourite of theirs, and has this incredible crescendo throughout its seven-and-a-half-minute runtime, and the way it builds towards the end is phenomenal, with everyone cheering and screaming along. Then it goes straight into the title track, and I cannot recall ever hearing a crowd going from as loud as it was, to dead quiet that quickly before.

Magnolia, solo

Dave's version of "Magnolia," probably their most recognisable track, was something special. Just him, an electric guitar, and 2,500 people singing along with him.

The Jimmy Buffett cover

The Jimmy Buffett cover certainly wasn't something I expected going into the shows. Dave explained it was one of his wife's favourite songs, and that he related to it a lot more than he expected to. It was a present for his wife, whose 39th birthday fell on the Thursday, the same day as the Thirroul show.

The three new songs

First in the set was "Things Take Time," which would be my guess for their next release. It's a little shorter than their usual song length and quite catchy, with some brass involved too, an underrated instrument in rock and popular music.

The second new song, listed on setlist.fm as "Major Arcana," was introduced as a song about tarot cards. This one felt more like a traditional GoY song. I wish I'd recorded the new songs, even just on voice memos, so I could listen back before they come out properly.

The last of the new songs was the second song of the encore. Unlike the first two, I didn't initially love this one. Dave said it's currently untitled, though the setlist has it as "YeYu." It's slower than the other two new songs, and very staccato. It will probably grow on me, and maybe its position in the set (the penultimate song of the night) had me expecting a little more from it.

Closing the main set

Their last song of the "main" set was "in the wake of your leave," one of their best songs and a great choice to close that portion of the set. Dave joked that it was their last song of the night and that we'd never see them again, playing into the fake-encore bit that every band does.

But during the break, the crowd sang the main riff of the song back to the band ("do, do do, do do, do do do do do") and kept singing it louder and louder, slowly speeding up, until eventually we were all just clapping, stomping, and screaming, until Dave came back onto the stage.

The piano moment

As he always does, Dave sat down at the piano. On night one he played "Brothers," and on night two he played "Riverlands." I'm not that familiar with "Riverlands," but I do love "Brothers." That said, I think it would've been a great chance to ride the momentum of the crowd and go into one of their bigger, louder, dancier songs first, something like "What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out" or "the man himself," and then bring the tempo back down with "brothers" after.

The crowd

I understand the Gang of Youths crowd probably leans a bit older than me, late 20s to mid-30s would be my guess for the most common age range, but I'm not sure if it was that, or the fact it was the Sydney Opera House and a seated venue, that meant barely anyone was up and dancing.

The Monday was definitely a more lively crowd than the Saturday, but honestly, it still wasn't great. Not all of their songs are ones you'd necessarily get up and dance to, but the ones that are weren't getting the treatment they deserved.

Because of how disappointed I was with the Saturday crowd, a couple of songs into the Monday show I excused myself from my seat to go to the bathroom, and when I came back, I went to a small standing section instead of returning to my seat. That was a tremendous decision. Yes, I was a little closer, but that didn't matter to me; I've been front row for them a couple of times before. What I loved was being able to dance and move around to some of my favourite songs, played by my favourite band.

Where I've landed

I want to state clearly: I had an absolutely incredible time. I am so lucky to have been able to go, and I would go again in a heartbeat. I just can't help but feel I wanted a little more, but I'm not sure how much of that is me needing to lower my expectations and be realistic about what they were going to do, versus how much I love this band and their art.

I do think they missed an opportunity to play with an orchestra in some way, not just because they were playing the Sydney Opera House, but also because a fair number of the songs on Go Farther in Lightness have multiple string sections, and some are completely instrumental, like "Le symbolique," which plays beautifully into "Let Me Down Easy." That album is close to ten years old now, though, and I understand them wanting to focus more on newer work.

Looking ahead

On a final note, they said they'd be back next year, which could well mean a national tour, possibly coinciding with a new album cycle. Right now, in the bottom right-hand corner of their website, there's a countdown to Tuesday the 18th of August, which might be when they release their newest single (my guess would be "Things Take Time"). I'm excited to hear the studio version of it, and I'll be looking forward to seeing them live again sometime in the not-so-far future.

Christopher Hall: Author of this article