Alex G's show at Palais Theatre in Melbourne was a study in contradictions: perfectly strange and totally captivating.
The Palais is the kind of grand, dramatic venue that usually makes a performance feel distant, with its ornate architecture and the general size of the room built for spectacle rather than intimacy.
Yet, Alex G somehow turned that on its head. The night (11 February) felt relaxed, peculiar, and personal, as if he were playing for a room full of friends rather than a packed theatre.
He joked constantly, blurted half-thought-out remarks, and leaned into awkward moments. The show was funny and loose, but also heavy and tight.
The tone was set early when someone shouted: "Pee your pants!" Alex paused, then replied with a deadpan calm: "Did you say pee my pants? That's rude, but yes, I will pee my pants."
Alex G - image © Danysha Harriott
It was the first of many moments where the show drifted between light comedy and emotional weight. One minute he'd be delivering a witty quip, and the next he would launch into an extremely moving and beautiful piece of music, accompanied by his band, Sam Acchione, John Heywood and Tom Kelly.
The effect was jarring in the best way, creating the most serious unserious show. The crowd matched that energy. Mostly Gen Z – presumably drawn in by a few of Alex's songs recently going viral on TikTok – they cheered, yelled, and held up phones with messages written on them.
There was that chaotic, post-pandemic energy in the crowd you sometimes hear about, but Alex leaned into it perfectly. Unpredictability peaked during 'Blessing'. Alex wandered offstage, down the aisle, and into the crowd, stopping to sit in an unoccupied seat, and continued singing.
A very excited fan wrapped an arm around him. Alex repeatedly smacked himself in the head with the mic before standing up and returning to the stage. Just another surreal and comical moment folded casually into the night.
Alex G - image © Danysha Harriott
There was a constant sense of playful confusion, as if Alex didn't want the audience to feel too comfortable or to know what to expect next. At one point, he instructed everyone to close their eyes and prepare for "something really cool," only to call out Melbourne's Triple R for never playing the band Chain, a running joke from his 2023 Forum show. If you know you know.
The set leaned heavily on songs from 'Headlights', his latest album, where his growth as a performer and musician shines. Before playing the album's title track, and the final song before the encore, he stated "the next one is an original song," as if all the others hadn't been. After a moment of pause, he added: "The ten before were all Chain."
The encore felt less like a performance in the largest seated theatre in Australia, and more like a jam session at a house party. The band first played 'Far And Wide', and then started taking requests.
Alex knelt at the lip of the stage to hear a fan. They spoke for a moment, he gave the fan a huge high five and then returned to the mic, confused: "I don't know 'Circa'. 'Circa?' Ohhh! 'Soaker'," before launching into it.
Alex G - image © Danysha Harriott
He kept taking requests, clearly enjoying the chaos along with the crowd. For the final song, he put 'Sarah' and 'Change' to a show-of-hands vote. 'Sarah' won. "Democracy," he said.
When you step into an Alex G show, it feels like stepping inside his mind: surreal, tender, confusing, hilarious. It was charming and chaotic, perfectly mirroring the contradictions in his music.
Alex G turned the Palais into a space where absurdity and vulnerability could exist side by side, proving that sincerity doesn't have to be serious, and that chaos can be beautiful.
