On Thursday, October 17th, The FAIM and Stand Atlantic brought the Australian heat to SOMA San Diego for their co-headlining U.S. Tour.
The co-headlining bands brought along UK band WSTR to open up the show. WSTR’s performance was their second in a year on the SOMA side stage and they had some returning fans happy to hear their music once again. An intimate crowd greeted the energetic band and started a mini mosh pit to let out all their lively frustrations.
The pop-punk band’s lead singer Sammy Clifford led the crowd as they all sang along to their hits like, “Eastbound & Down” and “Featherweight” both from their 2017 album Red, Green or Inbetween. One benefit of this being their first local performance of the year was their new hit single, “Filthy.”
Released on September 10, this was the band’s first time performing their new single live. The song only being a little over a month old did not stop their true fans from singing all the words along with Clifford and the band, and it was a hit.
Wrapping up their brief, but energetic performance, WSTR performed two of their singles from May of this year. The songs were, “Give Yourself A Try,” and “Gives You Hell,” both released on the Hopeless Records label. The band warmed up the stage just right for the next performance from the co-headliners, Sydney Pop band Stand Atlantic.
Ending a heavy silence during the short intermission, Stand Atlantic came in with a bang. Their last performance in San Diego came in March at the North Park Observatory. With this long wait in mind, the Hopeless Records label-mate of WSTR started the show off with their fan favorite, “Push” off of their 2017 Sidewinder EP.
As the room filled with energy, crowd members started a small moshpit that only grew bigger as lead singer Bonnie Fraser pumped up the crowd. Fraser mentioned, “This is the biggest and most dispersed pit I’ve ever seen.” The intimate crowd made use of every inch of space in the building.
Switching gears while maintaining high levels of energy, the band came back with their new single, “Hate Me Sometimes!” Released on September 17, the track’s lyrics were already engrained in the membranes of the fans in the crowd. Clifford of WSTR even came onstage to sing along. After screaming the first two hooks, the r&b breakdown brought the crowd in; only to be followed up with the whole room screaming the lyrics, “you should probably save yourself!”
Stand Atlantic followed that scene up with, “Toothpick” and then came back with, “Burn The Afterthought” after instructing the crowd to put their arms around each other and experience the music together. Stevie Beerkens of The FAIM brought his sticky fingers out on stage early and played keyboard for both of the aforementioned tracks from the 2018 Skinny Dipping album.
Dressed in all black, Stand Atlantic killed the stage and had the crowd jumping the entire time. Performing their first-ever single, “Coffee At Midnight” the performers turned the crowd up for one of their final songs. Beerkens remained on the keyboard and his fellow band member, and lead singer of The FAIM, Josh Raven made an early entry to sing the final hook along with Fraser and Beerkens. This dazzling performance showed the shared love for music amongst the Australian bands.
Looking to follow up 2 quality performances, Josh Raven and The FAIM came in by storm with, “Infamous” a song from their debut album State of Mind. After the first hook of the emotionally charged tune, keyboardist Stevie Beerkens breaks it down yet again and draws the crowd in with a touching keyboard transition.
With the final seconds of the track winding down, Raven personally went into the crowd to make sure everybody in the building was as close to the action as possible. This would not be the last time Raven entered the crowd on this action-packed evening.
After gathering the crowd in the front of the stage, Raven lead the BMG Rights Management talent into their song, “A Million Stars” from their 2018 Summer Is A Curse EP. The crowd sang along as Raven and his bandmembers shook the stage. Still hype after their second song of the night, Raven decided to coordinate the crowd’s movement. He told the crowd to put their hands up in the air. After some hesitation, he repeated his statement, following it with, “the sooner those hands go up the sooner we’ll play some fucking music!”
With all the hands of the crowd levitating in the air, the co-headliners brought back the bass with, “Make Believe” from the same 2018 EP. Raven made a movie of the last verse on the track as he ran into the center of the crowd. As a circle formed around him and he ran around in circles, both he and the crowd shouted, “I wanna feel something!” until there was no breath left in the room.
In their first performance at SOMA, The FAIM played some of their fan favorites from their debut album State of Mind, released on September 13. On top of, “Infamous” and they performed their top Spotify track, “Summer Is A Curse” along with, “Buying Time” and early album single, “Amelie.” Guitarist Miki Rich of Stand Atlantic joined the band on stage along with her lead singer Bonnie Fraser for the latter two tracks.
The FAIM chose to close out the rock-filled evening with a slower ballad, “State of Mind” the emotionally charged final and title track of their debut album. As the crowd yelled, “state of mind! state of mind!” along with Raven and his bandmembers, the energy of the evening was culminating with this showstopper. Thanking their tour mates prior to this final goodbye, the Perth act sent the crowd into the San Diego night with a sense of contentment and appreciation for the evening that had occurred.
