Soundwave Festival 2013 @ RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane (23/02/2013)
I must admit, I was pretty damn excited for my second Soundwave festival. Last year AJ Maddah and his team put on a show that surpassed my expectations and ended up being one of the best festivals I’d ever attended. And for the second year in a row, the weather gods were smiling on the festival.
An unexpectedly large crowd greeted the Japanese synth-metal Crossfaith, who immediately got the mosh going with Monolith. The five piece were on form from the get-go, front-man Kenta Koie a ball of energy, prowling all over the stage and delivering some impressive extended screams amongst spot-on clean vocals. The circle pits were in full swing, and we even got the first wall of death, an impressive feat at 11:30am. A cover of Omen by The Prodigy was a set highlight and really got the crowd going.
After cancelling last year, Dragonforce made good on their promise to return soon and the crowd was massive as I made my way to Stage 3 for their opening set. Fury of the Storm was a welcome surprise to open the set, and the trademark extended shredding guitar solos were in full flight straight away. Since their last Australian tour five years ago, the band have had a change of singer with new recruit Marc Hudson, and to be honest, he made the vocals on older songs sound exactly the same as they do on record. New song, Cry Thunder, was a mid-set highlight, but the song the crowd wanted finally came at the end. Through the Fire and Flames was met with a massive sing-along and left both hard core and casual fans satisfied.
Catching the end of Mindless Self Indulgence, front man Jimmy Urine came across as very forward and a bit bizarre; making claims of wanting to fight Chris Jericho and pointing out that his band contained half of the total female musicians on the Soundwave tour. However the band sounded and looked great with Bitches being a big highlight near the end of the set.
I am seeing Flogging Molly at their sideshow later this week but I still thought I’d check them out at Soundwave as I was in need of a dance, and that’s exactly what they delivered. Dressed in a business shirt and a tie, 51 year old front man Dave King was the person you’d least expect to be the most energetic musician of the day, but he and his band had Stage 2 in the midst of a full-blown Irish party at 2:30pm. Even though I doubt 90% of the crowd knew a single song, it didn’t matter, and their brand of Celtic folk punk was the perfect mid-afternoon set.
Up next on the adjacent stage is Billy Talent, a band I’ve been wanting to see for a few years, so I was pretty damn excited when they opened with Viking Death March, my favourite track from last year’s Dead Silence. Singer Ben Kowalewicz immediately grabs my attention and keeps it for the whole set with his enthusiasm and passionate vocals. The Canadian four piece look and sound truly great, busting out Falling Leaves and Rusted from the Rain mid-set, to the crowd’s delight. It was an impressive set, and I will definitely see them again next time they tour.
Stage 2 seemed to be the place where many of my must-see bands were playing, and so I remained there for Sum 41. The start of the many nostalgic bands performing in the late afternoon and evening, I enjoyed In too Deep, even though there were obviously sound issues that plagued the band. Unfortunately it all got a bit too much during a horrible cover of Queen’s We Will Rock You and I lost all attention.
I wondered over to Stage 4A and was met with a disappointing turn-out of only around thirty people for Georgia’s O’Brother. A band I had recently discovered, they blend together the styles of Mogwai and Sigur Ros with brooding and epic vocals. The majority of their set drew from their most recent album Garden Window, with single Lo sounding fantastic and being one of my highlights of the day.
The experience of Cancer Bats is full-on for both the ears and eyes. Within the first song there were circle pits forming and singer Liam Cormier jumping onto the barrier and into the crowd. Cancer Bats also took the prize for loudest band of the day, within the confides of the Stage 4 tent, it was almost deafening but still an awesome experience.
I had to leave Cancer Bats halfway through their set as the call of the main stage and Linkin Park was too strong. Arriving at the arena I am met with a massive crowd and a D barrier which would remain full and closed for the remainder of the night. The one thing I came away with from this set was that lead singer Chester Bennington doesn’t really sing that much to be honest, guitarist and occasional keyboardist Mike Shinoda actually sings the majority of the songs and is a pretty damn good vocalist. Whilst Chester screamed the choruses, Mike sung the verses with the band massive behind them, definitely proof of why they are now an arena act. I managed to catch Breaking the Habit which was a real highpoint of my day before I am lured to Blink 182 at Stage 2.
It’s worth noting at this point of the day that the crowd congestion issues that I feared at the start of the day were near non-existent. I practically strolled into the D barrier 10 minutes before the start of Blink and had a great spot. Opening with Feeling This was a smart move and had the crowd in hysterics from the get-go. A string of early hits including What’s My Age Again? And I Miss You instantly brought me back to my early teenage years and had me grinning from ear to ear. These songs sounded great, particularly the vocals of bassist Mark Hoppus. But, and it’s a big but, the new songs sounded pretty damn average, which was a shame as it put a dampener on the whole set. The cheers when Mark declared that the last three songs would all be from pre-1997 were the biggest of the evening. It was a fitting end when the offensive Family Reunion finished the show as this felt like a reunion of the songs that the majority of the crowd grew up with.
Making my way over to the main arena, I must admit that I wasn’t overly excited at the prospect of seeing Metallica as I had never ‘got’ the appeal of them. But on the numerous recommendations I found the band in the midst of their two hour + set and pretty much lost my collective shit at the fireworks and flamethrower display. One then started and at the one moment Metallica virtually turned my opinion of them on its head.
They really know how to put on not just a show, but a complete performance. Sure, the numerous video and pyro displays were awesome, but on top of that the band sounded fantastic. It turned into one of the best ever headline sets I have seen at a festival with Enter Sandman and Seek and Destroy ending the set in a mass sing-along from the enormous crowd that had stuck around.
