LIVE: BLEAK SQUAD + URSULA – Perth Festival, 8 Feb 2026

Shane | 10 February 2026 | Reply

LIVE: BLEAK SQUAD + URSULA – Perth Festival, 8 Feb 2026
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Perth Festival took a risk bringing Bleak Squad out for this year’s lineup: so called ‘supergroup’ they may be, but with only one album in the bank – and one which rather lives up to their name, being quite sombre in tone to say the least – many were wondering if tickets would sell, or the show would captivate enough attention throughout.

We needn’t have worried, of course, with Magic Dirt’s Adalita Srsen, former Birthday Party, Bad Seed & PJ Harvey bassist Mick Harvey, Dirty Three guitarist Mick Turner, and Art Of Fighting drummer Marty Brown all having more than enough experience in keeping the healthy crowd interested.

Local openers Ursula bring some ultra cool 90’s shoegaze vibes to their retro grungey garage sound, singers Ashby Ranson and Robbie Rumble providing diversity, riffs and rhythms which equally bludgeon and entrance during their well-received set.

On record Bleak Squad’s very good debut is sparse, claustrophobic and far from upbeat – what Adalita herself has described as a “noir-ish mood”. It may take a few listens, but there is also hope and light and joy in there, and live that came to the fore in a life-affirming way.

Album title track Strange Love is the opener, with Safe As Houses and Everything Must Change showcasing the density of the music these vets make together. It is said they just started jamming, all of them bringing in ideas, and before long the album’s songs had appeared, and it’s a unique sound they have found, Harvey’s secondary vocals working well with Adalita’s, though with her out front – the quintessential Aussie rock chick – with respect to Harvey, every time he takes a lead vocal seems an unnecessary sidestep.

A couple of numbers from Harvey’s solo albums are added to the mix – A Suitcase In Berlin and Cover Me With Roses – while their own World Go To Hell, Lost My Head and Melanie are very impressive.

Just to further engage, all this while the side of the dilapidated power station whose ground has been repurposed for the show has an animated drawing of a wolf – the Bleak Squad mascot of sorts – projected upon it. The shaggy ‘wolfie’ stretches, lies down, howls at the moon, providing an alternate focal point for the show.

Summer High – one of Adalita’s songs recorded with Magic Dirt & Rowland S Howard – kicks off the encore, before Bleak Squad close with latest single, Black & White.

If we’re going to apply labels to everything, perhaps ‘art rock’ is the best fit for this fascinating band. The show wasn’t a party – though there were good vibes; it wasn’t an obvious singalong – though having previously immersed in the album paid off with singing along to some of the catchier choruses; it certainly wasn’t a ‘greatest hits’ performance, with only the one album to feature.

What it was, undeniably, was riveting, engaging and memorable. Thanks for that, Perth Festival.