Indie Australian singer-songwriter hannah bahng brought her act to New York City once more on her second world tour celebrating her recently released Misunderstood EP, stunning the crowd with her surefire stage presence and enrapturing sonic growth.
For hannah bahng, music is a holistic practice. Self-made in identity, self-represented by her own label Bahng Entertainment, and the composer of an entirely self-written discography alongside frequent collaborator Andrew Luce, bahng’s authenticity down to each note and line has drawn widespread attention and acclaim since her arrival on the indie alternative music scene in July of 2023.
Establishing herself with the release of her dual-single debut “perfect blues,” a track that lent its name to her adoring fanbase, and “OLeander,” which hinted towards tonal complexities that would carry throughout her future discography, bahng’s The Abysmal EP that followed in the spring of 2024 was accompanied by her first ever tour that allowed her to introduce venues across the globe to her hypnotic sound… including an evening in Manhattan’s own Mercury Lounge that I was lucky enough to attend myself.
Since Abysmal, it’s been nothing but upgrades for bahng. Releasing The Misunderstood EP on September 12, she gifted her blues with seven tracks that teemed with enrapturing haziness, raw vulnerability, and a slow but steady growth in intensity… and the announcement of a 27-stop tour through North America to boot.
Entering the main room of Irving Plaza, the excitement in the air was palpable. The Misunderstood Tour was no exception to bahng’s upgrades either, the stage kitted out with platform set pieces reminiscent of pool tiles that would later set the stage aglow in hues of blue a neon iteration of her mascot, Zymmie.
With bubbles of friends and strangers alike chatting amongst themselves near the stage while others tucked themselves along the outskirts of the venue to sit and exchange socials or, in one particularly talented blue’s case, rushing to put the final touches on an impressive piece of fanart, the wardrobe of the steadily growing crowd made for a sea of neutrals and blues… with a few notable exceptions. The Irving Plaza show was, after all, just a single sleep away from Halloween.
Among the crowd of fans swaying and singing along to the pre-show playlist of indie and bedroom pop goodness were a few familiar faces, including but not limited to Misa of Death Note, Finn from Adventure Time, a Blastoise (who would soon become an unsuspecting star in the evening’s show), and The Lorax, who caught my eye from the balcony in the midst of an otherwise preoccupied crowd in a moment that could only be likened to that of a baroque painting.
Soon enough, the clock had struck 8:00 p.m., beckoning the first act of the evening onto stage. Support for bahng’s Irving show came in the form of Frances Anderson, an indie pop act best described as sunshine incarnate.
Performing a combination of wonderfully warm acoustic tracks from her recently released debut EP Drown and covers that ranged from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps” (for those particularly gripped by their scrolling app of choice’s algorithm, the lyrics go “Wait, they don’t love you like I love you…” Yeah, that one!) to an iteration of Faye Webster’s “I Know You” that brought the entire venue to a standstill of breathless awe, Anderson jumped, twirled, and swished her hair with a beaming smile.
Having successfully warmed the stage, Anderson bowed off the stage to loving applause and cheers. Chatter slowly returned to the floor as folks sang and bobbed along to the likes of Paramore, Malcolm Todd, and beabadoobee from the speakers above, and before long… hannah bahng had arrived.
Bathed in the blue hues of the stage lights, bahng opened her set with “what never lived.” The first of a few then unreleased tracks I heard performed during the Abysmal tour, “what never lived” was bahng’s first venture into a slightly more grungy, drum-forward sound– one I sat agonizing over for weeks after the show, as it had immediately become my favorite track of hers and would remain unreleased for another two months– bahng truly pulled no punches. Given the venue’s nature as predominantly standing room the crowd was already on their feet in the most literal of ways, but as “what never lived” gave way to Misunderstood’s second pre-release single “Sweet Satin Boy,” people were on their feet.
With her blues properly in it now, bahng took a moment to lower the intensity with “tonight’s the night i die to a frank ocean song,” a track that maintained the enrapturing nature of her performance while allowing the crowd a moment to step back from dancing and jamming out in order to give their all to singing along. Continuing through Abysmal’s tracklist, “Vertigo” and the EP’s titular track lent themselves to quiet moments spent at the keyboard on stage right… which made “OLeander” all the more impactful afterwards.
