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Hot Milk – 170 Russell
Kicking off the Australian leg of their latest tour, Manchester’s Hot Milk returned to Melbourne for their biggest local headline show yet; bringing a set packed with circle pits, huge singalongs and the kind of crowd interaction that has helped build their following here over the past few years.
Opening the evening was Melbourne’s own Bad/Love, who quickly had the crowd moving through tracks including Feel Good, Social Suicide, DMU, Dead Weight and Saints. The band closed out the set on What’s Left Here?.
Hot Milk took to the stage and launched straight into Swallow This; frontwoman Han Mee immediately calling for the pit to open up.’Where’s my fucking hole?’ she shouted as the first mosh of the evening exploded into action.
‘We are Hot Milk from Manchester England and tonight we are symbiotic creatures – we are you, and you are us,’ the band declared leading into I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I’M DEAD and Sunburn From Your Bible. Asking the crowd to get ‘loosey goosey tonight’, we saw the audience get even wilder as Machine Elves was played.
Longtime fans were impossible to miss, including audience members once again dressed as cartons of Hot Milk running through the pit and climbing onto shoulders. 90 Seconds to Midnight featured huge guitar shredding as the crowd broke into a full circle pit before rolling into Bad Influence and Wide Awake. During Candy Coated Lies, the band brought Aunty Linda from Point Cook onstage, sharing stories about visiting family while back in Australia.
The back half of the set barely let up. The American Machine and HORROR SHOW drew some of the loudest reactions of the night, while BREATHING UNDERWATER became one of the standout moments of the set. ‘Our biggest Melbourne headline show ever… how fucking lucky are we?’ the band shared.
BLOODSTREAM immediately brought the energy back up with the crowd jumping in unison, before ZONED OUT featured a massive drum solo and OVER YOUR DEAD BODY earned another huge reaction from the room the moment the guitar kicked in.
Closing the main set with Glass Spiders, the band thanked the audience for kicking off the Australian tour, before reflecting on how important nights like this feel ‘when life’s so divided and life’s so mental’.
Returning for the encore, PARTY ON MY DEATHBED proved the perfect re-entry point. ‘I might stay up and party all night till my deathbed… show me something magic,’ Han Mee shouted as the entire venue bounced together. Closing with Chase the Dragon, Hot Milk wrapped up a relentless set that confirmed just how quickly their audience in Australia continues to grow.