CITY AND COLOUR – SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL – MELBOURNE – 18.01.2025
Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
It was a beautiful balmy evening at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl experiencing City and Colour, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats and Alex Lahey in concert.
Melbourne singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alex Lahey opened the show and played an 8-song set, performing – I Love You Like A Brother; You’ll Never Get Your Money Back; Lotto In Reverse; You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me; Misery Guts; On The Way Down; Every Day’s A Weekend and I Haven’t Been Taking Care of Myself. Lahey’s song You Don’t Think You Like Me was voted No.97 in Triple J Hottest 100 in 2016 and over the years, Lahey has built up a strong fanbase and reputation for her indie/pop/alt rock style music. I noticed her fans got to the bowl nice and early to see Alex perform and enjoyed her set.

American singer/songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff was born in St Louis, Missouri, US and is now based in Denver, Colorado. Rateliff and his band The Night Sweats perform a blend of Soul, Gospel, Folk Rock, Blues Rock, Cowpunk, Americana, rhythm and blues. I have never seen them perform live and they honestly won me over. They were incredibly fun and mesmerising. Yes, they are simply that good! The way Rateliff feels the music with his swagger and dance moves was fascinating to watch. Some of Rateliff’s moves reminded me of Little Richard and James Brown. His band The Night Sweats are a 7-piece outift consisting of Patrick Meese (drummer), Luke Mossman (guitarist), Joseph Pope III (bassist), three horn players (saxophone, tenor saxophone & trumpet) and Mark Shusterman (slide guitar/piano/keys/guitar/backing vocals), resulting in a very large, electric sound. There are so many layers, colours and textures in their music taking us on a musical journey through New Orleans and the deep South. Some of the crowd favourite songs were – Hey Mama; Look It Here; I Need Never Get Old; Heartless, I’ll Be Damned, S.O.B. and Love Don’t.
City and Colour formed back in 2005. Dallas Michael John Albert Green is a Canadian singer/songwriter and record producer. The name City and Colour comes from his own name: Dallas (a city) and Green (a colour). I have followed City and Colour for two decades now and have been fortunate enough to see them live numerous times over the years. I saw them perform here at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl back in 2013. Here I am 12 years later seeing them again and loving every minute of their show.
Their live shows are always something very special and last night was truly magnificent. Green’s angelic, soulful voice is so distinctive as they play their blend of folk, indie, country and acoustic rock. Many of their songs make you melt they are so beautiful and raw. They sing about life, human emotion, our broken world, love and heartbreak. One minute their songs pulls on our heartstrings, the next they spread joy and happiness. Ah the power of music!
They played a 16-song set covering songs from all their albums. They opened the show with AFTER DISASTER (2023) from their The Love Still Held Me Near (2023) album which has a deep and moving sense of loss as Green sings about a relationship, how he f*cked it up, is now feeling remorseful and can’t imagine a life without them and will do what it takes to make amends. A powerful song to start the show. They performed 6 songs from the 2023 album which I must say is an incredible record. THE LOVE STILL HELD NEAR ME (2023) is a love song with wonderful bluesy guitar. MEANT TO BE (2023) is my favourite song from this latest album and Green’s dreamy angelic vocals really stand out in this song. Absolutely beautiful!
Dallas talked to the crowd about how tough life can be and how hard it is living in the world right now. He talked candidly about life’s struggles and challenges and for us to stay strong and look after each other. That led into HARD, HARD TIME (2023) which is about living your life to the fullest now as we don’t know what happens when we finally close our eyes and life ends. UNDERGROUND (2023) is another huge hit from the 2023 album and has the lyrics:
“So, tell me what you need, you bring me to my knees, and I’m tired of running. I’m tired of moving life around, how do we deal with this? Treat each day as the gift it is, I don’t wanna be running until I’m underground.”
Dallas Green’s voice is so powerful with his husky tenor and his desperate and melancholic lyrics are showcased in BOW DOWN TO LOVE (2023). A haunting love song featuring slide guitar and drums.
They performed 3 songs from Little Hell (2011) with WEIGHTLESS, LITTLE HELL and Dallas played a solo acoustic version of NORTHERN WIND in the encore. I noticed they didn’t sing many of my favourite songs from their earlier albums such as Comin’ Home, The Grand Optimist, Sorrowing Man, Hello I’m in Dellaware, Save Your Scissors and O’Sister. But honestly, it was nice to hear some of their more recently released music.
HARDER FROM STONE and TWO COINS from The Hurry and the Harm (2013) were a couple of older faves. TWO COINS is so dreamy and is about being lost in life, stuck in the dark and seeing light somewhere in the distance, but being set in your ways and stranded in old traditions.
During ASTRONAUT (2019), Dallas asked everyone to light up their phones and the sea of lights looked incredible. WE FOUND EACH OTHER IN THE DARK (2011) is yet another incredible, moving song. The encore included the sing-a-long LOVER COME BACK (2015), SLEEPING SICKNESS (2008) and concluded with SOMETIMES (I WISH) which had NO ORDINARY LOVE added on to the end from the YOU + ME Rose Ave album, where Dallas Green collaborated with Pink!
As we wandered out at the end of the show and chatted amongst our group, we couldn’t help but feel a sense of gratitude and appreciation as we had just experienced an incredible evening of music and been part of something incredibly special.
CITY AND COLOUR SET LIST:
After Disaster (2023)
Harder Than Stone (2013)
Weightless (2011)
The Love Still Held Me Near (2023)
Two Coins (2013)
Meant To Be (2023)
Little Hell (2011)
Astronaut (2019)
Hard, Hard Time (2023)
Underground (2023)
We Found Each Other In The Dark (2011)
Bow Down to Love (2023)
Encore:
Northern Wind (2011) – solo acoustic
Lover Come Back (2015)
Sleeping Sickness (2008)
Sometimes (I Wish) (2005)