ZUKØ TOOWOOMBA CONCERT REVIEW
- Kirsty Shepherd
- Oct 13
- 5 min read
One of my favourite things about being part of the Queensland Metal scene is seeing the amazing talent coming out of this state, and how rapidly some of these bands are growing. Saturday the 20th of September marked the third time of me seeing Zukø this year. First I saw zukø as an opener in Toowoomba at the
PowerHouse with Aussie Legends Alpha Wolf, second, as the opener at stray from the path's last Brisbane show (you can read the review of the night here) and
finally headlining their own show once again in toowoomba, drawing in the biggest crowd that the venue (volcanic brewing) has had to date at one hundred and twenty people.
first band that I saw for the night was Melbourne hardcore giants melting featuring zukø's own Logan Gill on guitar. this was the second time I had seen melting in two weeks (you can read about the experience in my Gravemind INTROSPHERE review here) and it is safe to say that they did not disappoint on
either occasion. "finish your cigarettes and come inside" vocalist Xavier said starting their set, followed by a member of the crowd performing a backflip in the pit. "I wanna see more backflips. That was f**king sick." he continued. Throughout their set the band put in the work, feeding off the energy of the crowd and inciting the pit to move ferociously through every song with commands like "you... two step... go", "fuck this place up", "side to side let me see you move", "this is a slow one. I want to see you bang your f**king head", "we have three songs left and two shirts to give away to the hardest moshers, so you c**ts better go" and
"give yourself a hand. You c**TS are crazy." the band left the stage with a smile on their face and throwing their t-shirts to those they deemed worthy. I will happily be seeing melting again when they are back in Queensland.
second for me for the night took place in the form of north Queensland's same pains. it was my first time seeing them perform and they had me hooked from the very beginning, with their vocalist performing in the pit almost as often as he did on the stage, including two-stepping and shaking his booty. The crowd
started quite subdued by it almost felt like twenty seconds into their first song, the crowd realised what they were in for and once it kicked off it did not stop; "if this is your first time seeing us, please stick around, we need more friends." same pains filled the space of the stage, not only physically, but also energetically; dominating the area with a rowdie force that filled into ever gap of the venue. "I've got a question Toowoomba, Can I get a f**k yeah...? We can go a little harder than that. Can I get a
f**king hell yeah?" Justin is a great frontman, leading the crowd through it's paces. "this s**t doesn't exist up here. this is insane mother f**kers", "Let's keep this train going"... "choo choo" the crowd answered, "can we please get one circle pit... you know what to fucking do." I truly appreciate same pains for travelling so far to perform their music for my local community. it is not often that Toowoomba gets these kind of event (however it is becoming more frequent thanks to lust & loathe), so the fact that they were willing to travel so far says a lot about the
band as a whole.
So as I mentioned in the beginning this is my third time seeing zukø this year, this time being the smallest stage so far, it however had me intrigued, knowing the general idea of what to expect, but not knowing how it would translate to the small stage. "okay. bring it in. bring it in. the only thing I want from you guys is one things, and that's to f**king have the best f**king night ever. do you think we can do that? then let's do this" the name zukø has become synonymous with a highly energetic and crowd interactive experience for me and they did not forgo that with the
down sizing of the stage. one thing that I have enjoyed most about seeing vocalist Jesse's participation with the crowd is his
passing the mic to someone in the pit and having them scream the lyrics to the band and crowd alike. it pulls you fully into their world and shows the passion the fans in turn have for their music, that they are able to do these things. at one point the entire mic stand for back up vocals was turned around to face the crowd and different members of the pit area took it in turns to come to the mic and sing their hearts out, making this show something that I will find it hard to forget. the connection
of the crowd to the band was honestly unmatched. Toowoomba in general tends to be a little feral when it comes to live music but the way the bands take to that have produced some truly beautiful moments. throughout the set I was treated to two-stepping, circle pits galore and even a wall of death; every song hitting hard like the crowd's reputation depended upon it. "since you guys have been so kind to us. This next one is an unreleased song. all i'm going to say is this one is for the ladies. it's about f**king creeps who want to take advantage of women and don't seem to under the concept of no. so this one
is a big f**k you to that f**king shit. this one is teeth to the gutter." with the release of teeth to the gutter, zukø continue to push the boundaries in talking about important issues. It is amazing to see the band making a conscientious effort to bring light on a situation that many of us have had to deal with. The night was completed with Jesse jumping on top of the crowd and surfing his way along the roof, before being taken back to the stage to finish off the final song. at this point, if you aren't listening to zukø, the question is, what are you even doing with your life?
For fans of: Knocked Loose, Varials, Kublai Khan tx and Alpha Wolf
