Tropical Fuck Storm at the Theatre Royal
9 November 2025 in Castlemaine, supported by Lost Animal and The Electric Heads.
Eating pizza at the Theatre Royal bar before the show, I noticed a series of grommies walking in carrying instruments and said, I bet one of the supports is local schoolkids. Right I was. The first support, The Electric Heads, was a band of 14-year-olds playing metal originals. Awesome. Things are off to a good start.
One good thing about having teenagers playing is there were lots of really young people in the crowd, too. And you know what that means: lots of short people! Hooray! I had two rows of people standing in front of me and they were all—yes, all—shorter than me. Wild.
The second act was Lost Animal which was a dude with big frontman energy and his more musically accomplished friend. And they were excellent, with such quality songwriting and delivered with energy. I enjoyed the heck out of it and I hope to see them again.
The bar and brewery next door to the Theatre Royal had made a special batch of Tropical Fuck Storm Bitter tins as well as Tropical Fuck Storm footy shorts (proudly made in Bendigo). What I'm trying to say is there was a very strong merch game going on. We bought a copy of the new album Fairyland Codex on vinyl.
The band themselves...and yes we did go and see them only last week...well they were bloody great. It was so fun to watch up close and see how their angular chaos barely stays together (by design). They're just a top-tier band and everyone should see them.
And my final raving goes to the venue itself. It always sounds great at the Theatre Royal and even when a show is sold out like this one, it never feels jammed in. And being in a country town the vibes are very casual and friendly in a way that doesn't really happen in the big smoke.
