With an army of paper crowns, Alec Benjamin returns to Melbourne
Photographs by Jean Ngooi
Concluding a run of sold-out shows across Australia, Alec Benjamin’s triumphant return was met with a warm embrace! On Friday night, Benjamin, who is currently on tour in promotion of his latest album 12 Notes, stopped by Melbourne’s Palais Theatre to charm the nearly 3000 attendees. With the release of his third LP 12 Notes just half a year ago, Benjamin spent much of last year on tour and this January has brought the show down under. Having previously sold out his 2022 Un(Commentary) tour, Benjamin managed to do so again, however, this time with much larger venues!
In the lead-up to the show, fans eagerly waited in their seats with their paper crowns atop their heads — a homage to Benjamin’s song Paper Crown. Sydneysider Matthew Ifield took to the stage to warm up the audience, singing songs about serendipity and love. By the end of his set, the theatre filled up as fans were primed and excited to see Benjamin.
Opening with I Sent My Therapist to Therapy, Benjamin stepped onto the stage with an energetic vigour and set the night's tone. A deeply personal songwriter, Benjamin’s music unfolds like a live performance of his diary; open-hearted and honest. With songs like If I Killed Someone For You and Jesus in LA (which were some of the audience’s favourites) that delve into an intricate level of storytelling, it’s easy to see why Benjamin has endeared himself to his fans.
Throughout the night, Alec maintained a lighthearted energy in between songs, chatting to the room about his experiences with large bugs in Sydney, to running into fans at Luna Park and winning one of them a tiara in a carnival game. That tiara was then passed to him from the audience which he enthusiastically put on to perform The Devil Doesn’t Bargain.
As the crowd loudly sang and clapped along to Benjamin, the night took a shift as the band went away and Benjamin began his acoustic set. With a guitar in hand, Benjamin announced that he would attempt to play a song that he had just written; however as he began to strum, quickly realised that he had forgotten how it went. Nevertheless, Benjamin humorously played it off and transitioned into playing Jesus in LA.
Amongst the songs, one of the highlights was the transition of ‘Water Fountain’ which started off at the piano, then continued on stage as Benjamin’s band came back to fill out the performance. Asking the audience to help him out with singing the outro of the song, the loud chants of “too young” echoed heavily in the theatre.
Although Benjamin’s set ran for under an hour and a half, the sheer loudness of fans singing along to his music reflected just how adored he was and how excited everyone was to hear these songs live. Performing songs from not only his latest album but also from his popular works Narrated for You and These Two Walls, everyone undoubtedly got to hear their favourites. (except maybe that one person who kept shouting for ‘Steve’ to be played).
Closing off with Let Me Down Slowly, Alec Benjamin’s return to Australia wrapped up triumphantly. Playing to a sold-out crowd at Palais Theatre donning paper crowns, Benjamin provided his Aussie fans with a night to remember.