CONVERGE FEST 2025 (MELBOURNE)
- Keely Naylon
- Sep 24, 2025
- 8 min read
Melbourne metal-heads will be familiar with the steep steps of Max Watts, a longstanding basement venue just off Swanston Street, with a sunken pit perfect for both a lively mosh and a safe place to view the chaos.
This past Sunday (14th September), Max Watts became the host of the very first Melbourne Converge Festival. This two city festival (Brisbane & Melbourne) was an incredible feat of collaboration between 13 heavy bands from across Australia, orchestrated by Lachlan Monty (‘Monty’ to nearly every band that affectionately thanked him on stage, mentioned him behind the scenes, or in casual conversation). Melbourne punters were treated to nine of those bands, several a part of the touring crew, with some additional local Melbourne acts.
Walking down those steps you’re greeted with that familiar giddy festival feeling, a small line forming at the bar, the buzz of tattoo guns already at work, and a seemingly endless supply of alternative bangers from DJ’s Debanne Woodall and Sugarandspice who kept the energy high between sets.
Opening up the festival with a filthy furious roar was 50Fifty, a Melbourne band born from 2021 lockdowns. Lead-singer Cat filled the stage with the energy needed to pump up the early afternoon crowd. Cat’s voice is a highlight, a delightful ability to transition from a silky falsetto to a ‘nasty scream’ as proudly described by her bandmates.
Her energy is infectious, flinging her limbs to the beat, and encouraging the crowd to feel the grinding riffs and move to the demanding beat of drummer Jesse. 50Fifty had the perfect energy to set the tone for the rest of the day, playful, heartfelt, and energetic.
A tough first act to follow yet Melbourne born alternative pop-synth rap band Nightlight broke through the dark like a pair of LED high beams. Self-described as ‘pop music for alternative people’, Nightlight brought an explosive, charismatic performance both musically and visually. The audience were constantly moving, jumping to drummer Jordan Higgins' beat and listening to Laura Lazzara and Hayley Austen’s every playful command, carrying it out gladly.
‘They’re like Charli XCX plus metal’, a fellow performer mentioned approvingly. There’s no better way to put it. They really are like Charli XCX plus metal. Electric and eye-catching, with a key-tar, heavy screams, and pop-rap hooks. Nightlight is a band not to be missed.
Bukowski was up next, another Melbourne heavy-scene local legend currently touring Australia with Slowly Slowly, and they didn’t disappoint. Bukowski brought an anthemic and grungy vibe with familiar 2000s emo melodics and 90s style guitar tone to the stage to the delight of a growing crowd below.
Already, the camaraderie of the day was clear as Bukowski bassist Jamie Rolfe declared, ‘[Nightlight] are my new favourite band. Fuck yeah Nightlight!’ Bukowski should also be praised for their charm, their tight knit musicality, and earworm riffs that linger still.
As the day wore on, lines had begun forming for the tattoo station where you could get a tattoo themed around any of the bands on the line-up. Small crowds formed around the Lyrics as Art station, where fans could meet the bands, get a lyric sheet signed, or a piece of art created by the bands for them.
You didn’t need to stand around waiting in lines for bands to talk with you, however, as at every stage of the day you could see each performer talking with fans and peers alike, receiving warm passing congratulations on the way to the bar, the merch table, or out for a smoke. Converge Festival had the feeling of an audience at a local pub gig with each band watching each other from the crowd and clapping each other on the back yet had the production and talent of a full-scale festival.
Brisbane band The Comfort were up next and shifted the vibe of the festival in a welcome heavier direction. They had an Atmospheric sound with an electronic edge intertwined with a classic, energetic, and excellent metal vocal pairing in Liam Holmes and Dominic Harper. The Comfort provided a refined sound, with music that slams through you, a mixture of melancholy and euphoria. They were excellently placed mid-festival, as the crowd pulses to the wall of sound and feeling produced by the band.
Cheekily, the band called for a ‘bit of audience participation’, before unveiling a QR code to pre-save their upcoming release ‘Let The Love In’. They finished the set by letting everyone hear the titular song for themselves. A reassurance to the audience that their decision to pre-save was a good one.
Gritty, dark, and emotional the next band Saving Face brought a heavy and intense feeling to the evening, a shift of energy once more that festival-goers were becoming familiar with. Emotive and powerful vocals were delivered with an incredible passion by Ricky McCandlish as he pulled back from the mic and let his voice sound out over the crowd, raw, vulnerable, and honest. Behind him the band supported his emotive performance, bringing a desperate, begging, driving musical force.
By 5:30 the afternoon had built a blooming, warm, exciting community energy. The Comfort felt the festival as well as their recent gigs alongside Chasing Ghost had ‘felt reminiscent of when we first started the band back in 2013’. They spoke in an Instagram post of feeling an excitement for the Australian live-music scene again, and the excitement being shared with them by the audience of Converge Festival.