I commented last year on how well organised the whole day was, and once again this year’s edition of Soundwave was virtually flawless for me. AJ Maddah and his team should be very proud of how strongly the festival is going in its 10th year, let’s hope it continues for another 10 years at least.
Sebastian Betten
An unexpectedly large crowd greeted the Japanese synth-metal Crossfaith, who immediately got the mosh going with Monolith. The five piece were on form from the get-go, front-man Kenta Koie a ball of energy, prowling all over the stage and delivering some impressive extended screams amongst spot-on clean vocals. The circle pits were in full swing, and we even got the first wall of death, an impressive feat at 11:30am. A cover of Omen by The Prodigy was a set highlight and really got the crowd going.
After cancelling last year, Dragonforce made good on their promise to return soon and the crowd was massive as I made my way to Stage 3 for their opening set. Fury of the Storm was a welcome surprise to open the set, and the trademark extended shredding guitar solos were in full flight straight away. Since their last Australian tour five years ago, the band have had a change of singer with new recruit Marc Hudson, and to be honest, he made the vocals on older songs sound exactly the same as they do on record. New song, Cry Thunder, was a mid-set highlight, but the song the crowd wanted finally came at the end. Through the Fire and Flames was met with a massive sing-along and left both hard core and casual fans satisfied.
Catching the end of Mindless Self Indulgence, front man Jimmy Urine came across as very forward and a bit bizarre; making claims of wanting to fight Chris Jericho and pointing out that his band contained half of the total female musicians on the Soundwave tour. However the band sounded and looked great with Bitches being a big highlight near the end of the set.
I am seeing Flogging Molly at their sideshow later this week but I still thought I’d check them out at Soundwave as I was in need of a dance, and that’s exactly what they delivered. Dressed in a business shirt and a tie, 51 year old front man Dave King was the person you’d least expect to be the most energetic musician of the day, but he and his band had Stage 2 in the midst of a full-blown Irish party at 2:30pm. Even though I doubt 90% of the crowd knew a single song, it didn’t matter, and their brand of Celtic folk punk was the perfect mid-afternoon set.
Up next on the adjacent stage is Billy Talent, a band I’ve been wanting to see for a few years, so I was pretty damn excited when they opened with Viking Death March, my favourite track from last year’s Dead Silence. Singer Ben Kowalewicz immediately grabs my attention and keeps it for the whole set with his enthusiasm and passionate vocals. The Canadian four piece look and sound truly great, busting out Falling Leaves and Rusted from the Rain mid-set, to the crowd’s delight. It was an impressive set, and I will definitely see them again next time they tour.
Stage 2 seemed to be the place where many of my must-see bands were playing, and so I remained there for Sum 41. The start of the many nostalgic bands performing in the late afternoon and evening, I enjoyed In too Deep, even though there were obviously sound issues that plagued the band. Unfortunately it all got a bit too much during a horrible cover of Queen’s We Will Rock You and I lost all attention.
I wondered over to Stage 4A and was met with a disappointing turn-out of only around thirty people for Georgia’s O’Brother. A band I had recently discovered, they blend together the styles of Mogwai and Sigur Ros with brooding and epic vocals. The majority of their set drew from their most recent album Garden Window, with single Lo sounding fantastic and being one of my highlights of the day.
The experience of Cancer Bats is full-on for both the ears and eyes. Within the first song there were circle pits forming and singer Liam Cormier jumping onto the barrier and into the crowd. Cancer Bats also took the prize for loudest band of the day, within the confides of the Stage 4 tent, it was almost deafening but still an awesome experience.
I had to leave Cancer Bats halfway through their set as the call of the main stage and Linkin Park was too strong. Arriving at the arena I am met with a massive crowd and a D barrier which would remain full and closed for the remainder of the night. The one thing I came away with from this set was that lead singer Chester Bennington doesn’t really sing that much to be honest, guitarist and occasional keyboardist Mike Shinoda actually sings the majority of the songs and is a pretty damn good vocalist. Whilst Chester screamed the choruses, Mike sung the verses with the band massive behind them, definitely proof of why they are now an arena act. I managed to catch Breaking the Habit which was a real highpoint of my day before I am lured to Blink 182 at Stage 2.
It’s worth noting at this point of the day that the crowd congestion issues that I feared at the start of the day were near non-existent. I practically strolled into the D barrier 10 minutes before the start of Blink and had a great spot. Opening with Feeling This was a smart move and had the crowd in hysterics from the get-go. A string of early hits including What’s My Age Again? And I Miss You instantly brought me back to my early teenage years and had me grinning from ear to ear. These songs sounded great, particularly the vocals of bassist Mark Hoppus. But, and it’s a big but, the new songs sounded pretty damn average, which was a shame as it put a dampener on the whole set. The cheers when Mark declared that the last three songs would all be from pre-1997 were the biggest of the evening. It was a fitting end when the offensive Family Reunion finished the show as this felt like a reunion of the songs that the majority of the crowd grew up with.
Making my way over to the main arena, I must admit that I wasn’t overly excited at the prospect of seeing Metallica as I had never ‘got’ the appeal of them. But on the numerous recommendations I found the band in the midst of their two hour + set and pretty much lost my collective shit at the fireworks and flamethrower display. One then started and at the one moment Metallica virtually turned my opinion of them on its head.
They really know how to put on not just a show, but a complete performance. Sure, the numerous video and pyro displays were awesome, but on top of that the band sounded fantastic. It turned into one of the best ever headline sets I have seen at a festival with Enter Sandman and Seek and Destroy ending the set in a mass sing-along from the enormous crowd that had stuck around.
I commented last year on how well organised the whole day was, and once again this year’s edition of Soundwave was virtually flawless for me. AJ Maddah and his team should be very proud of how strongly the festival is going in its 10th year, let’s hope it continues for another 10 years at least.
Sebastian Betten