HELMET - Live In Brisbane
Exactly What You Wanted
Saturday 18th April 2026
Written by Tom Wilson
Photographed by: Rashid AlKamraikhi
Tonight has a lot to live up to. HELMET’s 2023 career retrospective show – a thirty-song set with no opening band – remains one of the greatest live shows I’ve ever seen, and it was at this same venue.
Opening tonight is SUPERNEW, a local crew pumping out propulsive alt rock as the crowd thickens and swells. Their name is appropriate. The members of SUPERNEW look pretty super-new themselves (in other words, they look really young, or maybe I’m just getting old), and they finish their set with two new songs that build into a wall of guitar before bidding us farewell. HELMET would be a tricky band to pick supports for, but SUPERNEW handle the assignment well, and no doubt have a bunch of new fans by the time they leave the stage. Interesting stuff!
Pictured: SUPERNEW
Pictured: SUPERNEW
Pictured: SUPERNEW
Pictured: SUPERNEW
Last time I saw Woolongong two-piece CHIMERS was an instore appearance at a Brisbane record store called Sonic Sherpa with about twenty people and 100% humidity. Tonight feels just as sweaty and intimate, and I’m twenty metres away. A husband-and-wife duo of singer-guitarist Padraic and drummer Binx, they are almost supernaturally tight as they hammer out tracks from their stunning 2024 album, Through Today. Binx is a joy to watch on the kit, going from George of the Jungle-style pounding intros to precision rhythms that would make a metronome look sloppy, and Padraic’s face quivers with emotion as the long notes of Glossary unfurl over our heads. When their set draws to a close, I’m annoyed, because I wasn’t finished enjoying them. They’re an awesome band who should be watched closely.
Pictured: CHIMERS
Pictured: CHIMERS
Pictured: CHIMERS
Pictured: CHIMERS
It’s time for the main event, and HELMET’s Page Hamilton isn’t in the mood for fanfare, stepping out onstage and giving us a simple wave before plunging into Role Model, and the main floor of the Tivoli starts pogoing like it’s 1992. But it’s their second track that gets me, and, if you’ll indulge me a second, I’ll tell you why. In our recent interview with HELMET, I got to tell Page that his music played a big role in my recovery from alcoholism, as their track So Long – with its opening line “Just kicked all my vices” – was the opening track of my running mix when I was at rehab. Newly sober himself (he’ll be hitting 90 days during this tour) Page seemed to find the story quite touching, so when the propulsive riff of So Long rings out through the Tivoli, it feels like it’s aimed right at me, and it feels good. The pit swirls and crashes during Renovation, before the opening riff of Exactly What You Wanted stomps us into oblivion, and you can’t help but smile as a track about always letting people down has the complete opposite effect. The band is in fine form tonight, and crowdsurfers rise and fall with Dave Case’s basslines before tumbling down into the arms of security. We’re three tracks in and the mood is already electric, but then the squealing opening harmonic of Wilma’s Rainbow rings out, and all hell breaks loose. Page is on fire tonight, losing himself in every solo as he conjures up an impenetrable wall of noise. “It’s fucking great to be back,” he yells, and from the answering roar, the feeling is mutual. New track Holiday is an absolute rager, and a hammering drum solo from Kyle Stevenson introduces Gun Fluf, before we all get to singalong to Like I Care and Aftertaste classic Birth Defect. Can this get any better? Yep! Kyle starts hammering out the opening of Unsung, and the Tivoli surges as one as HELMET drop their biggest track in the middle of their set. Who does that?
Pictured: HELMET
Pictured: HELMET
Pictured: HELMET
Pictured: HELMET
Page takes a moment to thank SUPERNEW and CHIMERS for playing tonight, before turning to his band and introduces each one of them like a proud dad raving about his kids’ achievements. They plunge into the off-kilter noise rock of Dislocated before reaching back into the catalogue for Strap It On classic Bad Mood. Ironhead’s tightly coiled riff puts us at risk of a neck injury, before the volcanic intro of Milquetoast erupts from the speakers and we’re off to the races. It’s stunning, so I hope the inconsiderate fuckwit in front of me who filmed the entire song on his phone raised over his head has some great footage he can enjoy for years to come. (Seriously, who raises these people?) The band leave stage with a wave, and after waiting the appropriate amount of time for encore peekaboo, they return and absolutely Give It, before the signature riff of Judgement Night collab sees the front of the crowd rise and fall like the bonnet of a lowrider bouncing on its suspension, before segueing into the perfect finisher for a HELMET show – a monstrous rendition of In The Meantime loud enough to register on the Richter Scale. Sober at 65, Page has clearly got plenty left in the tank, so hopefully it’s not long before we welcome them back to our shores, because this was absolutely chef’s kiss.
Photos by: Rashid AlKamraikhi
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