Review: KHAN Live In Brisbane

8 Nov

This Is No Side Quest

Thursday 6th November 2025

Written and Photographed by: Rashid AlKamraikhi

It had been over two years since we last welcomed KHAN to Brisbane, and in that time since they had completed several overseas tours, performing on big stages at festivals and iconic venues, showing the world what they have. Now having returned home, it was Australia’s turn to experience the epicness of That Fair And Warlike Form // Return To Dust live, but this is no side quest for them, as every KHAN show immerses you into their odyssey.

FIDEL A GO GO open up the show. The quartet may be the warm up act for the night, but their pockets appear to be stuffed with fire starters and kindling, as they aim to set the stage ablaze. Playing grunged-out stoner rock that switches gears from intricate patterns and chord progressions, to ball-tearingly dirty riffs that would make Page Hamilton blush, they work through their set to the head nodding approval of the audience, more than setting the tone for the rest of the night to come.

Rolling up next is HOLYSTONE. Dressed in wide-brimmed hats, lace blindfolds, and ponchos, their look alone lets you know that you’re in for something a little less ordinary. They also play a style of music that has it’s roots in stoner rock, but they take it in a very different direction. One minute they make you feel like you’re traipsing through a field of sunflowers, and the next that they’ve opened up a chasm and you’re now plummeting down into the bowels of hell, only to then raise you back up again with heavenly harmonised vocals. The rollercoaster of their sound simultaneously makes you feel sick (those gut punching whammy’s don’t help), and elated. It’s so fun that you don’t want it to stop. Again! Again!

As stated in the opening paragraph, That Fair And Warlike Form // Return To Dust is an epic album from a band already known for their sprawling and meticulously crafted tracks. In fact, the two tracks that it consists of both clock in at over 20 minutes apiece, so experiencing it live, you had better make sure you’re well prepared, hydrated, packed in some trail mix, and have a decent tarp, just in case you can’t make it back to your base camp and have to find shelter. They wash us in effect-laden verses, airy cosmic choruses, desolate staccato interludes, and fiery freakouts, as we battle the musical elements alongside them, bonded in this venture together.

After the album play-through, they hit us with some older tracks to round out the set and remind us that the new material isn’t just a fluke, and that they’ve always been amazing. The shouts from the audience, and the headbanging in the front row was to remind them that we know.