“To me, when I go to a show, I really want it to feel like its own experience, and so I spent a lot of time working with the arrangements of the songs…” bahng would explain later on in the evening, a principle of hers that could not have glowed more than in “OLeander” and the rest of the setlist that followed.
In their recorded forms, “OLeander” and what I would consider its tonal sibling “raison d’être” share a sort of hypnotic ebb and flow, bringing me to moments spent on the beach well after the sun has set– a kind of coolness to the air and the sound that feels more comforting than chilling. Live, however? They had a punch. Rocking out on a guitar of her own alongside touring guitarist Liam Fennell and drummer Puma of Sunday 1994, bahng made true on her promise to make each track an experience.
Bringing on friend and co-star in the “Orchid / Flame” music video, bahng introduced her friend Sarah Roh who was set on a mission to find hannah’s Perfect Blue while she changed backstage for… mysterious reasons. After successfully having elected the blue in the Blastoise costume from the center of the crowd, Roh bid her goodbyes as bahng returned… in an Eevee onesie! The two delivered a killer dance performance as bahng covered the Pokemon theme song to raucous cheers.
The covers were far from over, however. Bidding farewell to the Blastoise blue with a hug, bahng told the crowd that it was time for them to “Get their ass up and dance!” as she launched into a killer cover of Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time,” reimagined to allow her and her band to positively rock out, lights red and guitar shredding.
Taking a moment to return to some original works, bahng performed a positively suave, poppy track titled “Malibu” complete with tambourine and a little boogy. With her sonic range already on full display, bahng took it one step further with the third and final cover of the evening in the form of Billie Eilish’s “WILDFLOWER.”
Described as a major inspiration of bahng’s, Eilish’s influence became crystal clear in that moment– not just in compositional tone but vocally as well. As bahng reached the upper end of her range her voice gained a slightly airy rasp that developed an astounding texture to her sound, something that allowed her to emulate the breathiness of “WILDFLOWER” all the more beautifully.
Shifting energies once more, bahng returned to her own discography for “IM ME AGAIN,” a track that was gifted an incredibly sharp edge and an astounding guitar solo in its live rendition. Leaning fully into the sonic grit being developed, bahng led her band straight into “POMEGRANATE,” whose rolling drums that opened the track and thrumming guitar that offered a constant undertone of intensity throughout left New York City blues positively breathless.
Taking a moment to thank the crowd before her final song of the evening, bahng balanced the perfect amount of gratefulness– “I truly just have so much love for you in my heart–” and lighthearted silliness– “And… like the Lorax would say,” gesturing to the Lorax a few rows back from the barricade, “Let it grow, let it grow!”
It was silly but warming moments like those that caught my attention the most. Since her first show in New York in December of 2024, her vibrant sense of humor had not changed… but the grace with which she handled the stage had grown tenfold. The pokemon references and lighthearted challenging and teasing of the crowd remained, but this time around bahng handled it with the attitude of a seasoned professional, managing to seamlessly crack jokes while maintaining an impressive stage presence throughout the evening.
Now officially in the “final” song of the evening, bahng and her band performed an invigorating rendition of “MISUNDERSTOOD,” concluding in a total blackout of the stage lights and the neon sign behind the trio as they swiftly exited stage right. Blues weren’t going to stand still, however, promptly exploding in cheers of “hannah! hannah! hannah!” …until the neon Zymmie slowly flickered back to life, bahng bounding back onto the now fully lit stage for “perfect blues.”
With the disco ball above spinning and refracting circles of light and every blue in the room singing, jumping, and beaming along without abandon, hannah bahng’s performance at Irving Plaza had come to an end. Vibrant, warm, and bubblingly joyful, concluding the show with her first ever release made the evening feel, well… perfect.
SETLIST: what never lived // Sweet Satin Boy // tonight’s the night i die to a frank ocean song // Vertigo // Abysmal // OLeander // Pokemon Theme (cover) // …Baby One More Time (cover) // RIBS (interlude) // raison d’etre // Orchid / Flame // Malibu (unreleased // WILDFLOWER (cover) // IM ME AGAIN // POMEGRANATE // MISUNDERSTOOD // perfect blues (encore)
Frances Anderson | October 30, 2025 | Irving Plaza
hannah bahng | October 30, 2025 | Irving Plaza
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