It's a Saturday and Sydney is cooking. Literally.
The temperature is pushing a scorching 41 degrees in the afternoon, yet it's still not stopping diehard fans from lining up early to secure prime positions for the first Sydney show of the Yungblud's Idols tour (10 January).
Others are trekking to Newtown earlier in the day, heading for the Australian debut of YUNGBLUD: IDOLS, an exclusive photography exhibition featuring images of Dominic Harrison (Yungblud) captured over the past 18 months by photographer Tom Pallant.
After Yungblud announced the day prior he would attend the pop-up gallery, it drew massive crowds requiring police presence to address the swell of people.
I guess they're hoping Yungblud will pop by for a kiss and cuddle while they soak up the stark black-and-white images. However, whether it's the heat or the pull of the queue calling fans back by mid-afternoon, the gallery closes earlier than advertised.
As the kick-off hour creeps closer, black eyeliner is melting, striped shirts and Yungblud tees are clinging to sweaty skin.
Staying nearby makes it impossible not to notice the growing lines – mates and parents doing supply runs, water bottles being rationed. This is not casual attendance. This is commitment. It is feeling less like a concert and more like a musical pilgrimage.
I hang back, timing my run as the lines thin, slipping in just in time to catch the opening act. Aussie surf-punk-pop-garage-rock favourites Dune Rats are already tearing into it.
Dune Rats - image © Clea- marie Thorne
Danny Beus (vocals, guitar) is yelling like it's a packed pub show. BC Michaels (drums, backing vocals) is smashing through beats with zero restraint. Brett Jansch (bass) is bouncing side to side and leaping, grinning like this is home turf.
The crowd is already moving. Early pits are threatening to form. It is loud, loose, and exactly the warm-up this room needs.
Dune Rats are leaning right into it. 'Red Light Green Light' lands like a starter pistol, bodies bouncing despite the heat. '6 Pack' turns the floor feral, arms flying, voices yelling back anything that vaguely resembles a lyric.
'Scott Green' pulls a knowing cheer from fans who are clearly here early for a reason. 'Ratbags' pushes things further into loose-limbed mayhem, pits opening and closing like they are testing the room.
Then it properly goes off. 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' kicks in and the response is instant. Murray Cook from The Wiggles is onstage alongside Shane Parsons from DZ Deathrays, who popped up earlier in the set, and suddenly Qudos Bank Arena is witnessing one of the most Australian moments imaginable.
Beus pulls full Dave Gleeson faces, swinging the microphone around with wild-eyed commitment while the crowd roars every word back – including the parts you absolutely know they are yelling. It is ridiculous, joyful, and loud as hell.
A short intermission, and anticipation climbs while fans await the headliner. Before too long, and after some great tunes over the PA – including Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' – the side digital screens flip through text graphics displaying 'hello' in multiple languages. I think 'howdy' to myself, but that's not one of them.
The lights drop, smoke machine haze floods the stage to waist height, and 'Hello Heaven, Hello' rolls in. Within the first 30 seconds, the room detonates as confetti cannons blast across the arena floor. The jump from anticipation to chaos is instant. This is a statement opener. No easing in. No patience required.
Yungblud - image © Clea- marie Thorne
Yungblud hits the stage, leaping from the drum riser like he's being fired from a cannon himself. He's sprinting, skidding, throwing his whole body into the space, yelling straight into the pit like he is daring us to keep up.
'The Funeral' sees Yungblud soften for a moment, take up an acoustic guitar, his face beaming towards the crowd under a spotlight. Fans are quick to pitch in for a sing-along.
'Idols Pt. I' kicks, picking up the momentum affecting fans who are surging, hands shoot up. Voices crack early. People jump without checking who is beside them, yet somehow everyone is still looking out for each other.
They roll through 'Lovesick Lullaby' with the Yungblud choir singing strong before a random two-minute exit is announced and all of the instrumentalists leave the stage with Yungblud.
Yungblud returns and commands fans to take a step a back, take care each other before wooing the crowd with his provocative charisma and fan favourite done with Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, 'My Only Angel'.
Yungblud - image © Clea- marie Thorne
'Superdeadfriends' might be next on the printed set list, but 'Strawberry Lipstick' kicks in instead, the reaction immediate. The sing-along is massive. Arms are waving. Kids and adults are screaming every word like it's sacred text.
'Fleabag' has barely started when Yungblud spots a handwritten sign claiming its owner (Jayden) can play the song upside down (on a right-handed guitar). Yungblud stops the band before the song fully kicks in, waving security over and pulling Jayden onstage.
