Northern beaches boys Ocean Alley have the secret recipe for a magical evening of live music: a stellar line up of supporting acts, a beautiful venue in the hills at Red Hill Auditorium, and all their most loved hits.

Arriving just before 6 pm I missed Seaside and South Summit, though could see the venue was already very full with a large number of people in front of the stage enjoying the delightful trio Dulcie. The Perth girls had the whole crown performing dance routines and singing along to each word of ‘tell ur friends’. 

Next up were also Perth locals, Death by Denim. Lead singer Nik Iliadis was positively feeling himself as he boogied Perth through a gorgeous sunset. The band put on an energetic show with crowd favourites ‘Cigarettes and Honey’ and a cover of Harry Style’s ‘Watermelon Sugar’. 

The penultimate performance was brought to us by the wonderful Winston Surfshirt. Kicking off with one of my personal favourites ‘For the Record’, the Sydney-based six-piece brought their unique and well-loved blend of hip-hop and R&B. I was particularly impressed by The Bone on trombone and particularly shocked to realise that Winston (lead singer) actually has a British accent and moved to Australian as a young teen?! The crowd were loving each moment with the band throwing in a sample of ‘Gypsy Woman’ by Crystal Waters mixed in with ‘There’s Only One’ from their latest album.

8:45 pm on the dot (the punctuality didn’t go unnoticed) – the moment we were all waiting for. Ocean Alley took to the stage and ‘Touch[ed] Back Down’ with an extremely enthusiastic audience, then had everyone on their ‘Knees’. Lead singer Baden Donegal pointed out that it has been 10 years since their EP Yellow Mellow and their decade’s worth of experience certainly shows. Throwing it back to a few hits from the EP, it was amazing to experience how Ocean Alley has been able to both refine and expand their signature psychedelic reggae sound over the last decade. Their performance was so polished and effortless that the weather even complied – with strikes of lighting in the sky during their recent grungier hit ‘Parking Fines’ really set the mood. Will smashed it on the saxophone during ‘Partner in Crime’ before the show came to a close with two encore songs. Just minutes after the final song, it began to rain. Ocean Alley not only has the whole of the sold-out Red Hill Auditorium on their side but also apparently the weather gods.

Featured image by Jamieson Kerr