Review: Jack Price
Photography: Luke Petty

Since forming in 2014, The Beautiful Monument have two full length albums under their belt, and after the release of Hellbound earlier this year and their most recent release, Misery, are steadily building momentum again after 5 years of silence. The quartet of alternative rockers kick off their Misery Love Company tour at Brisbane’s Black Bear Lodge.

As far as Brisbane venues go, The Black Bear Lodge could not be a cozier location for tonight’s festivities. The scattered paintings that line the walls, taxidermy deer head behind the entrance way and wooden floorboards give the bar an almost eerie feeling in the gloom of the dim lighting.

As punters begin to move towards the stage at the far end of the establishment, Sydney‘s  Headstrong are first up. Coming in strong with their own brand of the punk pop with the occasional scream and warbling distorted guitars. The set is tight and steady, Headstrong pulled no punches as opening act, drawing the crowd in and readying them for the next serving.

Newcastle‘s Eat Your Heart Out step up to the stage and come out swinging with Carousel and the pop punk banger Twenty Something.

Front of stage, The Beautiful Monument‘s very own Amy McIntosh jives to every track before launching herself on stage to provide some brutal screams for the track Conscience.

Having gained a staggering 4.6 million listens on Spotify of their cover of Ed Sheeran‘s Shape Of You (Punk Goes Pop, Vol.7), these guys know how to put on a show and keep amazing form throughout their entire set.

Vocalist Caitlin Henry is high energy in a small package, hardly stopping during the set, dancing and bouncing around the stage. This energy is matched by her bandmates as the play and dance around the stage, smiles aplenty. Each member of the band has a completely different energy, yet they all vibe so well together, it shows this Newcastle group are a grungey, pop punk force to be wreckoned with!

As Eat Your Heart Out finish their set, the venue begins to pack out with more and more people, desperate for headlines The Beautiful Monument to hit the stage.

With soundcheck quickly sorted and a quick team huddle side of stage, The Beautiful Monument are ready to go. Opening with Invisible from their 2019 album, I’m The Reaper, the crowd of adoring fans sing every word back at the amazing Lizi Blanco.

The band is in perfect form with guitarist Alex Manhire and bassist Amy McIntosh throwing themselves into every note, and Adam Pinzone absolutely punishing the drums.

Following up from the same album are Deciver, Give Up and Burn, all delivered with heartbreaking emotion echoed by the captivated mob of fans, engulfing every second of the performance.

The quartet’s latest single, Misery, is up next and played to absolute perfection. Having amassed 3.7k views on youtube in a week and 6.1k plays on Spotify since it’s release, I’m sure nearly everyone at tonight’s show has been playing on repeat on the lead up to tonight.

Lizi announces “This is something I said I’d never do again” to the room, as she reveals an acoustic guitar. Performing a mostly acoustic rendition of Reaper with a ethereal fragility, before being joined by the rest of the band on stage who explode into action for the last chorus of the track.

The set coming to an end, the band play their earlier release for the year, Hellbound, a powerful testimony of self-preservation and the feeling of defeatedness. The track is a perfect way to end the set, with the group leaving the stage after thanking the crowd. Hardly a moment passes before a chant of “One more song!” errupts from the venue. As Amy takes to the stage again, a cheer fills the room.

“We genuinely didn’t prepare anything. But if you really want it, we think we can really disappoint you”, jokes the bassist.