A guitar is handed over. It's flipped upside down. The lad from Wollongong absolutely nails it from the first chord. The band locks back in around him like it was always planned. The floor turns into a single bouncing organism. It is sweaty, loud, messy, and deeply affectionate.
This is an all-ages show, and it is showing in the best way possible. Kids scream every word. Teens cry into friends' shoulders. Parents watch with half-proud, half-concerned expressions while also singing along. There's even 'cougars' who were explicitly told to show up, proudly holding up signs, getting cheeky grins from Yungblud.
Between songs, Yungblud talks about how much he loves Sydney, Australia, Twisties and Vegemite. He's also inciting mischief, affection and non-judgemental, open, wholesome love for one another. In a room this size, even if it is the same dialogue at each show, it feels genuine. The room listens. Faces up front are streaked with tears.
Yungblud - image © Clea- marie Thorne
The mid-set stretch tightens the screws. 'Lowlife' hits with grit, bodies jumping harder despite the heat. 'Changes' turns the arena into one unified voice and we sing it loud, with heart and for those Ozzie lovers, with tears in our eyes. This is one cover that I wished to be on the set list; and with my wish granted, I quietly sing-along in remembrance and celebration of the tribute. It is beautiful.
Shifting us back to the present, and rekindling the live energy we get 'Fire' and it surges exactly as promised. A throwback is promised and long-time fans rejoice on the earliest favourites, 'Tin Pan Boy'.
This one pulls things inward, the room suddenly feeling smaller, more intimate, thousands of voices singing slightly out of time but completely committed as Yungblud steps back and lets them carry it.
After row upon row of pyro, confetti, a shoey (adding to the performance), by the time second vintage Yungblud track 'Braindead!' rips through the arena, the place is wrecked once more. People are hoarse. Shirts are soaked. Legs are jelly yet, nobody is standing still.
The crowd wants more, and Yungblud is clearly not done, but we wait while he checks on a lady in the crowd needing some help. Security hone in on her being helped by fans to the barrier. Yungblud is there, passes his guitar to a young woman, who is now beside herself. The other woman, I hope she feels better with a kiss from her idol, as she is taken to the side of the stage.
Yungblud - image © Clea- marie Thorne
Focus back on performing, Yungblud lets 'Loner' land on our ears like a gift. The reaction is huge as punters somehow find fresh energy for another full-bodied sing-along. Even when it ends and Yungblud and the band retreat, hardly anyone moves toward the exits.
The roar announces Yungblud's return. 'Ghosts' lifts the room again, emotion peaking, hands in the air, voices shaking. Then 'Zombie' arrives. A song inspired by the declining health of his grandma now passed. It is beautiful and haunting, and it hits hard as blood-red confetti rains down over the crowd.
This is the kind of song that is going to remain relevant even as it ages. There is smiling through tears as the fans sing-along. Yungblud paces the stage, chest heaving, slick with sweat, still giving everything like there's somehow more left to give.
He wraps the night with more emotive gratitude (if that's possible) after also giving a shoutout of love to the Bondi community and to all the fans no matter what religion, sexuality or race.
Somewhere between heartfelt speeches and recent headlines about naked yacht antics on Sydney Harbour, he is showing fans that he remains exactly what he has always been. Unfiltered. Slightly unhinged. Entirely himself, but an explorer of life who is still shaping himself.
Yungblud - image © Clea- marie Thorne
Before adoring fans tonight, Yungblud makes a promise that he will be back every 18 months. The crowd roars in approval. I reckon they will either hold him to it, or hunt him down and kidnap him if he does not (his recommendation, not a fan threat). He laughs and we cheer, sealing the pact in sweat and noise.
As I walk out into the still-hot Sydney night among fans with soaked clothes and buzzing ears, it is clear the Idols world tour show is more than a concert. It is connection. It is release. It is feeling seen in a room full of strangers.
Watching Yungblud now, it is impossible not to clock the progress. The venues are bigger and there are more shows since his 15-year-old self charmed the first round of fans.
Now after a run of EPs and his fourth studio album, the production is sharper, performance polished yet mischievously wicked and warm. His following is growing wider, stretching from kids on shoulders to grandparents in the stands.
Yet he is still evolving. The Idols material shows growth, control, and a willingness to push without losing the raw edge that drew people in to begin with. This feels like an artist mid-climb, not one settling at a peak.
If this is Yungblud still reaching, still shaping what he is capable of, then whatever his pinnacle looks like, it's going to be unhinged in the best possible way. Judging by this room tonight, plenty of people are ready to be there when he hits his apex.
