Concert Review: Alex Lahey @ Songbyrd Music House (6/11/23)

Australia’s Alex Lahey gave the sold out crowd at Songbyrd Music House a very fine evening of alternative rock.

Alex jetted across the pond to tour for her third album, The Answer is Always Yes (via Liberation Music) released in May. The title comes from the concept of stand-up improv comedy, where every suggestion is accepted with a ‘Yes, and…’ response to keep the flow moving. This was the first tour she has headlined since 2019, but she did open for The Regrettes in DC last year.

She was extremely grateful for the love that the crowd was exuding, comparing the first time she performed in DC (at DC9 to about 15 people) and wondering what in the world she was doing with her life, to now selling out a venue like Songbyrd.

Having reviewed concerts for the better part of the last 10 years, it is rare that I get around to reviewing an artist three times, but here we are. This show is the third time I’ve appraised her concerts out of the four times I’ve witnessed her live. The previous reviews (2017 and 2019) seem like two lifetimes ago, so I felt that there would be new things to say, or new angles to pursue. What comes to mind is that Alex has grown a lot over the years; now more confident, with an even stronger voice.

She kicked off with “On the Way Down”, from the new album, about being jilted and taking your former partner down with you. It was a solid way to start the show, suddenly everyone was at attention and nodding along. We witnessed the first moments of the guitarist going bonkers, trying to win every guitar hero championship* by smiling and hopping around the stage.

Later came “You’ll Never Get Your Money Back”, which Alex confided was her favorite song from the new album. It is a fun pop rock song that speaks to not getting what you deserve in a failed relationship, and obviously they will keep your money on the way out!

Three members of her band joined on stage (Jeremy, Matt and Jessica), playing guitar, bass, and guitar respectively. Alex herself played multiple guitars during the set. She is from Melbourne, Australia and she started performing in 2011. In total, they played 14 songs, including eight from the new album.

Alex was over halfway through her tour at this point, and had a few stories to tell about other cities. Like in Columbus, Ohio the show had to be stopped because a women was trying to run over her boyfriend with a car, but she missed badly and ran into the band’s truck. Or when they accidently crashed the World Karaoke Championships in Denver, Colorado. Alex described the seriousness of it (offset by the often lack of talent), as ‘that was a deep scene.’

“Misery Guts” smacked our heads like a bottle thrown at an out-of-control punk show, giving us our very own ‘deep scene’. It was a great moment, maybe the best song of the evening, largely because the guitar shredding gave off faint whiffs of Nirvana, and Jeremy on guitar could not hold still. Or stop smiling.

She did play one cover, Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”, which she described as Australia’s National Anthem**, since this was a coming of age song for many in Australia.

After 12 songs, Alex let us know that this was about the time that she and the band would head off stage, wait for awhile while we cheered, and then come back to play two more songs. But she asked if it was okay if they just pretended to leave because ‘we don’t want to fuck with you DC!’ Since “The Answer Is Always Yes”, the instant crescendo of cheers was all they needed to get right back in the mix with the title track from the new album.

They ended with “I Haven’t Been Taking Care of Myself” from her debut album, 2017’s I Love You Like a Brother. The crowd got one last sing-along and a final furious head nod to a song about the deep craters we fall in after a breakup. The crowd shouted like we were in a karaoke battle amongst ourselves over the last line of the chorus, ‘I need to start taking care of myself’, but the true test was after Alex had led us through a choreographed part that came as the finale chorus, ‘Do da da, do da da Do da da do wah-oh!’, and somehow, someway I think we did handsomely.

Check out Alex’s new album (or any of the the three she’s released), and give her a chance next time she’s in DC. Her shows seem to get bigger every time, so next up is 9:30 Club?!

* Jokes, just jokes. He played well, but was extremely animated.

** It is not the real Anthem. Alex thought the current Australian Anthem is boring. Also, Natalie’s “Torn” is the famous, every knows version, but did you know it was first written and performed in 1995 by the LA band Ednaswap?

Setlist