An Unforgettable Evening with Tyler Hilton at his Sold Out Melbourne Show

California born, singer songwriter, Tyler Hilton finally made his long awaited return to Australia. After lockdowns put a stop to his tour last time, he was officially back down under for the first time since 2017. With the Brisbane and Sydney shows wrapped up, and on the 8th of February it was now finally Melbourne’s turn for his last show on this run at Northcote Social Club and the Melbourne fans made sure to sell this one out.

With an already large crowd, warming up the evening was the lovely Matilda Duncan. With songs about what it felt like to dream about moving to Melbourne, to the feelings of finally doing it, along with a song written in inspiration from the Netflix series You, of how it would feel to be in love with main character Joe, her voice was stunning and I think she won a few new fans in the crowd. Following up on that performance was Lachie Gill, winner of The Voice in 2022. Playing a mix of original songs, which included an emotional tribute he wrote on the ten year anniversary for his friend who had passed away when he was younger. We were also treated with a surprise cover of One Tree Hill’s theme song I Don’t Want To Be by Gavin Degraw, he had the crowd fired up and singing along.

The excitement from the crowd was undeniable as drummer Stephan Stanzione and guitarist Corey Balsamo got up on stage, which erupted into louder cheers as Tyler made his appearance. For any fan, there’s always something so surreal about having a singer and actor in front of you for the first time instead of on your screen and their eyes just lit up with excitement. As Kicking My Heels and Overtime opened the night, the crowd was full of smiling faces and immediately people were singing along. The venue was small but packed, creating a really intimate atmosphere. During a break between songs, he mentioned that Melbourne is known for its great milkshakes and joked that post-show plans these days look a little different than they used to. The milkshake talk didn’t stop there, it kept coming up throughout the set, turning into a running joke for the night. At one point, a fan asked the all-important question: what’s your favorite flavour? His answer; vanilla which was met with loud booing, and his bandmates even exposed that they have a group chat called “Milkshake Boyz.” On top of that, Tyler seemed fascinated by the fact Australia has Pepsi Max, as he shared how he grinned while he ordered one, only for servers to casually acknowledge it like it was no big deal. If you’re a big One Tree Hill fan, you’d know that Tyler Hilton played the best character, Chris Keller. Unlike many actors who move on from past roles, Tyler fully embraces any mention of the show and loves sharing behind-the-scenes stories which is so refreshing to see. These stories included his friendship and possible relationship with co-star Bethany Joy Lenz. During the show, he even gave a plug to the book she wrote, which delves into their relationship. He joked that now that everything’s out in the open, he can finally talk about it—including how Bethany being in a cult put an end to their growing romance and once wrote a song for Bethany behind the scenes. That song, along with many real-life moments between them, ended up making it into the show. He laughed about how it felt like some outside force was trying to bring them together, when really, it was just the writers pulling inspiration from real life. He then played You’ll Ask For Me, a song he wrote for her, making the moment even more special knowing the story behind it.The setlist saw us reminiscing on tracks that were featured on the show, with Glad, When It Comes, Missing You and of course When the Stars Go Blue, we got to live out our TRIC dreams while also enjoying tracks from Tyler’s own albums, including Jenny and Prince Charming of Nothing—a personal favourite of mine that sounded absolutely incredible live. Tyler spoke about his love for Australia, admitting he hadn’t expected to love it as much as he did until his first visit, promising he will be back every year from now on. I think we in the audience were on board for this and we are now holding him to that. The hour-long set flew by far too quickly, and before we knew it, he was announcing the final song of the night. After thanking everyone for coming, he launched into Loaded Gun, a bluesy rock number that had the entire crowd singing along, closing the night on a high.

Tyler is as charismatic as they come and you can’t help but notice the endless smiles and joy he brings to the stage. During a break he said that ‘playing live music feeds my soul’, that the crowd is really what makes the show and you could just tell that those words rang true. He delivers such a great performance, his incredible talent for singing and songwriting, coupled with his storytelling and authentic interaction with the crowd made for such an unforgettable evening. We hope they managed to get their hands on some milkshakes and we look forward to hopefully seeing him back in his new favourite city (his words) again next February.