Chelsea Wolfe summoned the void at Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Saturday night for a career-spanning performance drenched in atmosphere and intensity.
Experimental Australian artist Aphir opened the night for Chelsea Wolfe, drawing the crowd into a haze of dark electronics and ghostly vocals that set the tone perfectly. By the time Wolfe emerged, the room had already slipped into a trance.
Smoke curled across the stage as Wolfe and her four-piece band opened with Whispers in the Echo Chamber and Everything Turns Blue – the first of several tracks pulled from her latest album She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She. Drenched in shadowy lighting and minimalist staging, the show felt more like a ritual than a rock gig.
The set unfolded like chapters from a dream. 16 Psyche and Dragged Out hit hard, even as the crowd stood motionless, collectively holding its breath. Wolfe’s voice – both delicate and devastating – floated above deep drones, industrial pulses and bursts of distortion.
Eyes Like Nightshade and Unseen World added new dimension to her latest work, but older cuts like Feral Love and Flatlands still landed with haunting clarity. The Liminal (Unbound) bled straight into the encore, where Carrion Flowers and Pale on Pale closed the night in a slow, smouldering descent.
The energy was subdued throughout, but not dull. The crowd barely moved, but every face was locked forward, captivated. The Metro was dead silent between songs, only to erupt in applause once each one ended.
Wolfe’s return to Australia after three years wasn’t loud or chaotic: it was intimate, cinematic and hypnotic.
Check out the full gallery below, with photos by James Miller.
Chelsea Wolfe at Metro Theatre Gallery
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