Packing out The Gov on a Thursday night, Ruby Fields took to the stage to celebrate the release of her latest album, Small Achievements. Playing the album in full, Fields’ captivating poetic lyrics, sweet voice, and electric band put on a magnetic show for a room packed with super-fans.
First on the line-up was Brisbane band Platonic Sex. The 3-piece band played a short but packed setlist, featuring songs from their recently released album Face To The Flywire, including “Shark Teeth” and “Impress You”. They also played old favourites like “Devils Advocate”, “Disappoint Another” and “Exhausted Competing for You”, all off their debut EP, Grip, and a cover of Wet Leg’s “Mangetout”, which was a crossover I never knew I needed.
They’ve achieved a unique sound of indie rock, with emotional lyrics and a garage-punk punch, featuring gritty guitar work and fun solos. Lead singer Brando, has incredible range and hits those high notes perfectly every time. The band did announce that they are relocating to Melbourne. They are hoping to do lots of local gigs once they are over there, so definitely catch them if you can.
Second act of the night, Mac The Knife, made an entrance when frontman Bryn Chapman Parish entered from side stage, taking no time to warm up, the 5-piece outfit from Sydney dove right into their first song.
Otherwise known as Spider from Heartbreak High, Chapman Parish exuded rock-star passion on stage, visibly feeling the music throughout his entire body, and his natural-born performer theatrics kept the crowd wrapped around his finger. Sporting black leather gloves and cat-eye sunglasses, the frontman hid behind a nonchalant disguise before picking up a Coopers beer bottle from the stage floor. “What is this?!” He playfully asked the South Australian crowd, “It’s delicious”.
The band put on an electric performance, warming up the crowd with their cathartic alternative rock. Chapman Parish’s deep vocal growl fits perfectly with the mysterious and edgy sounds of tracks “Icarus”, “Blood of My Blood”, their brand new single “Drowning In Honey”, and a blast from the past “, Wasteland”, their first ever release from 2016.
He also did not skimp out on crowd work, jumping straight off the stage and prowling through the audience. Mac The Knife not only got the people dancing, but they were also treated to an up-close-and-personal serenade by Chapman Parish’s vocals on the floor of The Gov.
Then it was time for Ruby Fields to grace the stage, beginning her set with the opening song off Small Achievements, “Dunny”. The stage was flooded with red lighting as Fields stood front and centre, mysteriously shadowed, gazing over her audience, speaking the eerily soothing stanzas of her spoken word poetry into the mic. The poem establishes the album’s backdrop with imagery of an “old country town” at “Aunties outback shithouse”, delving into a haunting Australian gothic atmosphere, as a searing, dissonant guitar riff splices through each sentence.
Fields and her 4-piece band then roared into “92 Purebred”, an indie tune that’s quickly become a very recognisable track off the album. Listed as a song “You Need To Hear” by Triple J at the time of the single release earlier this year, it was clear that fans have been thrashing this song since the entire room was singing their hearts out with her.
Fields played Small Achievements from top to bottom, throwing in some older songs of hers into the mix like “Ritalin”, “Dinosaurs”, a darker version of “I Want” where she experimented with passionate and emotional vocals, and “Kitchen” for the encore.
It’s clear that Fields incorporates storytelling aspects into her songwriting, and we were lucky enough to hear about some of the moments that led her to write the songs on her latest album.
“I wrote this album at quite a sorry time”, Fields spoke to the audience. “The world is in a very uncertain place, and I don’t know if we were designed as human beings to have this much comparison and this much shit constantly going on around us, constantly overwhelming our nervous systems. The idea behind (the album) was to show how we needed to find more excuses to value ourselves and celebrate the small achievements as big ones”.
Fields shared that she realised this after her friend Sharkey, whom she wrote “Mikey Echo” about, won a hole-in-one trophy at their local golf course. The trophy was placed behind the bar at the pub where they worked and was celebrated for weeks. The album cover is a photo of them both holding up the trophy.
From listening to her speak about each song, it became very clear to me that this album is an accumulation of experiences and trials and tribulations from a large and formative stage in Fields’ life, which she has channelled into music.
For the final song of the evening, Fields shared a bit about her writing process, which starts with her “writing songs in her bedroom, which start off pretty sad”. But then she takes them to the band, where they turn them into something different, adding guitar riffs and energising drums. However, she teased a side project she’s been working on called Sook which will showcase new songs in their original form, more stripped back, melancholic ballads.
After apologising in advance for “making everyone depressed”, she played a song she wrote about her mum and also about being a woman in the music industry called “All of her”, which was absolutely heart-wrenching.
The stripped-back performance of the song showcased her raw talent as a singer-songwriter and her ability to craft enthralling songs that evoke a strong emotional reaction from the audience. She wrapped dark, moody guitar chords around her poetic lyrics, which explored the sacrifices and societal obstacles that come with womanhood through the lens of a female musician, and also as a daughter, reflecting on the struggles the women in her life have faced.
Though I left The Gov holding back literal tears from Fields’s beautiful performance, I was also buzzing with gratitude for being able to witness it. One of my favourite things about going to concerts is being surrounded by people who are there because they genuinely love the music and the artist they are seeing and aren’t afraid to show their admiration. The crowd absolutely adored her, and she couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has supported her.
FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Image supplied by Ella Bruce
Attended on the 14.05.26 at The Gov, Adelaide