The Enmore is buzzing before the house lights dim—six years without a Sydney headline show will do that. The air feels heavy with expectation, awaiting the return of Tash Sultana.
First to the stage, Ben Swissa eases the crowd into the night with smooth, soulful textures. His voice—clean, patient, and magnetic—unfurls over raw, stripped-back production. Swissa is the calm before the storm, an emerging voice carrying both tenderness and intent.
By contrast, Perth’s South Summit arrive like a sudden gust. Their blend of indie, reggae grooves, and alt-rock immediately shifts the room’s pulse. It’s all body-moving basslines and collective sing-along energy, with the kind of storytelling that feels rooted in place yet expansive in reach. Their magnetic presence warms the crowd further, layering anticipation. By the end, the theatre is swaying as one.
And then—silence. The lights drop, the stage glows in a blue hue, and Tash Sultana walks out, guitar slung low. Within seconds they’re a one-person storm, weaving loops, beats, and blistering riffs into a wall of sound that’s unmistakably theirs. Older tracks feel like anthems reborn, but the new songs off their new album Return To The Roots, carry a raw urgency, a reminder of Sultana’s unfiltered origins.
Sultana’s five-octave voice soars, their musicianship kaleidoscopic. Six years on, the connection hasn’t dimmed—it’s deeper, more charged. The Enmore tonight is a vessel, containing the surge of sound, sweat, and collective release.
Images Deb Pelser
