On the final night of the Deadbest tour, Tame Impala transformed Dublin’s 3Arena into a swirling, neon drenched fever dream. The fully soldout crowd arrived with the sense that they were witnessing more than just another tour stop, this was the closing chapter of a massive global run, and the atmosphere inside the arena carried the weight of occasion from the very first note.
Opening the night was RIP Magic, whose blend of hazy synth textures and jagged guitar work proved an ideal curtain raiser. Their set balanced shoegaze melancholy with bursts of danceable energy, slowly winning over an audience clearly eager for the headliners. By the time they closed, the arena had fully settled into the night’s psychedelic mood.
When Kevin Parker finally emerged, the roar inside the 3Arena was deafening. Tame Impala’s live reputation has long rested on the ability to make enormous venues feel strangely intimate, and this show was no exception. Parker drifted effortlessly between shimmering falsetto vocals and layers of meticulously crafted instrumentation, while the band delivered towering versions of fan favourites that felt both expansive and deeply emotional.
The visuals were overwhelming in the best possible way: lasers slicing through clouds of smoke, pulsating colour washes, and projections that turned the arena into something resembling a lucid dream. Yet for all the technical spectacle, the emotional centre of the performance remained Parker himself, whose understated stage presence somehow made the music feel even more immersive.
As the final encore rang out on 13 May 2026, there was a genuine sense of closure in the room. Deadbest ended not with nostalgia, but with celebration, a reminder that Tame Impala remain one of the most inventive and transportive live acts on the planet.
RIP Magic photos:
Tame Impala photos & set-list:
Set-list:
Apocalypse Dreams
Borderline
Loser
Breathe Deeper
Gossip
Elephant
Sundown Syndrome
Afterthought
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Dracula
No Reply
B-Stage
Ethereal Connection
Not My World
Main Stage
Let It Happen
Nangs
List of People – To Try and Forget About
Expectation
Piece of Heaven
Eventually
New Person, Same Old Mistakes
______________________________________
My Old Ways
The Less I Know the Better
End of Summer
Photos & words – Ian Mc Donnell @mcgigmusic
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