Live Review: Jackson Dean at The Forum in Melbourne 2025
5 October 2025 at the Forum, Melbourne, Australia
Review by Jeana Thomas
Photography by Jeana Thomas Photography
The Forum has always been more than a venue – it’s a cathedral of sound, with its art-deco arches and star-spangled ceiling lending a sense of magic to any performance. On this night, Jackson Dean stepped onto that historic stage and transformed it into something wilder, more intimate, more untamed. What unfolded wasn’t just a country-rock gig; it was a lesson in how to marry grit and grace in equal measure.
The show opened under shadows: amber spotlights slicing through a haze of smoke as the first chords of Still Ragin’ reverberated through the venue. Dean emerged from the side, homburg hat pulled low, denim jacket with scuffed leather seams and boots that looked like they’d clocked more miles than most tour buses. He didn’t so much stride on as loom into view, instantly commanding the room.
Behind him, his band locked into a muscular groove and Melbourne was off on a ride through the backroads of Americana. The Forum’s ornate backdrop – gilded turrets and faux-sky – seemed to shimmer under the sonic weight.
Dean built the night like a narrative. The first act – Duct Tape Heart, Trailer Park, Fearless – was all horsepower and grit, the kind of songs that make the floorboards shake. His vocals here were rasped and reckless, delivered with that gravel-tinged timbre that feels as though it’s been carved from weathered wood.
But just when you thought it was all fire and thunder, he pulled it back. 1971 rolled in like a slow-burn dusk, its nostalgic ache landing heavy on the crowd. Wings offered a breather, Dean’s voice softer now, cracked at the edges, but carrying a warmth that made the theatre feel like a back-porch confessional.
Then came the punches. Heavens to Betsy tore through the air with a chorus that lifted every head skyward, a communal swell of voices ringing against the Forum’s cavernous walls. New tracks like Be Your Man and Hey Mississippi were unveiled with raw conviction – songs not yet polished, but brimming with promise.
The main set closed with Don’t Come Lookin’ and as expected, the place went off like a powder keg. Arms up, boots stomping, the floor shook as every lyric was hurled back at him in unison. It was the kind of moment that welds an audience to an artist.
The encore, with Heaven and Another Century, shifted gears once more. Here, Dean stripped it bare – just him, a guitar and the kind of voice that can hush a thousand people. The final note seemed to hang in the Forum’s vaulted ceiling long after he’d left the stage.
Dean’s vocal performance is what sets him apart. On the hard-driving numbers, he sings like he’s got barbed wire in his lungs – unfiltered, ragged, urgent. On the ballads, though, he pulls back, exposing a hushed vulnerability. There’s a control in his imperfection: the cracks don’t weaken the sound; they make it real.
In Another Century, his falsetto floated fragilely, barely tethered, yet perfectly placed. In 49 Tons, his voice was a freight train, barrelling forward, unstoppable. It’s that ability to pivot, to roar, to whisper, to hold a note until it nearly shatters, that made the Melbourne crowd lean in as much as they leaned back.
Fashion played its part too. Dean’s stage look was rugged, but deliberate: dark denim, worn boots, the ever-present hat, a bandana flashing red under the lights. His band mirrored him—earth-toned shirts, leather accents, the aesthetic of men who could just as easily be found at a roadside bar as under theatre spotlights.
The audience dressed to match the mythology. Cowboy hats mingled with Melbourne streetwear, sequined belts glinted next to denim jackets and boots – so many boots – stamped in time with the kick drum. The Forum itself glowed with deep blues and golds, lights rolling across the faux night sky ceiling, lending the whole night an otherworldly veneer.
If Melbourne audiences can be cool, tonight they were ablaze. From the opening bars, there was shouting, clapping, swaying and by the time Heavens to Betsy hit, the Forum was a choir. During Another Century, the hush was so profound it felt like reverence. Jackson Dean didn’t just play to the crowd – he played with them, feeding off their roar and their silence alike.
