Friday night at NEX felt like a reunion with everyone we went to gigs with in the ’90s, and we were all there to see one of Australia’s most important bands, You Am I, work their way through two of their most loved albums.
The Hi Fi Daily Double Down Tour promised two classic albums – Hourly, Daily and Hi Fi Way – played front to back. What it delivered was far more than just nostalgia.
The band launched straight into Hourly, Daily, opening with its acoustic title track and setting the tone for a set that ebbed and flowed with intention.
Not every album works as a live setlist, but Hourly, Daily isn’t just any album. It moves like a well-scored film: suburban scenes, heartbreak, youth, and the mundane dressed up as magic.
Wally Raffles was a highlight showcasing the band’s signature guitar sound, while Please Don’t Ask Me To Smile hit like a kick to the chest delivered raw, unfiltered, and still carrying the weight it did nearly 30 years ago. We had been transported.
After a short break (and a solid run on the mustard tour shirts at the merch desk), the band returned with a cheeky nod to Newcastle’s own Silverchair, riffing on Straight Lines before launching into the Hi Fi Way opener Ain’t Gone and Open.
If the first set was a slow burn, the second exploded.
There was an outfit change – Andy Kent now in a cowboy hat and Rusty Hopkinson in an iconic 90s black and white striped t-shirt – and a whole new energy on stage and in the audience.
Hi Fi Way may not be as lush as Hourly, Daily, but it’s more urgent, more volatile. And we’re here for it. Cathy’s Clown and Purple Sneakers sent a bolt through the room, but it was Jewels and Bullets that tore the roof off. Every chorus was shouted like it mattered… And judging by the faces in the crowd, it did.
Before the encore, Rogers took a moment to thank Newcastle for being one of the first cities to really get the band and for showing up again. They closed the night with a ferocious version of Berlin Chair, a song that still slaps with the same power and chaos it had back in the day.
As the lights came up and the crowd filtered out—smiling, sweaty, maybe a little hoarse—one thing was clear: You Am I didn’t just play the albums, they reminded us why they mattered. Why they still matter. And yeah, we’ll say it again—more rock shows at NEX, please. This place was made for it. You can find out what’s coming up at the venue here.
PS: If you missed out, You am I will be back in our neck of the woods in September for a show at Drifters Wharf, Gosford.
