Chelsea Cutler Brings ‘The Beauty Is Everywhere’ Tour To Melbourne
Photographs by Jean Ngooi
Bringing to stage the vulnerability and rawness of her third album Stellaria, Chelsea Cutler effervescently commanded over Northcote Theatre in her first Melbourne headline show. Following a successful 29-date U.S. leg, the 27-year-old American brought The Beauty Is Everywhere Tour to Australia and will stop by four cities. Having made large streaming waves with songs like ‘Your Bones’ and ‘this is how you fall in love’, Cutler has become a steady force in the indie-pop scene as fans packed into Northcote Theatre to experience hearing these songs live.
As she took to the stage with the opening track of her latest album ‘Something More’, Cutler was quickly met with a burst of energy from the crowd singing along with her. This energy, especially from the front row, never seemed to dissipate throughout the night. As Cutler brought us through the emotionality of fan favourites like Your Bones, nj and you were good to me, it was also great to hear her perform earlier hits Your Shirt and The Reason that were instrumental in her breakthrough.
In her latest album, Cutler dives into the newfound maturity found in her mid-twenties and sings with a more positive lens on being in a relationship. Her most personal and heartfelt album to date, the songs could also translate well on stage as Cutler and her band imbued each performance with a level of electricity. With a magnetic vigor, it’s easy to see how the crowd in Melbourne warmly embraced Cutler’s presence.
In what has evolved into a recent stage tradition for Cutler, following her viral TikTok video, two fans were selected to join Cutler on stage to sing Noah Kahan’s part of their song ‘Crazier Things’. This experience was an intimate touch to the show that elevated the connection that Cutler has with her fans. Moreover, Cutler enjoyed engaging with the Aussie crowd, telling self-depreciative jokes, commenting on “[our] hot accents” and teasing ‘brent iii’, the highly anticipated third installation to her ‘brent’ EP series with Jeremy Zucker.
Additionally, accompanying Cutler on all four Australian dates is Sydney native Neptune, an upcoming force in our country’s indie-pop scene. Performing tracks from his EP ‘nowhere fast’ and his older discography, Neptune gently sang to the audience with his chill-pop tunes. Donning a paint-splashed blazer, Neptune was a fantastic precursor to Cutler’s set and judging by the crowd, earned himself a few new fans.
Altogether, the time spent with Cutler flew by quickly as she captivated and serenaded fans in Northcote Theatre. Embarking on her debut Australian tour three albums into her career, the love and adoration from the crowd proves that it should not take another three before we see her back in Australia.