Memphis May Fire, BLESSTHEFALL, Sienna Skies @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 28/4/2026
I arrive at the venue, twenty minutes before doors and the queue already weaves around the parked vans and along the busy street. This is a line-up that everyone wants a prime spot for, and within seconds of doors, the barrier is half a dozen or so deep. Memphis May Fire are the drawcard, and they’ve got with them a couple of gunslingers ready to take aim too, in what promises to be a hot night.
Getting first crack at the expectant audience is Sydney’s Sienna Skies, with drummer Damon Brohier hyping the crowd up beforehand before the electric Let It Burn rips. Vocalist Thomas Pirozzi, shrouded in a hoodie, an energetic fireball of madness, with the band wild behind. By the time the set if finished, Pirozzi is a shirtless whirlwind of energy, and the crowd connect with the band during Mess, taking lead in the emotive chorus.
For Blessthefall, it’s their first tour of Australia in nine years. Criminal some would say, so how do the band make up for this lost time? With a performance of blood, sweat and tears.
You Wear A Crown But You’re Not A King opens with the guitars sounding like chainsaws, and vocalist Beau Boken a charming force of electricity as he directs to the pit to get going during Cutthroat, before then planting himself on the barrier during 2.0.
It’s clear with the all the equipment on stage, that it is not big enough for these bands. Each one a jack-in-the-box, itching to burst out of their cage yet Boken pushes through with the crowd hand waving and singing through Venom and Guys Like You Makes Us Look Bad.
One last ask for surfers during Awakening is heeded by the masses and rewarded with another barrier visit from the captivating frontman before their own headline worthy set is finished.
Armed with the album Shapeshifter getting Australian airings for the first time on this tour, Matty Mullins and the crew land here with a finely tuned set list, locked in performances and enough smoke to set a fire alarm off.
Opening with Paralyzed from the new album, the beat shakes the pit up like a dice in a cup before yelling Yahtzee when the guitars hit. Shapeshifter itself follows with the smoke billowing, the crowd singing and Mullins atop a riser that makes him appear ten foot tall. Imperious, glorious and the crowd subservient to his demands for more.
Somebody slows it down before Misery gives Mullins the opportunity to draw some rap lines with a throwback to nu-metal heydays when that breakdown hits. That’s the cool vibe with this set list; ballad, metal, rap, everything in between however all fits for Memphis May Fire to blow your eardrums with power.
Talking of power, the band look like tanks. Muscle, staunch with Kellen McGregor and Cory Elder locked into their positions flanking maverick Mullins up front.
Overdose stomps, and Vices, the groove is so powerful I feel the vibration throughout my body. Hands wave; crowd surfers roll over the top as the band rip through their tracks. Ending with Blood & Water and Chaotic, voices are hoarse, and the smell of sweat permeates the air. A great end to a great night.
Live Review By Iain McCallum