Albatross Australia and New Zealand Tour 2024

By Mannu Shahi,Formed in 1998, Albatross is the most celebrated outfit of Nepali music with a rampant influence in both a local and global scale. Dominating the mid-late 2000s’ playlists with hits like “Farki Farki” and “Khaseka Tara”, the band were actual viral creators even before the term “viral” was in circulation.

The group is arguably one of the very few, if not the only, to commence their journey and make it big to such a grand extent. A testament to their prominence is their devoted audience, who adore the group, indulge in their dynamic discography and keep sprouting further with passing time. The quartet classifies their music as Nepali Rock. 

Although in the present they are hailed as these massive rock stars pioneering the entirety of rock music and its sub-genres in Nepal, but back in their struggling phase the band was also quite hesitant to share their original music and saturated their set-list with many cover songs. Drawing from their influences such as Corrosion of Conformity, Alice in Chains, Radiohead, Pantera, Incubus, Megadeath, Tool, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, RATM, RHCP, Porcupine Tree to name a few.   

However, regardless of their humility, their collective decision to put their most vulnerable selves out-there changed the trajectory of Nepali music forever. Their sophomore album, ‘Jo Jas Sanga Sambhandit Cha’ with its contagious singles captivated a gigantic demographic for whom Albatross and their songs connoted the new wave of Nepali alternative rock, embellishing the soundtrack of their youth.  

Their oeuvre comprises ‘Hi:fly’ (2002), ‘Jo Jas Sanga Sambhandit Cha’ (2005), ‘Atti Bhayo’ (2011), ‘Ma Ra Malai’ (2014) and ‘Raat Ko Rani’ (2023). The band is also the only Nepali musical group to partake in the prestigious South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival held at Austin in 2016. In addition to this the quartet has toured multiple times in venues across Australia, US, UK and New Zealand.

Albatross are Shirish Dali on vocals and guitars, Sunny Manandhar on guitars, Avaya Siddhi Bajaracharya on bass and Kismat D Shrestha on drums. Founded by three aspiring musician friends who embarked their journey with a dream to create music that helped express themselves more vividly to the world, this phenomenal group sadly went through many member changes until the recent line-up.

And after the launch of their fifth studio album ‘Raat Ko Rani’, last year in May, the group has been very active with many gigs, live sessions and abundant social media presence. Following the album launch event in Kathmandu, the band ventured on a six-city US tour last year in June, played a handful of stellar shows across the country and released a series of acoustic live sessions. As a part of Barahsinghe Acoustic Sessions, Albatross released four live singles from their latest album and recently also a live acoustic take of their most prominent number “Timi Bhane”, which nearly after a month of its release is still #26 on Trending for music as per the Nepal moderated YouTube broadcast. 

So, the group is all set for their upcoming New Zealand and Australia 2024 tour leg starting out in Galatos, Auckland on May 11; The Baso, Canberra on May 16; Roundhouse, Sydney on May 20; Trak Lounge, Melbourne on May 22; Lions Art Factory, Adelaide on May 25; The Tivoli, Brisbane on May 27.