Review: Superheaven @ Lion Arts Factory 05/05/26
Superheaven delighted a sold-out Adelaide crowd with a raucous performance that left everyone wanting more.
Words Harry Nathan // Images Henry Maurin
Superheaven w/Angeldu$t & Secret World @ Lion Arts Factory 05/05/26
A rare run of bands made their way through Lion Arts Factory last night, with Superheaven returning to Australia after 10 years alongside Angel Du$t and Secret World.
The anticipation of this lineup was felt long before doors opened. Nearly three months ago, the Adelaide date was stamped with “sold out” on the poster, a rare occurrence for our city. There were no second shows added, no venue upgrades, just a promise of a room filled with the headliner's hungriest fans.
Secret World opened the night to a rapidly filling room. As a band that regularly passes through Adelaide, there was already a clear sense of rapport with some of the audience. Nevertheless vocalist Ryan Pond encouraged the crowd – “I don’t care if you know us,” he said, requesting they put on their dancing shoes to have some fun. With familiarity came confidence, and the barrier between band and crowd quickly started to fade and before long no one was standing still.
Secret World had set a pace that Angel Du$t matched with no hesitation. Frontman Justice Tripp’s presence alone commanded attention before he’d uttered a word on the mic.
Their set was spearheaded by ‘I'm the Outside’ off their new album, showcasing their prowess at creating a sound that’s equal parts aggressive and groovy. They followed up with the much-beloved ‘Toxic Boombox’, a track that sits closer to the hardcore side of their catalogue, almost as if to give permission to open the pit from the outset.
The indie rock sensibilities of tracks such as ‘Turn Off the Guitar’ further challenged audience expectations of what a heavy set could be. Whilst these moments briefly alleviated the mayhem of the pit, they delivered these tracks with no less raw intensity, maintaining their edge throughout the set.
Their set closed with the 50-second poppy hardcore track ‘Stepping Stone’, the final release point the set had been building to. It felt like a sparkler bomb going off, erupting in a flash of chaos before vanishing just as quickly leaving the audience still riding the momentum as Angel Du$t made their exit.
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The crowd was practically begging for Superheaven the second Angel Du$t left the stage. If absence makes the heart grow fonder, 10 years off Australian soil had created a deep yearning for this moment.
When they finally took the stage, energy was at a peak with Taylor Madison letting the crowd know he was tired and needed them to wake his ass up. After what felt like an eternity, the drums of Zack Robbins finally ushered in the start of ‘Sponge’, a personal favourite of mine, before we were hit with a wall of dense, distorted, reverb-soaked guitars.
When I say hit, I truly mean it, their sound was LOUD, filling every crevasse of the band room. The sound was dense and overwhelming, with Joe Kane’s bass adding a physical weight that pressed through the room. Far from being excessive, it helped replicate the recorded sound with surprising clarity. Jake Clarke and Madison’s vocals sat perfectly within it, delivering their signature mix of melancholic sweetness and grungy grit.
They leaned into exactly what the crowd wanted to hear, with ‘Leach’ met instantly with every word being sung back at them. It was clear this was a moment 10 years in the making, and it was just the second song.
Superheaven continued to deliver, avoiding dramatic swings in energy and remaining steady, creating a sort of sustained, unrelenting pressure song after song. The pressure fueled a perpetual self-sustaining mosh pit, as one punter tapped out, two more were ready to take their place. The rest of the crowd remained focused and absorbed in the moment, their bodies moving in nearly perfect unison to the sound.
The band taunted the crowd, saying that they were the most lacklustre crowd this entire tour, which seemed to be taken as a challenge, as the pit size grew exponentially in seconds.
‘In on It’ and ‘Poor Aileen’ closed out the night, with the crowd response truly never waning for a second. For a tour that’s been a long time coming, this provided an appropriate sense of release after we had been bathed in their sound for the last hour.
And with that, the highly anticipated night was over. Each band had shaped the audience in a different way unique to them to build this unforgettable night. By the end, the anticipation that had carried the show in had been well and truly met, although we never got confirmation of whether we woke Madison up or not.
Want more pics of the gig? Check out our full photo gallery here.
