No Joke, The Lights Went Out At The Sydney Opera House During Vivid

The Sydney Opera House had an ironic incident in the Concert Hall last night (June 3rd) for its final night of Vivid LIVE for 2025. While the venue itself was lit up from the outside, the stage lights inside went out during Japanese Breakfast‘s set around 9:45pm during a performance of the song ‘Slide Tackle’. What was originally believed to be an intentional part of the lighting design was quickly revealed to be legitimate, with a technician from the back of the room yelling that they were “working with the House to get the lights back on” as the band played on for another two songs.

After playing ‘Picture Window’ with only the overhead lights and a prop lantern, the band – who were making their Sydney Opera House debut – were escorted off stage for an unplanned intermission, which lasted 15 minutes. Unfortunately, when the band returned to continue with the show, the lighting issue had not been resolved. “The whole system is down,” said frontwoman Michelle Zauner to the sold-out audience following ‘Men In Bars’. Two songs later, however, the entire lighting system came back online midway through the band’s performance of ‘Kokomo, IN’. “That’s live music, baby!” Zauner remarked following a rapturous applause from the audience at the song’s conclusion.

Japanese Breakfast – ‘Picture Window’

At the time of writing, neither the Sydney Opera House nor Japanese Breakfast have publicly commented on the technical snafu. The band’s performance wrapped up a busy two weeks for the Opera House, which saw Sigur Rós bring their orchestral tour to the Concert Hall with three sold-out shows with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the final Australian performances from Anohni & The Johnsons, as well as Beth Gibbons, Miss Kaninna, Surprise Chef and Emily Wurramara.

Vivid Sydney will continue on until next weekend (June 14th) across various other venues in the city. This includes the Oxford Art Factory, where septuagenarian UK rap duo Pete & Bas are set to perform tomorrow night, as well as the City Recital Hall in Angel Place, where Soccer Mommy will perform next Thursday night. The full remaining program can be found at VividSydney.com.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: YoWo Music’s Pearl Harnath On Japanese Breakfast’s ‘Psychopomp’

Open Season 2025: Kamasi Washington, The Preatures, DIIV + More

Sigur Rós Review – A Calming Serenity Comes to Fortitude Valley