Push Over 2012 @ The Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne (12/03/2012)
This year I made my fifth visit to the annual Push Over Festival. Located at the Abbotsford Convent, Push Over is an excellent idea, an affordable all ages day long festival, fully supervised. It’s great that all ages events like this do happen, and enable younger music fans to experience live music in a safe environment.
Out of all the bands I saw, during three of them the crowd starting chanting for a wall of death. Now, I know it's been a few years since I stopped going to all ages hardcore shows, but I was really perplexed and confused by the attitude of the crowd. Bands that were energetic and tight live, but had a tame crowd, were deemed as lame, yet the bands that just stood there live but had the pit moving where the ones that everyone was talking about. Take Hallower, for instance. A band I have seen probably a dozen times without even meaning to. While they played tightly, there was almost no movement on stage by most of the musicians, which to me was fairly boring. However, the pit was full of energy, with dozens of hardcore dancers, who walked out talking about how amazing the mosh was, without even commenting on the band. Maybe I'm just too old for these types of bands, but when Hallower played half a dozen songs that were just the same old melodic intro, heavy verse, melodic chorus, breakdown, and repeat, and it got really old, really fast.
I reviewed This Town, A Forest's EP for this site last year, and this was the first time I had seen them since writing that review. Met with a terrible crowd and small turnout, this didn't affect the band at all, and they proceeded to play their set with more energy and enthusiasm than the rest of the bands on the 'heavy' stage. Even with technical difficulties, they were one of the more enjoyable sets of the day, with Frequencies being their best live song, and the only one that had some sort of sing-along by the crowd. A shame these guys have broken up now, I was interested to see where they would go next.
As the only real hardcore band on the lineup, I was fairly surprised at the reception and turnout that Mindset got, as the rest of the festival seemed aimed towards the trendier metalcore bands. I have seen these guys a few times at much smaller venues, and this was definitely the biggest crowd I've seen them play to. They played a really fast, really energetic set and I am looking forward to seeing them again in a more fitting venue,
Dangerous! from Adelaide were interesting, to say the least. I had honestly never even heard of their existence before the show, but that clearly wasn't true for the rest of the crowd. Having one of the best crowds of the day, they were an energetic live band who definitely knew how to work up the crowd and get them moving. I wasn't even aware this band existed, which is strange because they're big enough that they played the UK's Download Festival last year. They played a fun set, but it's not anything I would ever listen to on album.
Skyway are in my opinion, one of the only decent pop-punk bands in the whole country. It had been almost three years since I saw them last, and they have gotten much tighter, and a much bigger fan base, since then. They played a catchy and tight set, and had a massive crowd reception, which is strange because last time I saw them (in 2009) they probably had less than a dozen people who knew the words. I can see big things happening for this band, especially with the recent resurgence in pop-punk, so I am interested to see where things go from here for them.
Hands Like Houses were one of the surprise highlights of the day. Normally synthy post-hardcore really isn't my thing at all, but I really enjoyed their set. Considering how many members they had, they played really tightly, and a surprising amount of the crowd knew them well enough to know the lyrics and sing along. They have recently released Ground Dweller, so check it out if you enjoy the band.
Northlane are one of those bands that I think I am just the wrong age and demographic to 'get.' When they released their debut album, I gave it a chance, and I was greeted by technical, if fairly uninspired metalcore, which seems to be the standard these days. I was impressed by some of the guitar work though. Live however, the guitarist and bass are tuned so low it’s hard to distinguish what fretwork is actually happening. The technical music came at the price of having a boring stage presence, as most of the musicians just focused on their instruments instead of moving around. This was the second band where the crowd starting changing for a wall of death, and that just made me feel way too old and out of place.
Ending the day were Parkway Drive, headlining the festival, and playing on the outdoor stage like they did at the 2008 Pushover. Parkway are one of those bands that even though I haven't listened to their recorded music in probably a few years, I'll still see them live because I have so many friends who go and because they're so much fun. They were as fun and energetic as always. Front man Winston McCall always puts a ridiculous amount of energy into his live performance, and it rules to see the band still excited to play, after all these years. The only thing disappointing about their set was that their set lists have not changed much, and the fact that the sound was turned down so low. I know its outdoors, but really, at seven at night, I think they could have turned up the PA to a volume more fitting.
