This sounds obvious, but when we get stuck in the daily grind it's easy to forget.
Go and see bands and solo artists performing live.
Over the past few months I've had some incredible live music experiences. Amusingly these have mostly been throwback tours, with artists playing albums from when I was in early adulthood. But other than potentially triggering a mid-life crisis the feels have been real!
Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly with his band, playing Rod Laver Arena in September 2025
Paul Kelly is one of our family's favorite artists. I've heard him described as the closest thing Australia has to a Poet Laureate. His lyrics, soaked in Australiana, perfectly capture the highs and lows of life and live.
My fast ordering skills paid off here, with seats in row 2. We sang every word of every song for two hours and had an absolutely wonderful time. At 70, PK is still running and jumping around the stage and his voice is still spot-on.
John Butler
John Butler on-stage at Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, September 2025
Australian blues rocker John Butler was a huge part of my music listening early in my 20s. I somewhat moved on, but have always had a soft spot for Peaches and Cream - our wedding dance song - and many others from his back catalogue.
Whilst not strictly a retrospective tour, the majority of tunes John played with his "new" band were from his earlier days, plus a mix of tracks from his new album Prism. His guitar work remains second to none and the crowd at Melbourne's Northcote Theatre were having a great time with singing and dancing until curfew.
Butler's wife Danielle Caruana (who performs as Mama Kin) joined him on stage for a beautiful rendition of Losing You, a lovely surprise.
Ben Lee
Ben Lee on-stage at Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, October 2025
My early-2000s music throwback continued, returning to Northcote Theatre again for Ben Lee touring his 20th anniversary play through of Awake is the New Sleep. Later called out on Instagram by Lee as one of his favorite gigs ever, the vibes in the theatre were incredible.
It's amazing that one album has so many catchy singalong songs that all 1500 of us remembered, word for word, two decades later. It really did show how much music of the era seeped into popular culture via television shows, TV ads, movies, etc.
After the incredible sax & guitar jam during Light by local artist "Ollie" (surname unknown, even to Lee it seems) one of the highlights of the night was his encore duet with Sally Seltmann, playing Feist's 1. 2. 3. 4., which was originally written by Seltmann. Closing the show with non-Awake #1 banger Cigarettes Will Kill You from '98 just made the night... perfect.
This 20-year show is done, but a solo version is on tour in a bunch of small venues around the country in January-March 2026. This show was equal top of my list for 2025 - highly recommended for any Aussie music fan!
Oasis
Oasis pump out Morning Glory at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium, November 2025
The huge outlier on this list was the huge return of Oasis. While we're not megafans, it was hard to resist their first Melbourne show in over a decade and likely their last... especially when these close-to-front 'restricted view' seats came on sale at a price we couldn't ignore.
The energy of the Gallagher brothers playing hit after hit was hard to beat. There was hardly any banter, no storytelling, just pure noise turned up to eleven.
Even for a casual fan, this was a pretty special event to be a part of and I'm darn glad we decided to do this only a few hours before the doors opened.
Josh Pyke
Josh Pyke's incredible and intimate performance at the Melbourne Recital Centre, November 2025
After Tuesday night's Oasis stadium show, we needed to turn it down a little. Josh Pyke was the perfect antidote to the 'no stories, just loud music' approach of Oasis - that Friday evening at the (fully seated!) Melbourne Recital Centre was a real treat.
Josh was joined on stage by a pianist and upright bass player, and that's it. No backing track, no drums, just the quiet intimate performance of a man with his guitar and some wonderful songs.
This show, part of Pyke's 20-year anniversary of the release of his debut EP Feeding The Wolves. The short 8-track album was played cover to cover, followed by the rest of the hits of his fantastic career. Not content to just play us music though, Josh shared anecdotes about his music and his life in the record industry. The banter with the crowd was amusing, and the impromptu storytelling in response to hecklers was funny and sincere.
There was even a quick auction to determine the best type of animation. (AI animation scored the only "boooo" of the night)
10/10, strongly recommend. Although the Feeding the Wolves and Other Stories tour is over, there's a solo version of the show touring until April 2026.
The Living End
The Living End sending the audience at Melbourne's Botanic Gardens into a frenzy, November 2025
It's funny - I consider myself a pretty low-key Living End fan, but I think I've seen them live more than any other band. We've seen them headline, we've seen them support, we've seen them at the Zoo, and they've turned up at music festivals. Now we've seen them at the Botanic Gardens.
Just to help me feel old this was the 25th anniversary (kinda) of the release of their debut self-titled album. The first half of the show was a typical rock show, a mix of old and new songs to keep us singing and dancing for almost two hours. After a brief intermission (and as the rain started) We were treated to a cover-to-cover playthrough of The Living End, with an audience who knew every word of every damn song.
I'm not always in the mood for the Living End's fast Melbourne Punk but holy shit they put on a good show. The turning weather and heavy rain didn't dampen this show in the slightest. How do three dudes on stage (one of which is on something we typically consider a classical instrument) make so. much. damn. noise? This is why we love live music.
So that's my past few months of shows. I feel like I'm coming back out of a cave and loving being with other humans, singing and moving to music we all love made by artists who are just amazing.
February will bring my family to Ed Sheeran, for a dramatic change of gear. I'll be keeping my eye out for other shows in 2026 too.
But yeah... go and see more live music!
Header image: Ben Lee on stage at Melbourne's Northcote Theatre. Photos throughout were taken by the author on his trusty iPhone.