On the evening of Friday, February 13th, 2026, we found ourselves at Paradiso in Amsterdam, where a small group of fans gathered in anticipation of busking duo the Pierce Brothers.
Once the doors opened, the sold-out venue slowly filled up, and people were already buzzing with excitement for the second-to-last show of the Moonrise tour. The evening started with 21-year-old rock singer Lenny Monsou from Utrecht, who opened his set with an acoustic version of his song ‘Take A Look At Me Now’ on guitar. After a quick introduction to the crowd, he continued with his second song, ‘Telephone’. The young multi-instrumentalist switched it up and jumped behind a piano for his next couple of songs, which drew a completely silent audience, fully absorbed in his performance. He then asked the crowd if anyone was a fan of Radiohead. This resulted in cheers from the fans as Lenny performed a cover of the band’s ‘Karma Police’. He invited the crowd to sing along, and one fan’s loud voice stood out, which made him laugh and joke that the rest of the crowd needed to be just as excited. The Pierce Brothers also joined him on stage for this cover, which created a memorable moment early on in the show.
Before slowing it down and playing his song ‘I Am Here For You’, Lenny explained that he wrote the song for a friend whose father got very ill. It was clear the singer genuinely enjoyed the opportunity to perform as he talked about how grateful he was to be on tour, describing the band and crew as a “weird family” and saying how much he was learning every day. He also mentioned that this was his first time playing at the venue and that he was looking forward to his own headlining show in April of this year at Paradiso’s other venue in the city centre. He finished with ‘Not My Game’, thanked everyone again, and made a peace sign before leaving the stage. The crowd clapped loudly as they reminisced about the start of a great evening.
After a short break, smoke started filling the stage. The Pierce Brothers waved at the crowd and instantly started their first song of the evening, ‘It’s Not My Fault’. The energy in the room shifted, and the crowd was immediately dancing and singing along. Jack introduced himself and his brother Patrick and said that they went on this tour to celebrate their album Moonrise, which had reached number one on the Australian charts. During ‘I Will Love You’, Jack taught the crowd backing vocals, and within seconds, everyone was singing them. They also took a moment to talk about Monsou’s amazing performance and how much they had grown to love him. They also reminded fans to check out the merch, joking that they did not want to carry it all back home. Jack mentioned that Amsterdam was their favourite city on this side of the world and laughed that nobody had ended up in hospital this time, referring to previous tour antics they’ve had. Similar antics emerged tonight as Jack took the chance to climb onto the balcony to drum the intro of their song ‘Overdose’ on the venue’s ceiling while making the crowd join in with cheers and claps.
After ‘It’s Alright’, Jack spoke about how the Netherlands had been the first European country they ever played in back in 2014, and how that experience inspired their song ‘Amsterdam’. Patrick slowly played the melody, leading into the song, and the crowd joined in loudly on the chorus. Later, Jack asked if everyone was having fun, admitting that he was “having a fucking ball”. He thanked those who were seeing them for the first time for “trusting them enough to buy a ticket”. Patrick then spoke movingly about their 12-year journey and the privilege of making music for a living when his brother briefly interrupted him to hand him a shot of whisky. He continued by explaining that their song ‘Self Portrait’ was inspired by ‘Ocean’ by John Butler, and was the reason Patrick played open-tune guitar.
Amid playful chaos, including a knocked-over microphone and jokes about being “the other brother band” from Melbourne in reference to The Teskey Brothers, they powered into ‘Golden Times’, again blending harmonica, tambourine, and didgeridoo with percussion and guitar and showcasing their extraordinary musical skills. Before playing their final song before the encore, ‘Brother’, they told the story of how the song was written about missing home and family, and how the chorus was never properly finished because fans loved the original version so much. When they played it, the crowd sang along loudly as they all related and became a part of a family of musical admirers. Even after the Pierce Brothers left the stage, the crowd kept singing the chorus on their own, instigating an encore.
A shoutout request for a hen party led into ‘Moonrise’, which Jack jokingly told the crowd was “kinda fitting” as he wrote the song as a Mother’s Day gift for his wife. Visibly emotional, Jack said that Amsterdam was important to them and that this show marked a significant part of their international career. Calling the night their favourite show of the tour, the brothers hinted at big future plans. They thanked the crowd once more before leading into the final song. After briefly starting the wrong song, they laughed it off and launched into ‘Flying Home’, met with one last surge of high energy from the crowd. Monsou returned to the stage as the band asked the audience to crouch down and jump together. The result was a joyful, chaotic, and perfectly fitting ending of the night. After the last song, the band left the stage quickly to meet fans, while the crowd gave a final ovation.
From Lenny Monsou’s heartfelt opening to the Pierce Brothers’ electric show, this night was a night to remember.
