Live Review: Alex Warren Delivers Stirring Finale in Perth
By Sheldon Ang
Alex Warren, 12 September 2026 – Finding Family on the Road at the RAC Arena Perth Western Australia
Baby Alex, at just six days old, appeared on screen in a clip narrated by the artist himself in the third person.
“Sing us a tune, Alexander… Hey, are you okay? You were a tough kid, you know that.” Alex Warren’s voiceover said to the toddler version of himself.
The family footage introduced the night and opened the show at the source of Warren’s songwriting. As images from his younger years flickered across the screens, the room settled into a quiet, collective anticipation, broken only by the occasional whistle and screams.
“What are you up to, Alex? Are you making music again? How old are you now, Alex? Are you going to the show?”
The screen faded away.
Heavy drums and bass kicked in, guitar riffs rang out, the white curtain lit up from the stage light, before revealing the stage. Confetti shot to the roof of RAC Arena as Warren opened with “Troubled Waters”.
It was a fitting beginning for a show built so heavily around family, grief and the fragile architecture of memory. Warren’s music often circles the people who made him, the losses that changed him and the childhood pain he has carried into adulthood.
It also gave scale to the moment. Only two and a half years ago, Warren played an acoustic set for about 20 people on a sailboat show on a canal. Last night, he stood before 15,000 fans in a sold-out RAC Arena, halfway across the world in Perth, Western Australia, on the final leg of a pretty much sold-out arena tour.
“Perth, this is the last show of my world tour. If I get emotional…”
It was a busy stage: ten musicians and backing singers, including a cello that deepened the ambience with its grounded, resonant warmth. Modern country was very much in the house, and it was no surprise RAC Arena was packed to the rafters.
From there, the atmosphere lifted into something close to a festival. It was cinematic viewing, with lighting sweeping the stage and across the packed arena. The crowd joined in on “Bloodline” and “The Outside”, answering the line “Give me a reason, give me a sign” with full-throated conviction. There was something gospel-like, almost devotional, in the atmosphere: a sense of hope driven straight into the crowd. The first three tracks moved at a brisk pace, and the audience screamed and sang every lyric back to him.
That early rush established the emotional expulsion: songs from the raw trauma phase, where grief, instability and childhood pain were rendered with startling immediacy, although the voracious vibe said otherwise.
Then there was a sense of rebirth in “First Time on Earth”, a track about understanding your parents as human beings: flawed, hurt, and trying their best.
“Dad, I think we did it” landed with a touch of poignancy, delivered like a double-edged sword.
“I lost my father at nine,” he said, yet the mood was not sombre. It was joyful, even celebratory, with Warren’s buoyant presence carrying those sentiments.
“I also write about loss, if you do not know. Grief is such a weird thing people don’t talk about. The next song, I want you to sing as loud as you can, so the people you have lost might be able to hear you.”
Not that it needed persuasion but the fans spewed more conviction as back up vocalists.
There were more tear-jerkers in “You’ll Be Alright, Kid”, as Warren spoke to the version of himself who grew up amid chaos, grief, instability and childhood trauma. The introduction was just his voice, unaccompanied, and it was there that the emotional connection embedded in his vocals became impossible to miss.
His vocals were not cluttered by instrumentation in Eternity, and for me, this was the finest part of the concert. In these moments, the gospel-like quality of his voice came fully into focus: deep, aching and cinematic, shifting from a fragile baritone into a powerful, soaring emotional release. It felt, at times, as though he was holding back tears.
Then the big screen showed a close-up of his face, tears visible as his voice began to tremble. Warren disappeared into the background while haunting harmonies echoed into the night.
It became the turning point of the night, shifting the show from performance into something closer to communal release.
After that release, Warren reappeared on Stage B, where the musicians gathered for a more intimate, unified section of the show. If the earlier set was defined by turbulence, power and emotional weight, delivered through louder, more cinematic production, the Stage B songs shifted the atmosphere entirely. They leaned acoustic and human, creating space to process the wound and transform pain into understanding.
