Northern soul from Brooke Combe, quietly simmering rock from Tommy Lefroy, provocative pop from San Francisco's Imperial Teen and more.

Northern soul from Brooke Combe, quietly simmering rock from Tommy Lefroy, provocative pop from San Francisco's Imperial Teen and more.

Northern soul from Brooke Combe, quietly simmering rock from Tommy Lefroy, provocative pop from San Francisco's Imperial Teen and more.

The State Theatre always feels slightly unreal at night. Gold detailing climbs the walls like something from another century, chandeliers hang impossibly overhead and the vast room seems built less for rock concerts than grand declarations. Tonight, that strange old-world majesty suits The Waterboys perfectly. More than a decade since their last Australian tour, the band return carrying forty years of mythology, reinvention and what was once called “The Big Music.” Before that, Ella Hooper walks onto the stage with easy warmth and zero interest in overcomplicating things. Best known as the voice of Killing Heidi, Hooper strips everything back tonight, leaning into the sharpness of her songwriting and the grain in her voice rather than nostalgia.