It will be interesting to see who plays next year, as the lineup each year has gone more towards trendy and hype bands, so we can only wait and see who gets announced. But for a reasonably cheap full day of bands, especially if you're more into this kind of music, it's a great day out.
Josh Mitrou
Out of all the bands I saw, during three of them the crowd starting chanting for a wall of death. Now, I know it's been a few years since I stopped going to all ages hardcore shows, but I was really perplexed and confused by the attitude of the crowd. Bands that were energetic and tight live, but had a tame crowd, were deemed as lame, yet the bands that just stood there live but had the pit moving where the ones that everyone was talking about. Take Hallower, for instance. A band I have seen probably a dozen times without even meaning to. While they played tightly, there was almost no movement on stage by most of the musicians, which to me was fairly boring. However, the pit was full of energy, with dozens of hardcore dancers, who walked out talking about how amazing the mosh was, without even commenting on the band. Maybe I'm just too old for these types of bands, but when Hallower played half a dozen songs that were just the same old melodic intro, heavy verse, melodic chorus, breakdown, and repeat, and it got really old, really fast.
I reviewed This Town, A Forest's EP for this site last year, and this was the first time I had seen them since writing that review. Met with a terrible crowd and small turnout, this didn't affect the band at all, and they proceeded to play their set with more energy and enthusiasm than the rest of the bands on the 'heavy' stage. Even with technical difficulties, they were one of the more enjoyable sets of the day, with Frequencies being their best live song, and the only one that had some sort of sing-along by the crowd. A shame these guys have broken up now, I was interested to see where they would go next.
As the only real hardcore band on the lineup, I was fairly surprised at the reception and turnout that Mindset got, as the rest of the festival seemed aimed towards the trendier metalcore bands. I have seen these guys a few times at much smaller venues, and this was definitely the biggest crowd I've seen them play to. They played a really fast, really energetic set and I am looking forward to seeing them again in a more fitting venue,
Dangerous! from Adelaide were interesting, to say the least. I had honestly never even heard of their existence before the show, but that clearly wasn't true for the rest of the crowd. Having one of the best crowds of the day, they were an energetic live band who definitely knew how to work up the crowd and get them moving. I wasn't even aware this band existed, which is strange because they're big enough that they played the UK's Download Festival last year. They played a fun set, but it's not anything I would ever listen to on album.
Skyway are in my opinion, one of the only decent pop-punk bands in the whole country. It had been almost three years since I saw them last, and they have gotten much tighter, and a much bigger fan base, since then. They played a catchy and tight set, and had a massive crowd reception, which is strange because last time I saw them (in 2009) they probably had less than a dozen people who knew the words. I can see big things happening for this band, especially with the recent resurgence in pop-punk, so I am interested to see where things go from here for them.
Hands Like Houses were one of the surprise highlights of the day. Normally synthy post-hardcore really isn't my thing at all, but I really enjoyed their set. Considering how many members they had, they played really tightly, and a surprising amount of the crowd knew them well enough to know the lyrics and sing along. They have recently released Ground Dweller, so check it out if you enjoy the band.
Northlane are one of those bands that I think I am just the wrong age and demographic to 'get.' When they released their debut album, I gave it a chance, and I was greeted by technical, if fairly uninspired metalcore, which seems to be the standard these days. I was impressed by some of the guitar work though. Live however, the guitarist and bass are tuned so low it’s hard to distinguish what fretwork is actually happening. The technical music came at the price of having a boring stage presence, as most of the musicians just focused on their instruments instead of moving around. This was the second band where the crowd starting changing for a wall of death, and that just made me feel way too old and out of place.
Ending the day were Parkway Drive, headlining the festival, and playing on the outdoor stage like they did at the 2008 Pushover. Parkway are one of those bands that even though I haven't listened to their recorded music in probably a few years, I'll still see them live because I have so many friends who go and because they're so much fun. They were as fun and energetic as always. Front man Winston McCall always puts a ridiculous amount of energy into his live performance, and it rules to see the band still excited to play, after all these years. The only thing disappointing about their set was that their set lists have not changed much, and the fact that the sound was turned down so low. I know its outdoors, but really, at seven at night, I think they could have turned up the PA to a volume more fitting.
It will be interesting to see who plays next year, as the lineup each year has gone more towards trendy and hype bands, so we can only wait and see who gets announced. But for a reasonably cheap full day of bands, especially if you're more into this kind of music, it's a great day out.
Josh Mitrou