Tame Impala made up for lost time Monday (Oct. 27) at Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Barclays Center, as the Kevin Parker-led Australian band debuted nine songs from their new album, Deadbeat, at their first proper show since March 2023.
Performing in the round for the first time, Tame Impala was at times nearly drowned out by the screams of a younger female demographic — some of whom perhaps only discovered the band in recent years through Parker’s collaborations with artists such as Dua Lipa and Justice. Parker also professed to be suffering from some kind of illness (he was drinking Throat Coat tea throughout), but his voice rarely sounded strained throughout the two-plus hour, 24-song set.
During the first portion, Tame Impala alternated older favorites such as “Breathe Deeper,” “Elephant” and “Gossip” with more electronic- and dance-driven new tracks such as “Dracula,” “Afterthought” and “My Old Ways,” the latter of which benefited from a heavy, psychedelic breakdown during its midsection.
“So, as you might know, this is the first night of the world tour,” Parker said. “So that means it’s a pretty epic night, and there’s nowhere more epic than to kick this shit off than New York City. It also means anything can happen, and by that I mean for the better, but also, anything can fall apart at any moment, just so you know. But it’s all very exciting and electric.”
After “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” the band ran through an instrumental snippet of the new “No Reply” as the camera followed Parker off the stage, through a tunnel and then into a bathroom. Thankfully, the cameraman panned down to Parker’s shoes as the artist relieved himself. When he walked back into the arena, he sat down on a smaller platform at the back of the floor, which was encircled by lamps and synthesizers. Parker proceeded to play and sing the new songs “Ethereal Connection” and “Not My World” while at times laying flat on his back.
With the aid of confetti cannons and state-of-the-art lasers, the set revved back into rock’n’roll action with “Let It Happen” and “Alter Ego,” the lone song lifted from the band’s 2010 debut, Innerspeaker. To begin the encore, Tame Impala played Parker’s Grammy-winning Justice collaboration, “Neverender,” for the first time, then closed things out with the hit “The Less I Know the Better” and the seven-minute Deadbeat finale “End of Summer.”
Deadbeat is the follow-up to 2020’s The Slow Rush and debuted last week at No. 4 the Billboard 200. After Tame Impala’s fall shows conclude Nov. 17 in Los Angeles, the group will be back in action with a spring tour of Europe and the U.K., beginning April 4 in Porto, Portugal. Parker will also be on the DJ decks for three early December shows in Australia opening for Justice.
