So the night after I went and saw Cradle of Filth, I went and saw Safia. I was extremely hungover and even though I love Safia, I wasnʼt ready for another gig at all… but as soon as I heard them open with ‘Ivory Lullabyʼ, I was back!
When I first heard the new album, I liked it but I didnʼt love it. After witnessing the album live, I definitely have a new found love for it and have found myself listening to it quite often since. ‘Starlightʼ and ‘Think Weʼre Not Aloneʼ were played next and thatʼs when the darker side of Safia really came through, which is personally why I like the band as a fan of darker electronic music.
The Forum is the perfect venue for electronic acts, in my opinion, the bass sounded amazing and itʼs always a very distinctive, clear mix.
Iʼm a big fan of the older stuff from Safia so I was wondering if they would play a certain song that I really like. They played ‘White Liesʼ from the new album, then things went dark and they did a really cool, unsettling cover of ‘Oops, I did it againʼ and it perfectly went into the song I wanted to hear, ‘Counting Sheepʼ. It sounded amazing and to top it off they had an amazing light show that interacted with the band and crowd in a really cool way.
Electronic shows have the best light shows usually so I was expecting something cool, but not as awesome as what I saw that night!
The setlist worked really well and you can just tell they spent so much time figuring out what goes where to keep the dynamics of things ticking along nicely. The guitar soloʼs sounded great and were always in the right spots. Softer songs were right when you needed them to be, and the drops werenʼt always in those predictable boring spots and even when they were, theyʼre really cool drops that you canʼt help but bang your head to. The
crowd absolutely loved them and for the few songs that triple j were recording, the crowd grew an extra set of balls and the forum was shaking. It was pretty cool to see.
Next time Safia come, Iʼll go again for sure. Theyʼre a truly talented band that are mastering their craft and Iʼve love to see a show with The Presets, Golden Features and Safia. Thatʼd be chaos.
Where: The Forum, Melbourne
When: September 7
Reviewed by Nathan Mossop
Photos from band socials
