There is something fitting about Gang of Youths arriving at the Sydney Opera House by way of Thirroul. Two nights ago, the Sydney-born band performed in the relative intimacy of Anita’s Theatre; tonight they step into the Concert Hall for the first of two sold-out performances, their first Australian shows in four years and their debut beneath the sails.
The room is packed well before they appear. Gang of Youths inspire a particular kind of loyalty in Australia, and tonight that stretches across generations. Looking around the Concert Hall, among the couples, friends and longtime followers, I spot a tiny baby brought along by parents apparently unwilling to let parenthood interfere with seeing the band’s homecoming. Ear protection firmly in place, this may be the youngest Gang of Youths fan in the building.
It says something about the relationship this band has developed with its Australian audience. Gang of Youths have spent much of their career getting geographically further away from Sydney while their connection to it has somehow become more pronounced. They are now London-based, internationally established and accustomed to large stages, yet their songs remain tied to ideas of home, family, grief and belonging.
When David Le’aupepe finally appears, he does so alone. There is no grand entrance. He sits at the piano and begins the evening by himself, his voice carrying through the Concert Hall with little separating it from the audience as he plays Hand of God. As the song draws to its conclusion, the rest of Gang of Youths quietly arrive. Donnie Borzestowski, Jung Kim and Tom Hobden take their places and, almost instantaneously, the dimensions of the music change.
This is the Gang of Youths sound writ large: guitars and keyboards accumulating around Le’aupepe’s voice, rhythm pushing everything forward, restraint giving way to enormous release. The transition from a solitary figure at a piano to a full rock band also neatly encapsulates something that has always been central to their music. Le’aupepe may write from intensely personal places, but Gang of Youths have always been interested in what happens when private experience becomes communal.
That instinct has carried them a remarkable distance.
Emerging from Sydney, the band built their reputation around songs that refused to separate emotional vulnerability from the scale and ambition of arena rock. Their trajectory has taken them from Australian clubs to chart-topping albums, four ARIA Awards and stages around the world. After four years away from Australian stages, Gang of Youths are home, and for the first time, the Sydney Opera House belongs to them too.
Images Deb Pelser
