Jinjer released Alive in Melbourne on November 20, 2020, through Napalm Records. Their first official live album captured a sold-out performance at Max Watt’s House of Music in Melbourne, Australia, on March 5, 2020. The Ukrainian band were touring behind Macro, and the decision that preserved this particular night came during soundcheck.
“We didn’t even plan to make it,” bassist Eugene Abdiukhanov told HEAVY in October 2020. Someone approached the band with an offer to film the performance, and Jinjer agreed to record the audio on their side. Accepting that offer left them with both sound and pictures from a tour that would soon take on a different significance. The recording eventually supplied individual live videos as well as a complete concert release.
Australia was new territory for Jinjer. This was their first tour of the country, and it sold out. In the album announcement on the band’s website, Abdiukhanov recalled that fans had even travelled from New Zealand to see them. Months later, after lockdown had interrupted touring, he described struggling to watch the footage without becoming emotional. A successful first visit had become something the band could revisit while much of its touring schedule was out of reach.
The set also caught Jinjer with two substantial additions to their repertoire from the previous year. The Micro EP had arrived in January 2019, followed by Macro that October. “Teacher, Teacher!”, from Micro, was the first song after the live album’s intro and became the first preview released from the Melbourne recording. Across the show, six songs from Macro sat alongside material from earlier releases, putting the album they were promoting into the same set as songs fans already knew.
That sequence made room for more than the newest material. “Sit Stay Roll Over,” from 2016’s King of Everything, followed “Teacher, Teacher!” and was selected as the live album’s second video. When introducing that clip, Jinjer explained on their website that the song remained among their most demanding compositions to perform. They described the effort and concentration it required even after playing it repeatedly, and welcomed the chance to give it renewed attention through the live release. Later in the set, “Pisces” and “Captain Clock” returned to that record before the outro.
Getting the complete performance to listeners involved another interruption. The concert aired through Knotfest in July 2020, but Jinjer later said rights issues had cut the stream short. In their release-day message, the band explained that the recording remained available for only a few days afterward, while unofficial copies circulated. They said the decision to issue the entire show as their first official live record followed that experience.
The finished release contained 17 tracks, including the intro and outro, and reached listeners digitally and on CD and vinyl. Jinjer also posted the complete concert film when the album arrived, describing it as a gift to their fans. After the rights problems surrounding the July stream, the Melbourne performance had an official release in both audio and video.
