La Dispute - No One Was Driving The Car Tour
La Dispute - No One Was Driving The Car Tour
An hour before doors opened at 170 Russell the line already stretched down around the block. The eager queue in the heart of Melbourne spoke volumes about the devotion surrounding tonight's lineup, a night tied together by a shared sense of place and urban anxiety.
Opening the night local group Craning delivered a set that was equal parts abrasive as it was heartfelt, their blend of punky industrial energy felt distinctively eerie, capturing the tension and noise of the concrete jungle. It was a sharp uncompromising start that grounded the room in Naarm’s own brooding local soundscapes.
Next up, travelling down from Brisbane, Special Features bought an imposing level of technical prowess to the stage, razor-sharp and exceptionally heavy, their set was hard to categorise into a single subgenre but their mastery of their instruments was unmistakable.
They shifted the energy in the room into overdrive. Proving why they are one of the most compelling heavy acts emerging from the north of the country.
Across the globe, post-hardcore has always relied on a distinct sense of geography to anchor its emotional weight, while local acts like Craning and Special Features capture the immediate anxiety of our political climate and concrete surroundings, Michigan’s La Dispute have spent 2 decades treating the bleak frostbittenn landscapes of their home on anishinaabe land not simply as a backdrop, but more like a character in a spoken word tragedy.
Touring with their 2025 album No One Was Driving The Car, the 5 piece fronted by Jordan Dreyer alongside Brad Vander-Lugd, Chad Morgan-Sterenberg, Adam Vass and Corey Stroffalino, delivered a set defined by collective catharsis, moving through cycles of quiet stillness into sudden frantic burst of intense emotion. Dreyers vocal delivery felt less like a theatrical performance and more like a series of intimate raw diary entries being read to us, often ferociously.
There's a beautiful lack of posturing in La Dispute’s live presence, instead they focus on the deeply personal nature of their storytelling mirrored in the passionate energy of the crowd hanging on to every word, La Dispute’s album No One Was Driving The Car really resonates with people, and the show at 170 Russell last night was a testament to that. A collective struggle with time and place. And a voice of concern they played a couple of other songs, off other albums, such as King Park, a song that really hits with fans sending the crowd into a frenzy.
From Naarm to Meanjin to Michigan , each band proved that when music is deeply tied to a sense of place and lived experience , it creates a space for true emotional reflection.
Gallery https://musicfestivalsaustralia.com/event-photos/la-dispute-no-one-was-driving-the-car-tour
Thanks to La Dispute, Live Nation and 170 Russell for having us along.
Review and Photos by Lindsey Scott for Music Kingdom Australia
