The last time Still Woozy (Sven Eric Gamsky) was in Melbourne was a little over two years ago in July 2022. A part of the Splendour In The Grass line up that year, he played at the contemporary venue Howler, promoting his debut album If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is, which held up to 200 people. Since then his career has skyrocketed. Collaborating with artists like SZA, and Remi Wolf, as well as releasing an original song titled “Anyone But You”, which featured in the 2023 film of the same name, starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney.
Continuing the massive momentum of his career, Still Woozy has come back to Australian shores with his sophomore album Loveseat, for the Australian leg of the Loveseat Tour. With a sold out show at the beautiful venue at the heart of the CBD, Forum Melbourne, he performed to around 2,000 people – aten-fold jumper in the number he played to in 2022.
Starting the Friday night off right, the Gold Coast trio daste. jumped on stage for an eclectic 30-minute set playing tunes like “butterfly (so free)” and “expectations”, showing off their vibey alternative-pop and smooth RnB sound, setting the tone for the night ahead. With the band already on triple j’s radar, daste. are one to watch for 2025 with their release of dasteWORLD this February.
Still Woozy literally runs onto the stage at 9 p.m., bang on the advertised time. The stage adorably decorated with inflatable flowers with smiley faces similar to the ones on the album cover itself. With very little phones in sight, you can tell that the crowd was excited and incredibly receptive to Still Woozy from the get-go. Opening with “Again”, fans were up and dancing and singing along to his groovy tunes and high energy.
After opening songs with from If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is, he interacts with the crowd for the first time, dubbing Melbourne as his “favourite city in Australia” before jumping right back into the set list. And in a cheeky (literally) interaction with fans, he asks the crowd “who’s gonna shake their ass” to intro “Shit Don’t Change.”
Melbourne even got a special surprise song, with Still Woozy claiming that it’s a song that he normally doesn’t play in the States and hasn’t played for at least 8 months. Launching right into “Forwards” from the Loveseat album.
One of the more engaging and amusing moments of the show was when he introduced his sister in law as the bass guitarist on tour with him. Their banter on stage felt very natural, with Still Woozy asking fans if they wanted to hear “Anyone But You.” His sister in law then challenges him and says that if he can catch a piece of candy in his mouth, then they can play the song. A cute lead up saw Still Woozy catching the lolly, with erupting cheers from the crowd, and then playing “Anyone But You” before diving into more of the psychedelic pop sounds he’s known for.
With quick shoutouts and quips before each song starts, Still Woozy puts all of his enthusiasm into singing and dancing around the stage. His free-spirited energy bounces off of him and projects onto his bandmates and ultimately everyone else in the crowd. He even crowd-dives at one point, having a bit of a boogie with the audience.
Closing off with the hit “Goodie Bag” during the encore, fans looked at each other and jumped around, animated excitement rushing through the room. While he didn’t interact with the crowd too much other than some comments here and there, Still Woozy’s vivacious and contagious spirit, paired with the indie electro-pop sound that captivates fans, brought audiences back into the present moment making for an electrifying show and a great Friday night treat for everyone there.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Still Woozy’s Australian Love Seat Tour continues on to Sydney at the Enmore Theatre on Tuesday night (11th February), and Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane on Wednesday night (12th Feb). Tickets HERE.
