Sydney Show was just OK
Having sat on my review, and letting the post show feelings marinate for a bit, here are some thoughts.
Now I will say, I'm coming from a fortunate position to have a show to compare it too in Primavera 25'.
The Primavera performance was top shelf. I think my expectations were low when they had cancelled the Ciutat show a week prior. Primavera show felt like they genuinely tried, and had energy and really put their all in. They had stage presence, and were menacing, and had a certain gravitas that most artists don't really have. You knew you were witnessing something special the moment Jack and John appeared from the smoke during the drop in Russian Doll. There is nothing I can fault about that performance.
Sydney show getting announced was definitely a shock. The ticket price was very high (140AUD) but having heard murmurs of their astronomical fee, this price made sense. Also this felt like a genuine once in a lifetime opportunity, to see Salem at the Sydney Opera House, 20 minutes from where I live. Are you kidding me?
Openers - I'm sorry but putting yourself on the bill is just so lame. Even more so when you're a bad performer. That felt like I was watching a high school talent show, and the kids who play Call of Duty decided to make music 3 months from the show. Watching 3ndles5 awkwardly walk around the stage and mumble into the microphone, didn't set the tone for the night, in fact it had me and my friends concerned because the sound was so bad.
Jawnino makes no sense either but at least he performed well, and even though his music isn't really my thing, I still enjoyed the performance, it was refined and was glad to hear the audio was a 3ndles5 problem, and not a venue problem.
Salem's performance -
I was so glad to hear Money Worship at first as the pre-opening track because I thought the setlist was gonna be different to Primavera (this was the only difference). Although I quickly realised It was just the same.
Jack really tried, he basically carried the show, but he was still messy, and was off at times (he had to restart Tent)
John was well off. Him missing the start of Killer, and watching him run to the mic was sad. I wish I hadn't seen that. He was singing, but only just.
The setlist - I am going to assume that it was known for sometime that Shlohmo wasn't going to be making the trip, so why not adjust the setlist instead of having some random local guy fill in with a guitar we can't really hear over the backing track? Setlist is also too heavy on tracks where they are not performing (5) maybe scrap New Salem Ting and Not Much of a life (they weren't even on stage at the end). Although I suppose it doesn't matter when you're performing once or twice a year.
On a positive note, If 1000 rap, Star Moth & Russian Doll are on the next album, it's already gonna be their best album.
Tl;dr. Sydney show was just OK. Thankful to have seen them in my hometown but could've been way better. 5/10