Goldford is an artist with one of the more interesting stories in the music industry. Moving into the music world after 10 years in corporate sales, his music blew up online with audiences captivated by his soulful voice and cleverly constructed songs. For his first time in Australia, he played at the Metro Theatre in front of a packed crowd that was thrilled to see him in person.

The night opened with sets by Sam McGovern and WILSN, with WILSN in particular doing a fantastic job in her set. “Weightless” was a highlight, being a particularly fantastic soul song and her cover of Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” was another great moment. WILSN really is one of Australia’s up and comers in the soul world and with her headline shows later in the year audiences have a lot to look forward to, with the crowd very much enjoying her presence in this set.

Goldford took to the stage with his band and immediately developed an affinity with the crowd, repeatedly shouting out ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ and being entranced by the audience’s response of ‘Oi, Oi, Oi’ which became a running joke throughout the show. The parallels to Teddy Swims were immediately apparent when watching the St. Louis singer at work, with his high register on “Jasmine” very much resembling that of Swims who delighted audiences in Australia last year.

Goldford’s music had a lot of heart to it, with a very easy and danceable soul style that worked very well in the live venue of the Metro Theatre. After running through some of his newer material he performed “For What It’s Worth,” a cover of the Buffalo Springfield classic which was a nice way to break up the set. He then moved into some of his more well known tracks, with the acoustic “Walk With Me” being a real moment of connection with the audience. Although Goldford started in the wrong key, once he restarted the song he absolutely nailed it, showing off some of the grittiness and fragility of his voice which really allowed him to perform as one with the crowd in one of the best moments of the set.

He then invited WILSN back to perform “It’s Alright (Sun Shine),” which featured some slightly wobbly harmonies but it was a nice chance to see the two singers on stage together before Goldford performed his smash hit “Orange Blossoms.”

Following the trend of artists deciding not to go off for encores he moved straight into his last few songs, with a cover of Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” having the whole crowd singing along before he closed out with “Ride the Storm”. 

Overall, this was a fun night of music, with Goldford showing off his great voice and some great songs that worked very well in the Metro Theatre space. Although there perhaps wasn’t a huge amount of tonal variety in the organisation of the set, there was still a great connection that Goldford engendered with the audience. It will not be a surprise if he is back soon given just how much love was felt in the room. 

Rating: ★★★★

Goldford – Metro Theatre – 13 March 2026