Overlooking the colourfully lit harbour on the first night of Vivid (May 24), Tia Gostelow took the stage in the Opera House’s intimate Utzon Room.
Tia Gostelow is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter from Mackay, Queensland. In recent years, the ARIA platinum artist has expanded into synth-pop, creating both Head Noise (2023) and Chrysalis (2020).
However, the night’s almost entirely acoustic set felt very reminiscent of the indie and country feeling of her first breakout album, Thick Skin (2018). Accompanied solely by her childhood guitar teacher and very close friend, Tommy, the chemistry between them musically and emotionally was electric. The depth of sound they were able to produce made it easy to forget there was only their voices and two guitars.
Tia’s discography feels like intimate pages of a journal as Tia herself grows up. Her three albums explore questions around love, identity and sorrow in their own unique ways and perspectives. The concert felt like an alluring blend of these phases of Tia’s life as she bounced between songs from all three of her albums.
Throughout the night Tia moved beautifully through moments of light and dark in her music and her stories. Sharing with the audience how her dad promised to get her a cat if she wrote a hit single, the resulting “Vague Utopia” was a highlight of the night. And yes, her dad did come through with the promised cat!
Other songs, such as “Hunger”, touched on feelings of the Tall Poppy Syndrome and not being accepted by friends in her small town.
Overall, the concert felt like a precursor to a new and exciting chapter in her music as Tia joked that she’s trying to sing “Early Twenties” as many times as she can before she turns 25.
Thanking the audience for taking all of her nerves away, Tia gave everyone a final wave before she said goodbye, leaving fans like myself to remark how quickly the time flew by with Tia Gostelow.
I will have to look up Tia Gostelow after reading this article. Thank you.