At the Forum, Jackson Dean proved why his name is being whispered as one of country’s fiercest young talents. He gave Melbourne a show that pulsed with dirt-road grit and cathedral-like grandeur, balancing brawling anthems with fragile confessionals.
By the time the lights came up, you didn’t just leave humming his songs, you left with the sense you’d witnessed an artist at the start of something bigger. For one night, the Forum became a crossroad and Jackson Dean stood right at its centre, unafraid to burn.
SUPPORT ACT: AUSTIN MACKAY
The Forum’s stage was still warming up when Austin Mackay walked out, guitar in hand and quietly began to shift the room’s energy. Support acts often battle with restless crowds, but from the first crystalline strum of his acoustic, Melbourne seemed to lean in. Where Jackson Dean would later arrive with grit and thunder, Mackay opened the evening like a slow dawn – gentle, unhurried, utterly assured.
Mackay is a songwriter who wears honesty on his sleeve and his performance proved it. His set was threaded with songs that felt diaristic – moments pulled from long drives, bruised relationships, and the ache of distance. There was no excess production, just a clean, ringing guitar tone and a voice that carried both fragility and weight. His vocals have a warmth that suits the Forum perfectly, a timbre that hovers between indie-folk earnestness and soulful grit. On softer songs he drew the audience into a hush, his falsetto quivering in the vaulted ceiling; on bigger choruses he let his voice stretch and roughen, revealing an edge that hinted at rock influences beneath the folk surface.
The highlight of the set came midway through, when he introduced a song written during what he described as “a hard winter.” The lyric was vulnerable, delivered with a quiet intensity that made even the bar chatter pause. For a few minutes, the Forum belonged entirely to him. Later, a more upbeat number gave the audience a chance to sway along, his rhythms pulsed with a coastal looseness that felt distinctly Australian.
Visually, Mackay kept things understated: a denim jacket thrown over a white tee, jeans cuffed at the boots, a style that matched the grounded quality of his music. He didn’t fill the stage with movement, but he didn’t need to. His presence was in the delivery, in the way he stood square to the mic and offered each song as if it were a personal conversation with the crowd.
As the set drew to a close, he thanked the audience with a humility that felt genuine, then signed off with a track that balanced melancholy with hope. The applause was not just polite, it was enthusiastic, the kind that suggested Mackay had left a mark.
By the time the lights shifted for Jackson Dean’s headline arrival, Mackay had done more than warm the stage, he had set a tone. His songs lingered, like the echo of a story you can’t quite shake and in that space, Melbourne discovered an artist worth remembering.
Sheldon Ang Media would like to thank Frontier Touring and Jackson Dean for the Media Accreditation.
Jackson Dean is touring across Australia. Tickets are available from Frontier Touring.
About the Writer: Originally hailing from Western Australia, Jeana Thomas now thrives in the vibrant city of Melbourne. Amidst the hustle of her role in a prominent teaching hospital, she also navigates the dynamic world of entrepreneurship as the owner of a medical transcription company. Beyond her professional endeavours, Jeana finds solace and joy in the rhythm of music, the allure of travel and the artistry of photography, with a particular passion for wildlife photography.
About Sheldon Ang Media: Sheldon Ang Media (est. May 2022) have been accredited to more than 200 of the hottest acts including Coldplay (Perth), Taylor Swift (ERAS Tour in Sydney), KISS, Iron Maiden, RHCP, P!NK and The Kid LAROI with reviews shared by the likes of Belinda Carlisle, UB40, Delta Goodrem, Roxette, Christopher Cross and the Wiggles on social media. The founder has interviewed rockers Suzi Quatro, Ace Frehley (KISS), John Steel (The Animals), Frank Ferrer (Guns N Roses), Phil X (Bon Jovi), Andrew Farris (INXS) plus over 70 artists. SAM is also a music journalist on the Triple M Radio network.
