THE FRAY – FORUM THEATRE – MELBOURNE

THE FRAY, JOAN AND THE GIANTS – FORUM THEATRE – MELBOURNE – 07.12.2025
Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: David Harris

On Sunday evening, The Fray played to a sold out crowd at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne celebrating the 20^th Anniversary of “How To Save A Life” with special guests Joan and the Giants.

The Fray are an American rock band from Denver, Colorado which began in 2002. Joe King and Isaac Slade formed the band and their debut album How To Save A Life was released in 2005. The album became one of the defining albums of the 2000’s, earning widespread acclaim and delivering hits like “Over My Head (Cable Car)” and the 5 times Platinum title track. The title song was inspired by Isaac’s experience volunteering at a Summer camp for at-risk teens and the song went on to become synonymous with the series ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ which helped launch the band’s massive international success.

Hailing from Western Australia and now Melbourne-based, Joan and the Giants are a 4-piece alternative indie rock band and were the perfect choice to open for The Fray. In 2024, the band enjoyed huge success with their song BORN IN THE WRONG TIME and they have earned supports for P!NK, Tones & I and Belinda Carlisle. Lead vocalist Grace Newton-Wordsworth has an elegant stage presence and a beautiful voice, while the band’s music is a mix of raw, heartfelt ballads and upbeat indie pop-rock.

The Fray’s music clearly attracts a younger crowd. As we looked around the Forum and observed the audience, it was predominantly women in their 20s, making me feel like the oldest person in attendance (probably was!). The stage featured floral arrangements and one solitary large orange lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. The Fray opened with SHE IS, which is the first track from How To Save A Life and we could hear some fans around us talking amongst themselves, whispering “that’s not the lead singer”.

Founding member Joe King took over as the frontman of The Fray after Isaac Slade voluntarily left the band in 2022 due to health reasons. King has a different vocal tone to Slade and I could see that it took a couple of songs for some fans to warm to him. Overall, I thought King had great stage presence, strong vocals and had a deep connection with the audience. Keyboardist Kai Welch provided the main backing vocals along with bassist Dane Poppin, who also provided backing vocals on various songs.

The country-tinged ALL AT ONCE followed and then LOOK AFTER YOU with King announcing that they were not playing the album in track order. FALL AWAY was the first big sing-along by the crowd and it sounded absolutely incredible. During LITTLE HOUSE, the stage lights dimmed and King exchanged his guitar for a giant spotlight, shining it on each player, creating a large silhouette of them on the rear wall of the theatre, which looked impressive. King also was intrigued with all of the roman statues around the Forum and shone the spotlight on them making us feel like we were on a night tour of the Acropolis in Athens.

King spoke to the crowd about the self-realisation of being wrong about some situations in past relationships and admitting to his mistakes. This led into DEAD WRONG, a poignant song which featured The Fray’s signature melancholic piano-driven sound. This sense of sadness, loss and regret continued with TRUST ME featuring lyrics about the bittersweet realisation that people come and go in your life and reflection of that lost connection and self-discovery. HEAVEN FORBID followed, an uplifting song of hope conveying that even during difficult times of heartbreak, loneliness and searching for love, have faith knowing that things will get better and turn out ok.

The stunning and heartfelt ballad HUNDRED was next where Welch shone on piano and King sang with such rawness and vulnerability, showcasing his vocal range, bleeding out the main lyrics “Somewhere between unsure and a hundred”. This sense of loss and despair is a common theme and continued with VIENNA. The mood lifted when they performed fan favourite OVER MY HEAD (Cable Car) with the whole venue becoming one giant choir. This feel-good vibe continued with an extended version of HOW TO SAVE A LIFE with everyone holding up their phones, creating a sea of lights.

That completed the 12-songs of How To Save A Life with the realisation that the order in which they played the songs took us on an emotional rollercoaster but ended on a happy note. So many of the songs are about the painful struggles we go through in our life dealing with depression, self-destruction, regret, battling addiction, challenging relationships, break-ups and loneliness. But the overall theme of the album is not to give up hope and that you will get through the tough and challenging times, hence the name of the album How to Save a Life.

The remaining part of the show was a mixture of old and new songs which included their latest release MY HEART’S A CROWDED ROOM (2025,) where King went into the crowd and sang the whole song engaging with as many fans as possible, even giving me a high-five as he walked past. They sang HEARTBEAT from Scars & Stories (2012), HURRICANE and LOVE DON’T LIE from Helios (2014), which saw band members throwing roses out into the crowd. They performed a shortened cover of The Cranberries DREAMS and another new track SONGS I’D RATHER NOT SING (2025) with King announcing they have a new album coming out next year. The crowd had one final sing-along during YOU FOUND ME and The Fray completed the encore with NEVER SAY NEVER. The roadies made paper planes out of the set lists for band members to throw out into the crowd. It was a wonderful, heartwarming, intimate show full of raw emotion, delivering a message of hope and that can never be a bad thing.

The band:
Joe King – Lead singer
Dave Welsh – Lead guitar
Ben Wysocki – Drums
Kai Welch – Keyboardist
Dane Poppin – Bassist

SET LIST:
SHE IS
ALL AT ONCE
LOOK AFTER YOU
FALL AWAY
LITTLE HOUSE
DEAD WRONG / TRUST ME
HEAVEN FORBID
HUNDRED (INTERLUDE)
VIENNA
OVER MY HEAD (Cable Car)
HOW TO SAVE A LIFE
MY HEART’S A CROWDED ROOM
HURRICANE
HEARTBEAT
DREAMS (The Cranberries cover)
YOU FOUND ME