He also embraced a local fan, Summer, who had lost six close loved ones and had been diagnosed with cancer at 16.
As if the night could not get any more poignant, Warren sat at the piano for “A Fine Place to Die” while the rest of the crew left the stage. His voice stretched and echoed across the venue, followed by a deep drop in the background as the arena lit up before he returned to the main stage.
The final act carried a different emotional charge from both the opening section and Stage B; it was about resilience and moving forward, and breaking free from the past.
Here, the show accelerated, expanded and reclaimed its energy, underlined by a full band introduction in which each musician took a solo with the swagger of rock and metal showmanship. Hope, catharsis and high energy took over. The heavier drums returned, and Warren’s vocals shifted from ache to power on songs such as “Getaway Car” and “You Can’t Stop This”. The lights blazed, the crowd rose to their feet, and by “Carry You Home”, fans were singing every lyric as the words beamed across the backdrop.
“Sing it!”
The joyous atmosphere lifted further as the entire crowd chanted “oooh, ooh, oh, oh, oh” during “Carry You Home”.
Perth also got a live debut on WILDCHILD.
Warren returned for a three-song encore shaped around release and emotional closure. It tied together the trauma of the opening act, the reflection of Stage B and the resilience of the final stretch, before ending the night with his biggest track, “Ordinary”.
As the opening guitar line rang out, the crowd erupted. It was “Ordinary”, a fitting finale for a song about longing for a simple, stable life after growing up in chaos. It’s Warren’s biggest song to date, and on this night, it felt like one of the biggest moments of his life.
The gospel power of his baritone carried the image, as though he had risen from the ashes.
Then, in a final return to the night’s opening image, Warren stood on Stage B and stared at the screen.
His narrated voice returned, speaking once more to the younger self who had appeared at the beginning.
“On presenting the Hughes Award… Congratulations on a great concert, and now bow…”
Indeed, take a bow Alex Warren.
“Hey kids, it’s your dad. It’s the last day of tour. I might not be able to do this again, so I want to show you something…” he said to his future children, before bowing to a capacity crowd of 15,000 fans under the confetti rain.
The story continued to the future.
For a show tour that was filled with grieving lyrics, it was a joyful night.
Main Stage
Troubled Waters — WILDCHILD (2026)
Bloodline — WILDCHILD (2026)
The Outside — WILDCHILD (2026)
First Time on Earth — WILDCHILD (2026)
Before You Leave Me — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
You’ll Be Alright, Kid — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Passenger — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Never Be Far — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Eternity (with Alyssa Grace) — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
B Stage
Catch My Breath — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Same Stars — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Get to You — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Fine Place to Die — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Main Stage
Getaway Car — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
You Can’t Stop This — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Carry You Home — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Save You a Seat — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
Burning Down — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
WILDCHILD — WILDCHILD (2026)
FEVER DREAM — WILDCHILD (2026)
Cry Wolf — WILDCHILD (2026)
Encore
Emerald Eyes — WILDCHILD (2026)
Dancing Queen (ABBA cover, Tour prank song) — Cover (1976)
Ordinary — You’ll Be Alright, Kid (2024)
About Sheldon Ang Media: Sheldon Ang, photojournalist, writer and the founder of Perth-based Sheldon Ang Media (est. May 2022) has been accredited to over 250 of the hottest acts including Taylor Swift (ERAS Tour in Sydney), Coldplay (Perth), AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, Iron Maiden, RHCP and P!NK with reviews shared by the likes of Belinda Carlisle, UB40, Delta Goodrem, and Roxette. He has interviewed the late Ace Frehley (KISS), Suzi Quatro, John Steel (The Animals), Frank Ferrer (Guns N Roses), Phil X (Bon Jovi), Andrew Farris (INXS) plus over 100 artists. He’s also a contributor on Triple M Radio as a music journalist.
