Gig Review: Sepultura + Hidden Intent + Deprivation at Princess Theatre, Brisbane

Live review: Sepultura, Hidden Intent and Deprivation at Princess Theatre, Brisbane, Monday, December 4 2023

By DAN SOUTHALL

BRISBANE’S Princess Theatre has a long and storied history but strangely enough this intrepid reviewer has never stepping into the historical venue. From rich beginnings, it has been getting passed around like an unwanted pet until landing in the secure hands of a group that also runs The Tivoli. Enough history lesson. We are here to rock.

And rock we do as openers DepriVation waste no time hitting the stage with their groove orientated heavy sounds, getting the pit excited and moving early. This band has been around in one form or another for a long time now and their stage presence shows it.

South Australian thrashers Hidden Intent quickly show what they are made of, bringing the end-of-tour thrash party with them. Whipping the pit into a frenzy more than once, guitarist Phil Bennett’s one-man circle pit on stage ensures the floor has to keep up. As if the band have to prove themselves any more, they finish up with a rip snorter of a cover of “Angel Of Death”, leaving us struggling to catch our breath before the headliners.

Sepultura played a great set at Good Things only the day before this gig but show no signs of slowing down or taking it easy as they hit the stage with all the energy of a band half their age. “Isolation” from newest album Quadra gets a few moving, but the venue starts to heave when the band kick into “Territory”, as you would expect. Despite getting the biggest reactions to the expected classics, Sepultura aren’t just a nostalgia act as they weave more modern tracks in, focusing on Quadra in particular. Being the biggest album the band has years, it was awesome to see. Derrick and Andreas did both hint from the stage that there may just be something in the works for a tour of just the early material. But who really needs that when the band can hit everything as well as they have tonight?