We’ve tracked SAFIA from the beginning. From a tiny club on Oxford St in Sydney that is now no longer existent to huge festival stages around the country, they’ve gone from strength-to-strength in a relatively short amount of time.
In 2016, they played Splendour In The Grass and it felt like the true coming of SAFIA. A late afternoon set, saw them play to a packed tent that could barely fit another body in it. They didn’t even have an album out at the time and yet it was one of the strongest sets of the weekend. Two years later, they reprised their slot on the bill and showed even more growth with a superstar set built on top of a strong slew of songs.
This week, they released their illuminescent new song Starlight and announced their first headline tour in two years. With their songs getting more and more dynamic, these are set to be some of their most special live sets yet. To celebrate the announcement we jotted down our favourite elements of SAFIA’s live show.
Ben’s Voice
We knew it from the moment we heard Listen To Soul, Listen To Blues that Ben Woolner’s voice was something special. Live, he takes it to another level soaring to giddy heights. It’s never more apparent than when he’s taking on the acapella beginning of Embracing Me or giving us his feature on Peking Duk’s Take Me Over.
The Theatrics
If you go to a SAFIA headline show, you get to see all the bells and whistles. The music aside, a SAFIA live show is an impressive spectacle. With the woozy visuals and pulsating lights, the live set can sometimes feel like a trip into space. As the shows get bigger, the atmosphere just gets more and more impressive. We can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store this time around.
The SAFIA Festival Set
SAFIA are armed with songs poised to impress a festival set. It was never more apparent than at this year’s Splendour where they rolled out some of the biggest anthems in the Oz music scene right now. The bass in My Love Is Gone electrifies, Cellophane Rainbow floats on a cloud and Make Them Wheels Roll incites a mighty singalong. There’s something really special about those moments in a rowdy festival crowd.
The Euphoria
Euphoria is really the only way to describe a SAFIA show. Moments blend together and it all blurs into this giddy high. Their new song Starlight sounds euphoric already without even having heard it live but you know that it’s going to elevate to another level once it’s blaring from the stage. Together, Locked Safely and Embracing Me are the two current live moments that feel like they truly enter another dimension. It’s difficult to describe it exactly but the below video should help.
The Set-Up
If you’ve ever seen ODESZA live, you’ll know that a lot of the show revolves around the pair of them standing behind their drums, finding an impressive synergy. SAFIA have that same kind of chemistry together. When Ben is in the middle, Michael is on drums to the side and Harry is on guitar to the otherside, it’s an impressive site. They’re a tight band and the vision when they all come together, lost in the moment is special.
Check out all the details of SAFIA's upcoming Aussie tour here.
