Australian pop-punk band Stand Atlantic has been around for quite a while, having released a total of four albums so far, with the fifth coming out very soon. In support of this upcoming album, GODBREATH, the band embarked on their first European headline tour since 2024. On September 30th, the tour made a stop in the Pandora room of Utrecht’s TivoliVredenburg.
As soon as the clock struck eight, the introductory music to support act Comastatic’s set began to play over the speakers. Drummer for this tour, Henry Beard, took to the stage first, followed by guitarist Jules Luongo and lead singer Mattia Di Paolo. The latter was wearing a Stand Atlantic tee which had been cropped, showcasing his appreciation for the Australian band for taking them on tour with them. The Swiss alternative rock band opened their set with ‘back4blood’. It was immediately evident that several fans in the front rows were big fans of the band, singing along to every word and headbanging along to the beat. Di Paolo thanked the crowd for coming early before continuing the show with ‘AMERICAN NIGHTMARE’ and ‘TOXIC ENERGY’. “You have no idea how much the Netherlands means to us,” Di Paolo said afterwards, telling those who weren’t in attendance then that they played their first-ever Comastatic show in the country. Tonight marked their seventh appearance in the Netherlands since then. “Let’s turn [this] into one big beach party,” Di Paolo then shouted to introduce their next song, ‘SUNBURN IN THE SUMMER’. It was getting hot and heavy in the Pandora, and so Di Paolo took his shirt off, revealing his tattooed upper body, as he motioned for the crowd to put their hands up for ‘SWAY[ED]’.
Over halfway through their set, Comastatic switched up the vibe, with Di Paolo asking everybody to sing along to the ad-libs of the slower song ‘Halo’. Of course, this vibe lasted for only this song, as they brought the energy right back with ‘ZORRO’ and ‘24Seven’. The latter is actually a collaboration with Melrose Avenue, who they’d also been support for last year. Comastatic’s set ended with some of their heaviest songs, namely ‘PRIMITIVE’, during which the first crowd-surfer made it to the stage, and ‘Self Sabotage’. In between playing songs, Di Paolo mentioned that Comastatic will be embarking on their own headline tour across Europe next year. Make sure to catch this energetic band if you can, because surely they’ll only raise in popularity in the scene.
About 20 minutes later, it was time for Stand Atlantic themselves. The band consists of lead singer and guitarist Bonnie Fraser, guitarist David Potter, bassist Miki Rich, and drummer Jonno Panichi. While people were immediately singing and jumping along as the band began with ‘LUCID’, a single from their upcoming album GODBREATH, the start of the show was relatively mild otherwise. Some clapping ensued, and bubbles were blown during ‘Jurassic Park’, and during ‘Lavender Bones’, one singular crowdsurfer appeared. However, upon shouting that “this one’s for the girls”, Fraser and her bandmates motioned for the audience to raise the energy by getting low and jumping back up during ‘GIRL$’. The crowd finally got truly fired up after Rich asked who it was the first time ever seeing Stand Atlantic, telling the audience that those who have seen them before “know we like to have fun at our shows” and were to show the newcomers how it’s done. Rich initiated a proper wall of death during ‘dumb’, but with one extra rule: the audience had to put their U-shaped hands into the air and shout the Utrecht ‘U’. This would become a recurring theme for tonight’s show; Stand Atlantic has been in Utrecht several times before and apparently loved this tradition.
The band then continued with ‘Blurry’, with Fraser lying down on the stage for the first verse while crowdsurfers were gearing up to enter the stage around her. The true chaos of the night ensued during the next song, ‘SEX ON THE BEACH’. This song is quite intense in and of itself, but an extra layer to that intensity was added tonight as Comastatic made it onto the stage. All three of them appeared shirtless, their faces covered with black masks, and carrying umbrellas that they’d be performing a full choreography with. It was Comastatic’s last night on the tour, and they left Rich wondering, “why [they didn’t] do this the whole tour!” When the band had recovered from this surprise, Fraser spoke about their new album coming next month and that they’d be playing one of its singles, ‘VELCRO’, next. The band asked the crowd to go hard, motivating them by stating that they’d invite two fans up on stage. When those two fans were chosen, another surprise happened: one of them proposed to the other. “I love love!” Fraser shouted. And on the theme of love, they continued with the unreleased song ‘NEXT2U’: a “song just for this city”, as it included many repetitions of the ‘U’ sound.
Twelve songs into the setlist, it was time to slow things down a little when Stand Atlantic played ‘EDGE OF VEGAS’, another single from GODBREATH that is decidedly different from the rest. “That was cuuuuute,” Fraser said afterwards, emphasising the ‘U’ once more. A lesbian flag was given to the band by a fan, and it was draped across the drum kit. Fraser then asked people to put their hands around each other’s shoulders and sway from left to right during ‘LOVE U ANYWAY’. The fans happily obliged, swaying together during the entire song. Fraser noted afterwards that her favourite part is when the chorus, and thus the beat, kicks in, because the crowd starts to look like they’re “vibrating” when bopping up and down together. For the start of ‘NOSE BLEED’, Fraser turned her back to the audience, because the song “starts with just [her] on the guitar and that makes [her] feel awkward”. She was facing drummer Panichi until the rest of the instruments joined her.
The show was slowly reaching its end, with just three songs left to be played. Fraser stated there would be no encore as they continued with ‘CRIMINAL’, shouting for the audience to “open it up” once again. The biggest mosh pit of the night had been created, followed by the most amount of crowdsurfers during ‘Coffee at Midnight’. The latter is one of Stand Atlantic’s oldest, most nostalgic songs that they’d been playing since their first ever European tour. Several people in attendance tonight had already seen them back then, with one fan even wearing the tour shirt. Comastatic’s guitarist Jules Luongo joined Stand Atlantic for this song, and for the final track, ‘deathwish’, singer Mattia di Paolo joined to sing the parts originally sung by nothing,nowhere. The party wasn’t over yet even when Stand Atlantic left the stage, because the crowd decided to form a conga line all across the room as music had begun playing over the speakers. The fans definitely had fun and were not ready to go home, missing the band already.
