The opening bands had just finished, and we were queuing up in the merch line to buy Weatherday’s first album, Come In, when the girls standing behind us started making conversation. They were very friendly, asked if my friend and I knew about a certain producer, and gushed about the openers. I asked them how they knew of Weatherday.  One of them said through the Car Seat Headrest fandom, then showed me her Twin Fantasy tattoo (which, as a Car Seat Headrest fan, delighted me). I then recounted to them how, at the start of March, my dear friend Rose messaged me, “Do you have any interest in going to Weatherday? They’re playing at Northcote Social in April”, alongside the link to Come In, how I listened to the album for the first time during a grim leg day and, between sets, replied, “seeing this live will probably change me on a soul level”, before immediately sending them money for tickets. Needless to say, I was pretty keen to see Weatherday, alongside the assortment of queers, emos, and proud septum piercing owners (not to imply mutual exclusion; many people were all three at once) who had made the trek to the Northcote Social Club. 

The openers had set the mood well. Mouseatouille, a 9-piece Melbourne-based band, were stunning with their soulful layering and candid lyrics. I was, in turn, surprised, then delighted by the number and diversity of instruments they had. I never thought a clarinet would hit me in the feels like that—it was the first time I had cried to live music—helping them to produce a sound that reminded me of earlier alt-rock acts like Bright Eyes and American Football. Next was Katie Dey, a Melburnian experimental artist bridging genres ranging from lo-fi to hyperpop to emo. Her crowd work was calmly awkward; we now know that her favourite fruit is banana and that she regretted wearing thermals on stage. Then, after a keen wait and a quick third beer, Weatherday made their entrance. 

Weatherday is fronted by non-binary Swedish musician Sputnik, who on this particular night was wearing aTwilight shirt and Asheville Art Museum cap. After some noodling and tuning, they announced, “We’re Weatherday, and we’re gonna perform some songs for you”, before jumping right into “Meanie”, a short energetic track from their 2025 album Hornet Disaster. Weatherday is known for their lo-fi sound, Sputnik making Come In using GarageBand on their laptop, so hearing the music played live with good instruments and respectable speakers was awesome. 

They followed up with “Cooperative Calligraphy”, one of my favourite songs of theirs. The vibe in the room was electric, bordering on frantic. Everyone was jumping up and down and screaming, “You made it easy to miss you” with Sputnik at the song’s outro, the guitars and drums filling out the small band room of the Northcote Social. At the end of the song, to our amusement, Sputnik said a cheeky, “Thank you, that song was called ‘Freebird’”. 

Sputnik’s irreverence and humour emerged through their crowd work, which was active, spontaneous and entertaining. They joked about how often they had to tune their guitar (four times during the set, to my count); their band started playing the intro to Jet’s pub rock classic “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”, which became another running gag; someone asked whether they were Team Jacob or Team Edward, and Sputnik gave the correct answer. Also, and this I particularly loved to see, Sputnik gave a heartfelt mid-set thanks to Mouseatouille and Katie Dey, saying, “it’s literally a dream come true” to have them open. 

At one point during the night, Sputnik commented that they loved the energy in the room. And it’s true, there was dancing around the edges of the crowd and moshing in the centre. Hardcore fans were lining the front of the small stage and passionately singing the lyrics back to them. It was all respectful though; twice, phones were lost then promptly returned to their owners in the mosh pit (although my friend Rose did slightly split their lip at one point!). The crowd knew how to have fun, but they knew how to keep the environment safe and respectful.

Weatherday finished with the crowd-pleaser “Porcelain Hands”, bringing the crowd to a frenzy with the iconic trilled riffs, aggressive drums and alternately screamed and clean emo. At the late end of the show, around 11:40 pm, we all seemed equally exhausted and elated.

Maybe it was just because in the last one and a half months, I’ve become a big Weatherday fan. Maybe it was hearing the music live. Maybe it was the crowd and the crowd work. But this was certainly one of the best concerts I’ve been to. My newly acquired Come In CD will be a treasured reminder of it for years to come.