Cate Le Bon Returns to Brisbane with Michelangelo Dying

Presented by Mistletone, Jet Black Cat Music & Open Season

Written by Tessa Fleur 

It was a cold Tuesday night, fragments of conversation drifted to me as I fell into step behind a young couple heading toward Brisbane's Princess Theatre, both wearing oversized black leather coats. "Dirt". "Jerome". They were placing friendly bets on what songs Welsh musician Cate Le Bon would play. It was a fitting arrival for her first Brisbane show in three years, marking her return after touring Pompeii in 2023. Tonight she was bringing her fifth studio album, Michelangelo Dying, released in September 2025. 

The theatre filled slowly with pairs of parents and their adult kids, couples of all ages, groups of friends. The demographic diversity was cool to witness and it made immediate sense, Cate Le Bon’s brand of surreal avant-garde alt-pop carries a sophistication that transcends a niche audience and attracts listeners from various walks of life. 

Australian-British songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Hana Stretton primed the evening beautifully. Performing solo, perched on a high stool with her acoustic guitar and four-track Tascam recorder, she tastefully layered acoustic guitar over ambient sounds of nature and swirling wind. The theatre fell silent the moment her voice arrived. Her vocals moved like honey, delicate and wistful, but it was the restraint that made them mesmerising. Halfway through her set, she introduced her friend, London-based musician, Alice Burrow, to join her on stage; they sang five songs from Stretton’s new and upcoming body of work. On songs like ‘Seagull’ and ‘Stay Involved’, Stretton and Burrow’s voices wove together in angelic, celtic-like synergy with hair-raising close-harmonies and echoing canons that drew the crowd deeper into the moment. Throughout, Stretton used her breath as a percussive element between vocal phrases. Her experimental, ethereal folk style was captivating and a masterful opener that set the perfect tone for what was to come.

The theatre was moderately filled. Eager Cate Le Bon fans sat cross-legged at the stage barricade. The black curtain parted, a white, semi-translucent backdrop came into view, the stage was lit in glowing pink and purple with white silk and tulle draped across the stage, looking as if a cloud had settled its way into the Princess. A phantom voice sang "Woman of the world, take over... Men have had their shot, and look at where we've got." Murmurs of excitement and chuckles rippled through the crowd before the six-piece band emerged from the wings. The band stood in coordinated white attire and Cate Le Bon herself commanded immediate visual attention in her low-slung knee-length culottes paired with knee-high black boots. 

The band launched into ‘Jerome’, her debut track from her latest album, delivering a full-bodied sound with striking presence. Her voice cut through boldly and she moved with such avant-garde rockstar prowess with her hands articulating the surreal imagery of her lyrics. The lighting design amplified this, there was no direct spotlight, instead casting the band as silhouettes, drawing focus to her physical expression, which evoked Lynch-like surrealism.

The band moved through a 17-song setlist with little pause between tracks, building momentum throughout. Sitting on the mezzanine level, what became most evident was the meticulous coordination of her band, and most notably, her two guitarists, shifting between guitars and saxophones, with one also swapping to the marimba. On ‘Home To You’, one of Cate Le Bon’s most beloved tracks, the iconic marimba melody opened the song and the crowd erupted into movement, bodies dancing as the groovy bass rattled through the theatre. Later, on ‘Mothers Magazine’, the full scope of the band's multi-instrumental range reached a climactic high with two of her guitar players switching to saxophones and playing in tandem. Her band operated with world-class coordination throughout, supported by the incredible sound design of engineer Oliver Miles.

For the encore, Cate Le Bon graced Brisbane with two final songs. She re-entered with ‘Ride’, delivering some of her best vocals of the set, one of her most expansive moments was her raw belting of her upper register during the song's outro. The crowd swayed in unified awe. She closed the set on an up-beat track, ‘Remembering Me’, thanking the Brissy crowd one last time before stepping off stage, allowing the band to soak in the evening's crescendo before the lights faded. 

This was Cate Le Bon’s second last show of her Australian tour which included performances at the Sydney Opera House for Vivid (LIVE) and Melbourne Town Hall for RISING festival.