On Friday night, I was blessed to finally catch American indie rock band Beach Bunny live. Formed in 2015 in Chicago, Illinois and led by Lili Trifilio, Beach Bunny rose to fame in 2020 for their viral Tik Tok hit Cloud 9. But more than just a one hit wonder though, the band produced a set of sing-along emo beach-pop rock n’ roll with fantastic stage presence.
Opening for them were Brisbane natives VOIID. Reminiscent of classic alt-rock and grunge bands like Hole and L7, VOIID rocked almost too hard for an opening band. Using the classic light and dark, soft and heavy contrast of their forbearers, they sang songs of anti-depressant ecstasy in Lexapro, and heaven in a green room in Hell. Lead singer Anji Greenwood weaves tales of love, hate and joy with her all-femme bandmates. High energy was present the whole set. I can’t wait to see what their debut album will look like when it finally drops.
Taking the stage to a packed bandroom filled with teens and twenty-somethings, Beach Bunny opened with their most recent single, 2022’s Weeds, off their new album Emotional Creature. Featuring fun pop-rock riffs and singalong moments galore, the set was packed with highlights.
The mega hit Prom Queen acted as a bridging point of the set, with singer Lili Trifilio announcing afterward that “now we’re going to play some more emo ones, if that’s okay” from there we jammed through fantastic album cuts like Love Sick, Oxygen and my favourite track April, before tearing back into the bangers again.
Rounding off the set with the hits of Sports, Nice Guys and the smash hit Cloud 9, which had the best singalong of the whole night, the show was everything from raw teen angst to forgiveness and euphoria. “When he loves me, I feel like I’m floating.”
With a fantastic encore of the awesome two-pronged medley track Painkiller, featuring an amazing change-up in the second wind of the song, Beach Bunny made for a great live show and a fantastic night out of singing, dancing and moshing.