FOXY SHAZAM/BIG RED FIRE TRUCK/ABLAZE – MAX WATTS – MELBOURNE
June 13, 2026
Review: Joshua Batten. Photos Wayne Gunn (Studio 150 Photography)
Hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, Foxy Shazam are a band with a unique identity and sound, combining glam rock sensibilities with spicy post-hardcore intensity. Heavily inspired by the likes of Queen and Meat Loaf, their live shows have become renowned for their high energy and stage antics, with no member ever spending more than a few seconds stood in one position and the crowd treated like an extension of the stage rather than just witnesses to the spectacle. Initially disbanding in 2014 before reforming in 2020, their profile has grown in recent years thanks to renowned Hollywood filmmaker James Gunn featuring their music in his DC Comics projects, including TV series Peacemaker and last year’s Superman. Their 2026 Australian tour marks Foxy’s first Australian dates in 15 years, and their first international gigs since their reunion. For newcomers like myself, tonight is ultimately a test of whether they can live up to the hype set in place by their devoted fans and advocates.
Support this evening comes from two Australian rock bands clearly rooted in the traditions of 80’s Hair Metal – Melbourne’s Ablaze and Sydney’s Big Red Fire Truck. Ablaze’s image and sound is more inspired by Heavy Metal acts such as Motley Crue and Judas Priest, with the members decked out in black leather and denim. Lead vocalist Danny Slaviero engages with the hometown crowd as if they were the headliners themselves, regularly calling on the audience to sing their lyrics back to them, and drawing attention to their two new band members making their debut this evening, bassist Tore Falchi and rhythm guitarist Cassandra Vlahos. He also leaves the stage whenever it’s time for lead guitarist Ben Anderson to take a solo, giving the crowd an unrestricted view of his technical prowess. Ultimately Ablaze are unapologetic in their presentation and set up a strong start for the evening.
By contrast, Big Red Fire Truck have a much more colourful presentation, drawing more from the likes of Van Halen and Poison with a touch of Australiana – lead vocalist Digby Robinson comes out rocking a zebra print fur coat and skin-tight spandex, while guitarist Ben Frank looks like a 1980’s AFL player in a polo & short-shorts. Having recently supported Swedish melodic rockers H.E.A.T., BRFT are clearly drawn from the same cloth with a knack for catchy choruses and stadium rock anthems, evident on their recent singles “Headed For Disaster”, “Cravin’” and “Tokyo Karaoke Bar”. In addition to rocking the handheld mic, Robinson also occasionally puts on a Les Paul to play some lead guitar lines, and the set climaxes with a triumphant moment where Frank sits atop Robinson’s shoulders as the two play twin guitar harmonies. Big Red Fire Truck have clearly honed their craft as a live act and proved that supercharged Glam Metal still has its place in the 2020’s.
From the moment they arrive onstage, Foxy Shazam waste no time getting their energy up to full volume, beginning their set with the frantic “Yes! Yes! Yes!” as frontman Eric Nally somersaults onto the stage, landing into a power stance, before proceeding to use the entire stage as a gymnastics mat, leaping, squatting and contorting his body all while maintaining pitch-perfect vocals. On stage left, keyboard Sky White also constantly hypes up the crowd by treating his instrument as a mobile unit, playing it on as many different angles as he can as well as using his feet and piano stool to hit the keys. His biggest moment comes two songs later during “Killing It”, where he sends his keyboard out into the crowd and uses the audience’s hands as its stand while he continues to hammer away on it. If anything, White has certainly proved that one doesn’t need a keytar slung over their shoulder to engage with a crowd while tickling the ivories.
A big part of Foxy’s unique sound is Alex Nauth’s trumpet and backing vocals. Nauth brandishes his horn like a weapon, utilising effects pedals to beef up the sound and be an entire ska orchestra on his own. Indeed, Foxy’s identity seems to take as much influence from Afro-Caribbean music as Classic British Glam, especially with drummer Teddy Atkins using a minimalist drum kit setup and playing funk and soul grooves on several songs, also spitting out huge chunks of water on key beats to add to the theatricality. Meanwhile guitarist Devin Williams and bassist Trevor “Misster Universe” Urb are also eccentrically dressed and continue moving for the duration of the show.
Nally’s inter-song banter is sparse and subtle, delivering one-liners and proverbs towards the rest of the band in his seductive American accent and only occasionally talking directly to the crowd. The setlist focuses mostly on the band’s first two major-label releases from 2008 and 2010 respectively, with only one song from their most recent album (Last year’s ‘Box of Magic’), two tracks from 2012’s ‘The Church of Rock & Roll) and a handful of tracks from the band’s post-reunion output. Unusually for a band of their stature, they have chosen to place “Oh Lord” (arguably their most recognisable hit since its use in Peacemaker last year) as the fourth song in the set, and it’s the only song where Nally places the mic over the crowd for them to take over the vocals in the final chorus. Most bands would save such a moment for the end of the set, but I guess this suits Foxy’s mission of subverting traditional concert etiquette, while hoping that punters will stick around after the ‘big hit’ has been played to see what else they can deliver.
The song placement also makes a bit more sense when compared to the back end of the set, which features three of the band’s more frenetic tunes – “Ghost Animals”, “The Rocketeer” and finally the garage-rock waltz “The Only Way To My Heart (Is With An Axe)”. At the conclusion of this final song, Nally lights two cigarettes and puts them out by eating them, which has become one of his signature moves, making the myths of Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne biting the heads off animals seem tame by comparison.
And with that, after less than an hour of playing, the rock and roll circus ends with just as much chaos as it began, and despite the house lights coming on and audience cries for “One more song!”, the audience leaves having witnessed one of the shortest headline sets from an international act, but with twice as much intensity. As much as I agree with the old showbiz cliche of “Always leave them wanting more”, when you’re an international headliner there is a certain expectation for the minimum set length. While they certainly played an “all killer no filler” set with maximum effort, I believe Foxy could have easily padded out their set with another 10-20 mins of material in the middle, with fewer antics to reserve some energy for the grand finale.
If I were as invested in Foxy Shazam’s music as I had been for other artists I’ve seen live recently, I might have enjoyed their show more. Then again, I might have also been disappointed by the length of their set. While I admire their showmanship, I can’t help but feel that maybe they rely too heavy on the stage antics without giving the music a chance to breathe. That said, they performed a well-polished set and have clearly cultivated a decent following, and it was great to see them welcomed back to Australia after a lengthy absence.
