Ball Park Music are currently taking their Like Love tour on the road, hitting regional and major city stages.
Ball Park Music graced Barwon Heads Hotel for the first time on Saturday night, creating waves of euphoria for all who saw it.
The Brisbane indie pop outfit delivered a transcendent performance that will ripple through fans’ hearts well into the week ahead.
Ball Park Music tour dates
- Friday 18 July – The Station SC, Birtinya
- Saturday 19 July – The Power House, Toowoomba City
- Sunday 20 July – Miami Marketta, Miami
- Thursday 24 July – Tilba Valley Winery & Ale House, Corunna
- Friday 25 July – Waves Wollongong, Towradgi
- Saturday 26 July – The Station, Jindabyne
- Saturday 20 September – SummerSalt Festival 2025, Torquay
- Saturday 27 September – SummerSalt Festival 2025, Tamborine
- Sunday 28 September – SummerSalt Festival 2025, Speers Point
- Saturday 4 October – SummerSalt Festival 2025, Australia Plains
Check out our gig guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
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Peach Fuzz and Bean Magazine
Ball Park Music found perfect support from Melbourne’s up-and-coming indie rock band Peach Fuzz. They scored hosts of new fans (including me!) with their dreamy vocals and searing guitar riffs.
The crowd also witnessed Brisbane-based Bean Machine warm up the venue with mind-bending instrumental rock. It had the proud Torquay Mums crew dancing throughout their set.
Countless fans squeezed into the intimate Barwon Heads venue like sardines as Ball Park Music’s arrival approached. The crowd proved vibrant and diverse, speaking to Ball Park Music’s long presence in the Australian indie pop scene. Their ability to create transgenerational music captures many hearts with soulful, relatable lyrics and catchy choruses that feel like warm hugs and cold ocean dips all at once.
Front man Sam Cromack cruised onto the stage to warm crowd welcome, sporting a blue and white Peach Fuzz baby tee in support of his opening act. Cromack later acknowledged he doesn’t typically opt for this size but felt “sexy as fuck” in it all the same. And to be fair, he wore it well.
BPM
Ball Park Music opened with their acoustic ballad Like Love from their newly released eighth studio album. The band followed straight after with another gem from the new album, Please Don’t Move to Melbourne, and self-affirming track Exactly How You Are from their album Good Mood. Some crowd members sprayed lyrics (and spit) with great enthusiasm as the show steeped itself in themes of love.
The start of the show was steeped in themes of love, with the band metaphorically and literally opening their arms to let us all into the Ball Park cuddle puddle for the evening.
Cromack’s stage presence proved second to none, combining a veteran’s calm energy with showman charisma. He had audiences hanging on every word, determined not to miss whatever moment of quick wit came next. This skill comes from 15 years of performing, and the engagement with his band felt warm as all members had their moment to shine. Their love for their craft was palpable.
Ball Park Music capped off this section with their 2020 hit It’s Nice to Be Alive. Cromack quipped that it was indeed nice to be alive after nearly choking on his “free fancy steak” provided by Barwon Heads Hotel before the show. The story had us in stitches. On a serious note, the magnitude of these lyrics felt tangible, with lovers singing to one another and friends swaying hand in hand.
This moment threw me straight back to swaying in the crowd at their 2011 show at Falls Festival, one of their earliest festival appearances, where they first captured my heart.
The middle section saw audiences enter deep into the alt-rock scene with absolute tracks Head Like a Sieve and Cherub. Cromack’s vocals appear to gracefully fall from his mouth with little effort, showcasing a tone and projection so unique it has served as their calling card since their debut album Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs first burst onto the Australian music scene.
Ball Park Music
Ball Park Music concluded this part of the set with their certified-platinum single She Only Loves Me When I’m There before briefly leaving the stage.
The crowd cheered for one more song and gratefully received two more. First came their gorgeous family sing-along Overwhelming Sound from their new album. The band crowded around a solo microphone with arms around one another. An overwhelming sound.
A quick shift of gears from Cromack had him asking the crowd if they were feeling horny ( with some shouting “YES!” and others staring awkwardly at the floor), leading straight into their famous Sad Rude Future Dude lyrics that had the room chanting along.
“I haven’t had a friend in years, I only have sex with myself, I don’t know where it went, but all my love is gone”.
Only Ball Park Music could have a room of 18 to 60-year-olds screaming these lyrics with their full chest.
It’s true, our BP was through the roof and our heart was beating to the rhythm of BPM. It’s certainly clear, Ball Park Music love what they do, and we love them for it, too.
Ball Park Music now head to their home state of Queensland for shows over the coming weeks, with their first stop being Birtinya.
They return to Victoria in September for the SummerSalt Festival series.
The Surf Coast will welcome them back with open arms.
