How BONJAH Went From Busking In Bourke St To Headlining The Hi Fi

When the four talented lads that make up BONJAH step on stage amid smoke and bright lights, and the room erupts in ear-splitting applause, you do have to give credit where it is due and genuinely admire just how far they have come in their music career.

Hailing from New Zealand, they crossed the Tasman in 2006, made Melbourne their home, and set to work in making our music-obsessed city prick up its ears and take notice.

And take notice we did.

Honing their craft as buskers on the iconic Bourke Street Mall, BONJAH first drew crowds of passers-by, and soon enough an ever-expanding loyal fan base emerged and followed their progress when they eventually swapped pavements for the well-tread floorboards of our beloved live venues.

Cut to eight years and three studio albums later, and the charismatic Kiwis are in the middle of their biggest national tour yet to promote their latest album Beautiful Wild.

Along for the party at tonight’s Hifi Bar show are fellow Melbourne-based supports Tully on Tully and Animaux.

Tully, a quintet that snares your attention with clear and stirring vocals and synthesiser-friendly alt pop goodness, tease early arrivals with numbers such as soon to be launched single ‘Two Birds’ and the melodious ‘Quiet Company’.

On an entirely different plane of cool is Animaux, who make picking up a brass instrument look like a lot of fun and have you wishing you’d joined the school band when you had the chance. Six guys and a girl get the feet tapping and shoulders shimmying in no time with their funk and brass fuelled jams and catchy lyrics, including notable highlights ‘(Why Don’t You) Listen To Me’ and ‘Questions and Exclamation Marks’.

BONJAH open their set with ‘Evolution’, the first single off the new album: a fine example if there ever was one to illustrate the band has firmly and successfully moved into the world of rock and roll.

Addictive guitar riffs, evocative lyrics, soul-drenched vocals and a highly charged energy make for an incredibly polished and tight performance with no detectable weak point throughout the entire set.

The now older and wiser members of BONJAH (Glenn Mossop- vocals, Regan Lethbridge- guitar, David Morgan- bass, Dan Chisholm- drums) certainly know what they are about as they weave in and out of the grittier new numbers such as ‘Blue Tone Black Heart’, ‘Big City Lights’ and ‘Honey’ that highlight lead singer Mossop’s captivating sensual huskiness and the band’s ability to create mesmerising riff-driven tunes in a near seamless marriage of blues and rock.

More gentle offerings such as ‘Spin With The World’ and ‘Somewhere Anywhere’ take long-time fans back to the humbler beginnings of 2009 album Until Dawn.

A nice little surprise was to be had when the raw and beautifully crafted crowd favourite ‘Go Go Chaos’ segues into, well, a dreamy cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ with bare-footed guitarist Lethbridge at the helm on vocals.

When it seems it is ending all too soon with title track of the latest album ‘Beautiful Wild’, Bonjah come out and kill it with an encore including their Like A Version styling of Lorde’s ‘Royals’ and leaving us wanting more of their new edgier sound with ‘Bullet In The Barrel’.

Crossing genres with ease, the boys exude a presence that fills every inch of the stage with a heightened buzzing energy that is hard to contain. With bone fide rock swagger and an incredible tangible connection between members, Bonjah take the audience on a musical voyage filled with aural and visual delights and have no trouble at all keeping the sea of bodies moving through the night.

The acoustic guitars may have been packed away to make way for electric guitars, but the fun music-loving vibe that first drew fans remains.

Check out the full gallery from the show here.

Setlist