Tokyo pop collective f5ve and Seoul club producer THE DEEP bring first Australian shows

Two sides of the same electronic-pop universe land in Melbourne and Sydney for all-ages debuts in October.

Told by Jake Donovan · 2 October 2026

Tokyo dream-pop collective f5ve and Seoul electronic producer THE DEEP are bringing their first Australian shows to Melbourne and Sydney this October, and the pairing makes more sense than you'd think.

The two acts play Prince Bandroom in Melbourne on Thursday 8 October and Manning Bar in Sydney on Friday 9 October, presented by AETERNA and TEG Dainty. Both shows are all-ages.

f5ve — J-Pop veterans SAYAKA, KAEDE, MIYUU, RURI and RUI, executive produced by Grammy winner BloodPop® — builds high-energy genre-blurring pop on fantasy, confidence and female empowerment. THE DEEP, a Seoul-based electronic artist, works in UK garage, Y2K aesthetics and underground club soundscapes, and has already contributed to Billboard-charting hits alongside breakout releases like KPOP B!TCH and "LA GIRLS."

The two already crossed paths when THE DEEP remixed f5ve's "Magic Clock," and that creative connection is what they're bringing to Australian floors.

Why this pairing works

Bright surreal J-Pop and harder after-dark club energy sound like opposites until you put them in the same room. f5ve delivers the fantasy and the hooks — the part of the night that feels like a video game soundtrack crossed with a confidence anthem. THE DEEP brings the structure underneath: the UK garage skip, the Y2K crunch, the club architecture that holds a floor when the sugar rush wears off.

It's not a support-and-headliner split. It's two halves of the same pop universe, one that treats electronic music as world-building instead of genre policing.

That matters because Australian dance floors have spent years watching international electronic acts tour as solo headline runs — great shows, but often a single mood held for two hours. This is a different build: surreal pop confidence into underground club pressure, two artists who already speak the same language but from different angles.

What you're actually getting

Prince Bandroom and Manning Bar are mid-sized rooms — 450 and 900 capacity respectively — which means this is an intimate first look, not an arena victory lap. All-ages means the crowd will skew younger and the energy will tilt toward discovery rather than nostalgia.

f5ve's set will be high-energy, genre-blurring, built for movement. THE DEEP's will be self-directed, darker, structurally tighter. Together, they're mapping two sides of what electronic pop can do when it's not trying to be radio-friendly or algorithm-safe.

Tickets are on sale now through TEG Dainty.

Melbourne Thursday, Sydney Friday. Two nights, two rooms, two ways into the same sound.