10 YEARS OF HOOPS: THE RUBENS CONCERT REVIEW

Happy 10th anniversary of Hoops, The Rubens’ award-winning album which boasted a title track that topped Triple J’s Hottest 100 in 2015. To celebrate the longstanding impact of the album and its 2025 re-release, the band is hosting a run of gigs and tonight we’re on the beautiful Gold Coast to see Hoops (and hopefully more!). Joining them to celebrate the milestone album is local band, Friends of Friends, and we’re excited to see what’s in store!

So without any further ado, this is what happened at The Rubens’ 10 Years of Hoops show at the Coolangatta Hotel on October 25th, 2025.

FRIENDS OF FRIENDS

The Gold Coast band taking to the stage first tonight was Friends of Friends, who performed as a three-piece with Barnaby Baker (lead vocals, guitar), Frank Christian (guitar) and Morgan Blake (drums). The band was so fun to watch, with a Y2K presentation reminiscent of your favourite heartthrob boy band from the 2000s, in camo print and rusty shirts with references to the quirky nostalgic romance of Jack and Sally (or blink-182’s song about Jack and Sally…). Their music was the natural evolution of the similar garage rock sound that never fails to inspire a crowd to dance along, complete with heavy, hard-hitting drum beats and melodic, emotional guitar. Friends of Friends’ lyrics delve into the frenetic emotional ride of youth, the complexities of liking and craving to be liked back, the idealism of it all when you’re in a moment of feeling.

Fave song: I Like Ya

THE RUBENS

It’s been just about a year since I last saw The Rubens play at The Fortitude Music Hall and, to be completely honest, I was getting restless. They’re the type of band I’d see at least once a year in an ideal world, but that’s coming from someone who has no genuine understanding of the work and time that goes into the full cycle of being a musician. If anything else, it is a testament to how phenomenal their music is and the immense satisfaction there is in hearing it live, singing along with The Rubens from the crowd!

The band opened their 10 Years of Hoops show with the closing track of the namesake album, The Fool. The crunchy guitar and comically tragic love song sets an exciting tone for the evening, setting the tone for a set with some surprising inclusions (and omissions). I was expecting a lot more of the set to consist of the tracks from Hoops, but the tour seems more like a means to celebrate everything that contributed to and came from the album. What I love about The Rubens is how much their style has evolved in the last decade – the sonic experience I got listening to their debut album as a moody teen feels completely different to the upbeat, cinematic rock that frequents so much of their recent albums. The Rubens’ ability to showcase a such a range in their music is one of their most effective strengths, to me.

Getting My Gun out of the way quickly, we dove into those pieces that feel lighter as the instrumentals weave around each other but bittersweet in thematic tone – God Forgot (one of my favourites (but catch me saying that about most of the discography)) and Pets and Drugs. I’m going to be so honest here… Lo La Ru is one of my favourite albums of all time and I’m kind of sad we only got one track from it! That being said, we did get a healthy dose of 0202 and Soda, such as Cornerstore, Sunday Night, Muddy Evil Pain (which is so much fun to dance to in the crowd!) and the really sentimental Thank You.

Midway through the set we got some exciting news in the form of an unreleased song, one of a few I think The Rubens have been working on for an upcoming album. We got a sneak peek of Are You Getting High which has the same type of grit and edge to it as the self-titled and Hoops-era tracks, an exciting indication of what’s to come. The band continued to bring us on that darker journey with Good Mood, allowing time for the tension and energy to build up for Hallelujah which had the band going wild on stage and the crowd going wild on the floor.

The night was coming to a close too soon, as we acknowledged the song that started it all, Lay It Down. The Rubens are cool and to the point. I’ve seen them forgo the pomp and circumstance around an encore before (not that it isn’t fun for us to play into the charade!) and tonight they cut straight to the chase to close out the show with the song everyone wants to hear, Hoops. It’s obviously had an incredible impact on the band and Australian music. In the last decade, only half of our Hottest 100s have been topped by Australian artists, making The Rubens one of the most recent local homegrown acts to receive that accolade, beating out other winning acts like Kendrick Lamar and Tame Impala in the same year. That’s no small feat.

Yet, to me Hoops is so different to what’s come since then. There’s still these similar dark undercurrents and heavy, moody rock elements in a lot of the songs released on the last three albums. But it’s measured and balanced, with so many lighter, freer-feeling tracks that uplift and encourage in their sound. You can create and admire both, but I do recognise this marked difference and continued exploration of the rock genre and how it can carry its message to a crowd of listeners. The real closing song is one of their latest singles, Black Balloon. It’s another powerful rock song, with a cinematic quality, that leaves the audience begging for the band’s return before they’ve even left the stage.

Fave song: Masterpiece

SOUNDS GOOD?

I’m already looking forward to The Rubens’ next show and new music (when am I not?), but in the meantime I’ll be getting my fix by listening to their past releases and some of these bands I think have a similar great indie-rock sound:

Ball Park Music – If you like the heavier, darker rock sounds of The Rubens, Ball Park Music has plenty of headbanging rock songs too! If you like the upbeat, danceable tunes of The Rubens, Ball Park Music has plenty of let loose dance songs too!

Gang of Youths – Gang of Youths has that same unrestrained rock quality that makes for a great performance and a better crowd experience moving your body to the music in a way that feels incredibly cathartic.

Boy & Bear – Boy & Bear has a steady beat, similar instrumental flourishes and a fun rock sound with catchy lyrics you’ll soon be singing back. They create a great show atmosphere, but have more of a country quality to their sound that adds a lot of fun!