REVIEW: Our First Kiss' Festival - the ULTIMATE emo throwback party in Melbourne

TERRA

After ripping through a couple of bangers from their new reverie EP with mates filling in for the features, they debuted a new song ‘about people doing dumb shit and getting away with it'. The track had a breakdown and a much heavier feel for the normally quite pop-punk crew. Guitarist Sean ripped a solo and Cassie’s falsetto throughout was mesmerising. I’m still at a loss as to why this band is opening at 5:30 instead of playing to full rooms & headlining. All in good time I suppose. They closed out the set with Frenemies and Fear and it was electric!

CLOSURE IN MOSCOW

The anticipated return to the stage of the emo kings of 2012. Boasting bold outfits of Hawaiian shirts and the lead singer in a hot pink getup. The crowd started to fill up before they went on and when it was go-time there was a buzz. The vocalist was exceptional and the stunning melodies coming out of him were the highlight from the get-go. The band confirmed halfway through their set that they have a new album in the works then launched into a new one never played live before. It carried the same catchy pop vibes we know from CIM with some fun live plays on vocals with tuners! It seemed to be received quite well. Lots of phones were up recording! As the set continued, I feel the band lost steam but the crowd got more into it which was odd! But it was very clearly enjoyed all around.

DREAM ON DREAMER

This is one of Dreamer's last shows ever. They announced their split in 2020 when they released their last album ‘What If I Told You It Doesn’t Get Better', but have only been able to carry out the final tour starting this year. Opening with ‘Let It In’ you could see & feel the emotion on every face in the crowd. I know I harp on about vocals but Xak is out of this world talented. His softer moments on the second song ‘Don’t Lose Your Heart’ nearly bought a tear to everyone’s eyes. After a series of newer songs, we got the first circle pit of the day when they launched into ‘Downfall’ from their much-loved record ‘Heartbound’. It was psycho (in a good way of course). Security hadn’t manned the front of the stage all night until this moment. The circle pit got bigger and bigger and then the crowd surfers started. This was the most electric moment of the night thus far. The setlist was heavily weighted to songs from ‘It Comes And Goes’ as they closed with ‘Stay’ and reminded us they only have 2 more shows left ever!! The ‘one last song’ chant was incredibly loud as the set ended.

THE GETAWAY PLAN

Oh, man. It’s really nice to see The Getaway Plan and hear songs from albums other than their first. Don’t get me wrong, 'Other Voices, Other Rooms' is a masterpiece, but so is 'Requiem', and so is 'Dark Horses'. The band opened with ‘The Reckoning’ to start their second set of the day as they had already played ‘Uncaged Festival’ earlier in the day before trekking over to Melbourne Pavilion. The set had a wonderful mix of old and new and this was definitely the most passionate audience of the day. A softer moment in the middle of the set with ‘New Medicine’ was definitely an emotionally charged moment with an epic sing-a-long. The energy of the band withstood the fact that they were playing for the second time that day. As they approached the end of their set and played the absolute banger that is ‘Red flag’ they were told they had to get off stage….problem is ‘that song’ hadn’t been played yet. After a very loud booing moment, the stage manager yelled and motioned for a second and then it happened…’Where The City Meets The Sea’ closed out the set and not a person in the place wasn’t singing along. The Getaway Plan forever! And ever and ever.

SHORT STACK

Opening with their absolute fire track (pun intended) 'Burn You Down', you’d almost be mistaken for thinking this was the headline act with this crowd attendance. Everyone was jumping up and down and it was chaos in the best possible way. I’ve mentioned before that I am a new Short Stack fan and this being only the second time seeing them live just solidifies how great they are. Their most recent album (which we rated five stars!) has now been out for over a month and people have learned the words so this set went OFF. The way they went seamlessly from old to new songs was working with the crowd. I don’t think a single soul stopped moving the entire time they played. When ‘Princess’ kicked in the band didn’t even need to sing, the crowd sang it for them. It was ELECTRIC! As they raged on, they experienced the same end as TGP, being told they have to finish without playing 'The Song'….so then they have an awkward moment before launching into 'Sway Sway Baby' to close out a ripper set. Unreal, what a show!

THE VERONICAS

It was time...DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA! (If you didn't sing 'Take Me On The Floor' while reading that, what are you even doing here?). The girls came out with a bang & it was so great to watch them solidify their place in our emo world. Although the girls released 2 albums in the last year, the 50 minute set was heavily weighted to throwback tracks. With a focus on bangers like 'Everything I'm Not', 'This Is How It Feels', 'When It All Falls Apart' & 'Hook Me Up', the entire crowd was engaged in every moment. The girls were treated like the Australian musical royalty they are. The girls mentioned during one of their back and forth chats that there were challenges with getting their whole band to play due to covid so it was literally the tiny twins on the huge stay & they owned every inch of it. The music softened down to play their piano ballad 'You Ruin Me' & you're damn right I sobbed...Me & pretty much everyone else were captivated by their angelic melodies. But that was the only slower-paced moment. We were treated to a blessing, a live performance of 'Mother, Mother', a song they rarely play live. Lisa explained that way back 17 years ago, Jess tried to put screaming on every song she could. Jess told the crowd that Bert McCracken of emo kings, The Used taught her how to scream & it was their absolute love of emo that shines through on this track. Watching everyone in the crowd pick up their jaws as she lay on the ground screeching 'EVERYTHING'S FIIINNNEEE' was a definite set highlight. They knocked out a few more bangers like 'In My Blood' & their first single '4-Eva' before it was time. Jess stripped out of her self proclaimed 'Harry Potter Emo' outfit as both her & Lisa held up a pride flag decorated with 'The Veronicas'. Once they thanked the crowd for being so accepting & creating an open space, we were all asked to stand for the national anthem. CUE THE VIOLINS! 'Untouched' started. I reckon I burned 500 calories alone during this song just from dancing & again, I wasn't the only one. It was so great to watch everyone enjoy such an epic moment & the perfect ending to the inaugural 'Our First Kiss' festival.

Thank you Destroy All Lines for such an epic evening. The venue was awesome, the place was packed, there were no clashes, the vibes were high & it was so much fun. It's great to see a one-off mini-festival like this do so well & I hope we see more events like this in the future!

Check out the full gallery by Ashlea Caygill HERE!