It’s official — it’s now impossible to tour Australia without doing a ‘shoey’.
As artists like Post Malone, Dune Rats and Stormzy will tell you, doing a shoey is nothing new, but it seems shoey fever has reached an all-time high this week, with just about every touring artist attempting one.
“I heard that this is a thing in Australia, you fucking weirdos,” Story Of The Year frontman Dan Marsala said before knocking out his first shoey live on-stage in Perth on Thursday night. He then put the shoe back on and carried on with the gig, which is impressive.
@danielricciardo @StoryoftheYear Australian culture is alive and well in Perth! ? pic.twitter.com/SyrrMfJHKN
— Gareth Doust (@garethdoust) May 2, 2018
US rapper Machine Gun Kelly also went for it in Sydney, with little fuss. He pulled his shoe off, filled it up and knocked back the drink like an old pro. It’s a solid effort for someone who allegedly didn’t know what a shoey was before he landed in Australia.
Another US rapper, Aminé, who’s currently in town for Groovin The Moo, also decided to give a shoey a go, but kept it classy, filling up his shoe with champagne.
Canada’s Night Lovell was also pressured into doing one in Sydney. As the crowd chanted “shoey”, he replied, “You lot are fucked up,” but allegedly went through with it.
I need everyone to know that @nightlovell did a shoey last night at his show (where u pour ur drink in ur shoe and skull it) and has since received his Australian citizenship pic.twitter.com/fQyYfLFNUa
— Heartfall (@FreeFallHearts) May 3, 2018
Last week, British rock band Lower Than Atlantis supposedly did multiple shoeys, while American DJ and producer JAUZ also engaged and posted his on Instagram.
Seemingly the only artist to question the value of the shoey was Harry Styles, who learned about the tradition during a recent Brisbane show.
He called it “disgusting”, and never actually went through with drinking one, but he did tell the crowd, “Shoey is now the #5 reason why I love Australia. The word ‘shoey’ is #4.”
Watch a clip from the show, below.
This week, it emerged that the shoey has been trademarked by Formula One to use on merchandise like flasks, coffee mugs and bottles. Unsurprisingly, it was all kickstarted by Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricardo, who is known for knocking down shoeys on the winner’s podium.
We’re not sure how it’s happened, but as a nation we’ve managed to make it an unwritten law that every international act which sets foot in Australia completes at least one shoey.
So good luck to Harry Styles if he wants to get out of the country without doing one next time.
The whole "Shoey" fiasco in Brisbane
"Maybe I'll drink out of a shoe. Maybe towards the end when they're a bit worn in"
Crowd: Ewww
"Ah yea now you don't like it, *mocks us* ewww"
"Shoey, is now the #5 reason why I love Australia. The word shoey is #4" –@Harry_Styles pic.twitter.com/OVulskDS6v— Cнℓσε (@faithfulnialler) April 30, 2018
