Live Review: TIGERS JAW Australian Tour 2018 @ Enigma Bar, Adelaide

The long-awaited return of Tigers Jaw to Adelaide brought many smiles to faces. It had been three years since they had played in the City of Churches, and like last time they enlisted the help of Horror My Friend as a support. Five-piece Superdose Gangway was asked to open up the night.

The crowd at Enigma Bar was surprisingly large for Superdose Gangway considering they were the opening act – maybe this is a sign of change in Adelaide that means punters are starting to support the supports more, maybe they wanted a good vantage point for the headliners, or maybe they were just stoked to see a great band kicking off the night.
Lead singer Max Tulysewski more than made up for the energy the other members seemed to be holding back a bit as he threw himself around on stage. Their new song Greener Grass went down a treat live, and was just as fun as the video they just released for it. The band declared their love for Tigers Jaw and they played strongly enough to hopefully have left an impression on the headliners.

Next to take the stage were Horror My Friend. Coming off the back of playing much bigger stages than Enigma’s on their own headline tour plus the DZ Deathrays and PUP tour, they seemed a little tired but still eager to please. They churned through songs people knew the words of and some from their 2018 record Home Life, then risked losing the crowd’s interest by playing three brand newies in a row – which included a vocalist change from Josh Battersby, who had sung the main parts the whole set so far, to Tom Gordon, who ended up rounding out the set.
The indie-rockers’ versatility showed not only through vocalist changes but through their ability to change up the pace multiple times, keeping the crowd on their toes. Heads nodded throughout the set but things kicked up a notch as they smashed out arguably their two most well-known songs, DOS and Pavement, to finish off their night.
You could feel the anticipation of the headliners’ set during the break. Beer glasses were refilled, the merch desk was abandoned, and people took their places on the dancefloor, and cheers erupted as Tigers Jaw walked on stage. Opening up with Favorite and launching straight into The Sun, the crowd was immediately drawn in, and the empty half-circle which Horror My Friend encouraged the crowd to fill was suddenly non-existent.

Tracks like Follows, Guardian, Test Patterns, Nervous Kids, and Blurry Vision followed, before the crowd burst into singalong mode for Escape Plan. Punters sang so loud that lead singer Adam McIlwee had to stand back from the mic in awe, taking it all in. I lost track of the amount of times the band thanked the punters for being there and supporting them; Brianna said without the crowd, she would not have been able to visit Australia twice.
Chemicals, Slow Come On, and June showed how the Pennsylvanian rockers have produced consistently great songs no matter the album or distance between releases, but one of the real highlights was hearing the first few bars of Plane vs. Tank vs. Submarine when everyone in the room yelled in unison “Lie to me, like you used to”.

I was surprised by the amount of songs Tigers Jaw played from their self-titled release, but during the chorus of my favourite TJ song I Saw Water, which is from the self-titled, I realised it had been 10 years since I was blasting it in my headphones in high school. Though it hadn’t been marketed as an anniversary tour, it was obvious they were keen to celebrate the record which is a favourite of so many fans.
The parts of the show which made me smile the most were the singalongs, and when started playing Never Saw It Coming, the crowd sang the loudest they had all night. Playing this song and Window was the perfect way to round out the set, which had no encore, and there were smiles on faces all around the room which hoped it wouldn’t be another three years before Tigers Jaw returned to our shores.