Words by Annette Geneva
Photos by Peter Mellows
Huge thank you to the Dark Mofo team!
This years Dark Mofo festival line up of music acts is incredibly varied. Some are perfectly suited to the festival, simply because they seem to exist in the same strange universe as the event itself. Blackwater Holylight are a perfect fit – a band whose music hovers somewhere between dream and nightmare stepping onto Odeon Theatre’s stage drenched in blood-red light during Australia’s most atmospheric winter festival – gave us an open invitation into that universe.
The crowd filling into the Odeon Theatre for an early 6:30pm start reflected that crossover appeal. There were the Dark Mofo faithful, dressed in black and ready to disappear into whatever sonic ritual awaited them. Older art aficionados stood shoulder to shoulder with prog-rock devotees and curious music fans who had likely wandered in after hearing whispers about one of the most compelling heavy bands currently touring.
There was no support act. No warm-up. No easing into the evening. Just Blackwater Holylight.
As the theatre darkened, the stage glowed crimson, red and orange. Behind the band, visuals awash in shades of red and pink shifted and pulsed throughout the set, creating an immersive backdrop that felt equal parts lava lamp, séance and fever love dream. The lighting design could easily have overwhelmed another band, but Blackwater Holylight seemed to emerge from it rather than perform in front of it. They became part of the projection itself, silhouettes moving through colour, and that signature fuzz war pedal distortion.
Opening with How Will You Feel from their brilliant 2026 album If You Only Knew, the band immediately established the atmosphere that would define the next hour and ten minutes. It remains one of my favourite records of the year, and hearing those songs breathe in a live setting only strengthened that affection.
What struck me the most was how enormous the band sounded. On record, Blackwater Holylight already occupy a fascinating space between soft beauty and heaviness. Live, that contrast becomes even more pronounced. Imagine if Dolores O’Riordan fronted Black Sabbath. Or if The Cranberries wandered into a rehearsal room occupied by doom metal musicians and nobody wanted to leave. Eerie, otherworldly vocal harmonies floated above walls of fuzz, while massive riffs rolled through the theatre like distant thunder.
The band’s live presence was nothing short of dreamlike. Their performance maintains a curious distance from the audience. They’re present and commanding, yet there’s a veil between stage and crowd. Not complete absence exactly, but something more mysterious. That approach may not work for every band, but for Blackwater Holylight it’s essential to their identity. There was very little banter throughout the evening. No stories. No attempts to work the crowd. No forced moments of participation. Instead, the quartet let the music do the talking. And it spoke volumes.
A highlight arrived with Fade, a song that captures everything compelling about Blackwater Holylight. Beginning almost delicately before expanding into something far more powerful, – it demonstrated the band’s remarkable ability to balance fragility and force. Eliese Dorsay’s drumming provided the heartbeat throughout, anchoring the swirling interplay between bass and guitar while never overpowering the song’s emotional core. Around her, layers of effects pedals and feedback created vast sonic landscapes that felt simultaneously intimate and enormous. The song seemed to suspend time inside the Odeon.
Elsewhere, Heavy, Why? and Poppyfields showcased different sides of the band’s evolving sound. The former leaned into the more melodic and hypnotic side of their catalogue, while the latter embraced the darker, heavier textures that have become increasingly prominent in recent material. The setlist flowed effortlessly between moods and dynamics. Songs intertwined with one another so naturally that applause often felt secondary to the continuous spell the band were weaving. That’s perhaps one of Blackwater Holylight’s greatest strengths as a live act. Many bands build sets around peaks and valleys, dramatic pauses and crowd interaction. Blackwater Holylight approach things differently. Their performance unfolds like a single composition. Individual songs emerge from the haze, reveal themselves briefly, then dissolve back into the larger whole. The transitions are seamless, almost hypnotic. A lot of shoegaze bands do this of course, but this one felt somehow different. More Hope Sandoval and less My Bloody Valentine.
By the midpoint of the set, the audience appeared completely locked in. Despite operating within genres that can sometimes feel inaccessible or niche, Blackwater Holylight possess an unusual ability to hold attention. Perhaps it’s the strength of the songwriting. Perhaps it’s the sheer quality of the musicianship. Or maybe it’s simply that authenticity remains impossible to fake.
As the set progressed, the band gradually turned up the intensity. The heavier influences that lurk beneath many of their songs began pushing further toward the surface. Riffs landed with greater force. The distortion thickened. The atmosphere became darker and more immersive. Yet even at their heaviest, melody remained central to everything they did.
After approximately seventy minutes, the band stepped offstage briefly before returning for an encore that leaned decisively into the heavier end of their catalogue. It was a smart decision. The encore felt like the logical conclusion to everything that had come before. If the opening songs invited the audience into the dream, these final moments revealed the darkness hiding beneath it. The riffs became larger. The tension increased. The red glow surrounding the stage seemed somehow deeper than before.
Then, almost as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. By 7:40pm, Blackwater Holylight had delivered one of the most sonically immersive performances of this year’s Dark Mofo. In a festival built around darkness, mystery and transformation, Blackwater Holylight were a perfect addition. Their music exists in the liminal space between shoegaze and doom, between beauty and menace, between waking and dreaming.
For a little over an hour inside the Odeon Theatre, Hobart disappeared. The outside world disappeared. There was only red light, music and the feeling of floating somewhere beautifully strange.
***
Blackwater Holylight Australian Tour Setlist
- How Will You Feel
- Morning After
- Fade
- Involuntary Haze
- All I Need (Radiohead cover)
- Torn Reckless
- Silence/Motion
- Heavy, Why?
- Giraffe
- Poppy Fields
- Void
- Fate Is Forward
- Wandering Lost
- Bodies
- Spades
GALLERY