As day turned to night, Bad Juju took to the stage and their energy immediately swooped the crowd from the edges into the infamous sunken Max Watts pit. The collaborative community energy continued as Bad Juju welcomed back McCandlish from Saving Face to guest scream, the pair created a fun, furious synergy that carried through Bad Juju’s set.
The band, just off the back of touring with LANDMVRKS around Australia, showcased their switch to a heavier sound leaning away from alt-rock and towards a more ‘grungecore’ vibe. It’s clear the band is comfortable, confident, and loving their new sound and the crowd thrashed with them. Bad Juju topped off the collaborations with Laura Lazzara of Night Light, her clear vocals a sweet counterpoint to Russell Holland's warm yet rough tone.
The touring headliners began with Sienna Skies, exploding onto the stage with the energy of the veteran emo-band that they are, their energy was enticing, and the audience was immediately involved. Lead-vocalist Tom Pirozzi was charming and witty, joking easily with the crowd before delivering a rattling scream contrasting with his smooth clear tone.
The band was tight around him, grooving rhythms and electric riffs that seemed to bounce through the room, lifting the energy of the room higher, and by the end of the set not a single person stood still. Sienna Skies brought the energy, the fun, and the very best searing riffs that sent the room spinning. They felt like a band of school-boys, the classic, DIY, alternative metal band that will never grow too big for their boots.
Sienna Skies clearly hold an affectionate, playful, love for their fans and could be found most often in the pit themselves during the opening acts.
Where Sienna Skies brought a heart-racing thrill to the room, Young Lions brought raw, unfiltered emotion and connectivity. The 2013 Brisbane based band performed their break-through 2017 concept album ‘Mr. Spaceman’ in full, with heart-aching sincerity and love. Lead-singer Zach Britt spent more time off the stage, leaning into the arms of his audience, pulling them close, singing to them each individually, than he did up on stage looming above.
Britt clearly adores his fans, as do the rest of the band who watched him fondly from the stage, as Britt embraced those lined along the barricade, pushed further into the middle of the pit, and brought the crowd together around him in a circle. The band never faltered, following him easily, allowing the room for his performance which Britt appeared grateful for. Young Lions were a beautiful, emotional, and impactful performance leaving the room feeling warm, comforted, and a little better understood.
As the final band of the night, Bad/Love, prepared to take the stage, an eager fan collected those sitting, tired but smiling, around the pit playfully begging those seated to come and mosh. Slowly, but surely, a group was formed in the centre of the pit, kicking out, bouncing, beaming at each other as the lights began to dim for the final time that night.
Bad/Love took to the stage to loud cheers from the pit and the artists watching from the upstairs balcony, phone torches alight, grinning down at the crowd from up on high. The Melbourne-based alternative metal band treated their oldest fans to hearing their debut EP ‘SIOIS’ and follow up EP ‘Life Imitates Art’ in full and for many of those songs the final time.
Lead-guitarist and scream heavy vocalist Lachlan Monty drew the crowds attention, traversing the stage easily, swapping with bassist Martin Wood and delivering intense and ferocious screams. Bad/Love captured the quintessential 2000s emo sound adding a modern, heavy twist, with the addition of Monty’s harsh, deep, scream.
Main vocalist Landon Kirk was also captivating on stage, pacing back and forth, connecting with each audience member with a grin and a wave between powerful vocals. He had an impressive stage presence and was impossible not to watch.
Kirk asked the audience who had seen their very first show, also ambitiously and successfully held in Max Watts, in 2019 where they debuted their EP ‘SIOIS’ live.
‘We’re literally playing it.’ Kirk said to the responding cheers.
An apt farewell to an incredible EP, to end where it began, on the same stage, surrounded by the metal community that had built up around them. In the crowd, the fans screamed along, many knowing every word, thrashing and creating the truest mosh-pit of the evening with flying limbs and shining, joyful, sweaty faces.
As the final note rang out, the lights returned to a confronting brightness, and the night had come to a crashing, hearty, close. The tattoo beds were being folded down and shuffled up those familiar steps, the bars wiped down, the merch tables flooded with last-minute buyers. Each person looked thrilled, grinning, bleary-eyed, and not at all ready for the coming Monday.
Converge Festival was a celebration of the variations within the heavy metal genre, each band delivering a different piece of a greater whole, from synth-pop to alternative-rock, metalcore to hardcore. Each band appeared to mingle and celebrate each other with genuine appreciation and dedication to the burgeoning metal scene. Each person we spoke with, musician, fan, or bar-staff, were overwhelmingly friendly and open. Each person is linked by a common love for the heavy music scene in Melbourne.
In an Instagram post following the festival, Lachlan Monty (festival organiser, lead guitarist of Bad/Love and possibly the busiest guy around) said about Converge Festival, ‘I wanted to try and bring back what I feel so lucky to have been a part of and to try and introduce some of that to the new generation of artists.’
Considering the overwhelmingly positive response from every punter and musician we had the pleasure of talking to last Sunday we’d say Converge Festival well and truly succeed to create that warm passionate sense of community we once thought we’d lost.
