Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineJune 11, 2026gallery, live, melbourne, Matt Corby, Michael Prebeg, Monique Pizzica

Matt Corby @ Forum Melbourne 09-06-26

Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineJune 11, 2026gallery, live, melbourne, Matt Corby, Michael Prebeg, Monique Pizzica

photos: Monique Pizzica @moniquepizzica
words: Michael Prebeg

Support act Gretta Ray delivers a warm and heartfelt opening set that perfectly complements the evening’s emotional tone. Ray’s commanding vocals and conversational stage presence quickly winning over the audience. Her songs carry a reflective vulnerability that softens the room as she starts out with a song from her second album, ‘Positive Spin’ called ‘Dear Seventeen’ – a letter from her 23-year-old-self to her 17-year-old self. “It’s very entertaining to me now, because I'm 28,” she laughs.

She channels her diva energy as she re-visits a song written closer to the time when she was actually 17 from her EP called ‘Elsewhere.’ Ray describes it as a little pre-career folk time capsule that holds a unique confidence and sass from her teenage years.

“It’s so much fun getting to open this beautiful show and then come back on stage as part of Matt Corby’s band,” she tells us excitedly. “Matt and I have also made an album together. He has co-produced the album along with Japanese Wallpaper,” Ray announces eagerly. “We worked on it earlier this year at Matt’s beautiful Rainbow Valley studios and I just learned so much as a musician, as a singer, and we just had the best time.”

She shares a brand-new song coming out this week called ‘Swimming, Crying’. “I got very sick a couple years ago and there's just been a lot of grief in my life. I wrote it almost exactly a year ago when I was spending time in Sydney and swimming in the ocean every single morning and feeling pretty sad. The ocean was really holding me through that time,” she reveals.

Ray throws in a cover of Train’s ‘Drops Of Jupiter’, a song she reflects on frequently busking to in her younger days playing at the Coburg Mall and always gets the crowd going no matter where she plays it. To finish she plays her most iconic track ‘Drive’ which is now 20 years old but still resonates as strong as ever.

Matt Corby announces that he thinks the Forum is “The best venue in Australia” and there’s truly no other venue more suited to host him. The atmospheric weight of his performance transforms the iconic theatre into something intimate and almost spiritual, balancing gritty blues, soaring soul and moments of complete stillness across a sprawling set that reminds the crowd why he remains one of Australia’s most compelling live performers.

Opening with ‘King of Denial’, he wastes no time pulling the audience into the moody, textured world of The Tragic Magic Tour. The Forum’s acoustics amplify every layered harmony and rumbling bass line, while Corby’s unmistakable rasp cutting through with power and precision.

‘Big Ideas’ follows, swelling gradually into one of the night’s first major singalongs. Corby has always excelled at making massive songs feel personal, and that dynamic sat at the heart of the evening. One moment he’s commanding the room with explosive vocal runs, the next he’s standing almost motionless, letting silence and restraint do the work.

‘No Ordinary Life’ and ‘Reelin’’ lean further into groove-heavy territory. Corby’s live arrangements often stretch beyond their studio counterparts, and these songs thrive in the extra space. Long instrumental passages give the performance a loose, organic quality that feel refreshingly unpolished in the best possible sense.

‘Resolution’ and ‘Know It All’ inject fresh momentum into the set, the latter showcasing Corby’s impressive vocal control as he effortlessly moved between falsetto and deep, bluesy growls. One of the highlights of the set arrives as Gretta Ray joins him on lead vocals up front on ‘Maker’ for an unforgettable duet of their powerhouse vocals together.

Another surprise is his Triple J ‘Like A Version’ cover of Tame Impala’s ‘Dracula’. The haunting rendition reshapes the track entirely, slowing it down and drenching it in smoky blues textures to really make it his own.

The final stretch of the main set was particularly powerful. ‘War To Love’ and ‘Locked In’ create a darker sonic territory, while ‘Souls A’Fire’ and ‘Miracle Love’ deliver the cathartic release the audience had been building toward all evening. Hundreds of voices join in and echo back every lyric, turning the Forum into a giant communal choir.

After a brief exit, Corby returns alone for a very unique encore as he stands beneath a spotlight. “I was shown a recording of myself as a 10-year-old by my dad a few months ago singing ‘Amazing Grace’. When I heard it, it just rocked me and brought me to tears immediately when I was listening to it. I don't know what it was, maybe it was just me, my young self, in its most pure form, just singing because I loved it,” he reveals. Corby goes on to play a duet with his 10-year-old self-showing the comparison of how his voice has changed and evolves overtime.

The emotional intensity continues with ‘Runaway’, before Corby closes the night with the inevitable crowd favourite, ‘Brother’. From the opening notes, the audience takes over much of the vocal load, singing each line back with enormous affection.