Review: Stand Atlantic at Metropolis Fremantle

Stand Atlantic at Metropolis Fremantle
w/ Knuckle Puck
Sunday, November 1, 2026

Stand Atlantic brought a healthy dose of pop-punk chaos to Metros Fremantle on Sunday, delivering a set that emphasised exactly why their fifth studio album GODBREATH has earned a number one spot on the ARIA charts.

First up were Chicago five-piece Knuckle Puck, who had joined Stand Atlantic as support act for the whole Australian tour. Returning to Perth for the first time since touring with The Wonder Years back in 2016, they delivered a high-energy set that got everyone going with their pop-punk and emo sounds. The crowd threw themselves into it with plenty of circle pits throughout the set as they delivered a mix of old and new songs, including Untitled, No Good and Want Me Around. And if you’re wondering, yes, the band’s name IS inspired by the ice hockey shot from The Mighty Ducks films, specifically spotted on a Stick to Your Guns t-shirt that read “Knuckle Puck Crew.”

Stand Atlantic took the stage next, immediately setting the pace with recent release Lucid before getting the crowd singing along at full volume with 2018 fan favourite Lavender Bones. Bonnie Fraser’s vocals and natural stage presence sat front and centre through NEXT2U and teeth, and the crowd wasted no time finding its voice by belting out every word. The older material also got plenty of love, with CRIMINAL and switchblade ticking off the nostalgia checklist.

This night, however, was certainly GODBREATH’s moment, with the band pausing to celebrate the album’s chart success, calling the achievement “so cool” before launching into the track of the same name.

The night then took a playful turn: beach balls rained into the crowd for Sex on the Beach, from the album WAS HERE, and the room turned into a school playground. Adults of all ages batted the balls overhead, clapping along and screaming their appreciation, a cute little childlike moment in the middle of Metros chaos.

GIRL$ came next, with Fraser inviting what looked like a hundred girls onto the tiny stage to jump around. The track was already a crowd favourite, but filling the stage with fans made it feel like an authentic celebration of the new album’s success.

Beneath the cheeky antics, Fraser revealed a more vulnerable side. She admitted she’d been unwell, a candid glimpse into the less glamorous realities of touring, especially with a US run only a couple of weeks away. Her illness was noticeable, but she powered through and never let it hold her back.

That honesty carried into Skinny Dipping, stripped back to just Fraser and David Potter on guitar. Without the band’s full weight, the song took on an intimate air, letting its themes of sexuality, vulnerability and self-acceptance breathe. It was a beautiful shift in atmosphere, proving the band can hold a room just as easily without turning everything up to eleven, especially with a track that introduced so many in the audience to Stand Atlantic in the first place.

LOVE U ANYWAY and NOSE BLEED brought the energy roaring back, both tracks from GODBREATH, the latter producing another memorable moment as Fraser turned her back to the audience. Her unconventional approach to stage engagement felt entirely natural: never doing quite what you’d expect, but always keeping the crowd involved.

The communal energy carried through pity party, as inflatable boats sailed over the audience for some crowd surfing, another wonderfully ridiculous addition to an already eventful evening. Hate Me (Sometimes) and EDGE OF VEGAS powered through the final stretch before the encore.

And what an encore. In a voiceover designed to impersonate a phone assistant like Alexa or Siri, the crowd was robotically told to “open up the pit” if they wanted the band to return. Another repetition of “open up the pit” was all the encouragement needed.

Rather than watch the chaos from the stage, Fraser somehow slipped into the pit herself, launching into banger Coffee at Midnight from within the crowd itself. It was a fittingly unpredictable start to the encore, with deathwish closing out the night and sending the crowd home with smiles on their faces.

Loud, silly, occasionally sentimental and unapologetically authentic, Stand Atlantic’s Fremantle show was a little bit of everything. From beach balls and inflatable boats to the vulnerability of Skinny Dipping and Fraser vanishing into the pit, the night never felt polished or rehearsed. It was a reminder that the best live shows aren’t about getting every moment right. Sometimes they’re about singing through a sore throat, throwing a few beach balls around and screaming along to favourites both old and new.

NEVE PEARCE

Photos by Mikaela James