Soundwave Festival 2009 @ RNAShowgrounds, Brisbane(21/02/09)

Sun 22nd Feb, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Check out all of the pics from this punisher of a festival right here.

Looking to iron out the kinks in the event’s management last year, Soundwave Festival found a new home in the RNA Showgrounds for the Brisbane leg this year. More space, more food vendors and more ticket entrance points meant that the organisation of the festival itself was almost guaranteed to vindicate the missteps of the previous year. As punters began to file into the venue, the weather looked relatively ominous and the chance of showers seemed likely, but the wet was held at bay by the schlock emo rock of Brisbane’s Forlorn Gaze. The obvious play on words and the overtly emotional lyrics take a swipe at the scene which undoubtedly a number of today’s attendees would align themselves to, and overall it goes down quite well to both those aware of the joke and those who are oblivious.

Helping to welcome in the festival into its third year, MxPx’s Mike Herrera opened Stage Three while the pop-punk sounds of Madina Lake managed to get the main stage crowd jumping. Fans of heavier music had the opportunity to start the day with local act The Amity Affliction on Stage Four, or the more pop-screamo-like, synchronised jumping sort of heaviness of Alesana on Stage Six. Having missed their flight to Australia, the absence of ska stalwarts Less Than Jake may have left many disappointed, but Stage Three openers Saves The Day seemed to draw a few LTJ fans over for their pop-punk tunes.

As the sun hit its high point and began to slowly sap the energy out of all, especially those in black clothing (guilty), heavies All That Remains and Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster unleashed their own heated fury on sizeable crowds. Stage diving during Maylene could have proved more dangerous than usual given the concrete surface below, but that didn’t stop the band from indulging in the aforementioned mainstay ritual of rock.

Following on from Maylene’s set, former Blood Brothers members Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato’s new band Jaguar Love was one member down – drummer Jay Clark (former member of Pretty Girls Make Graves for trivia’s sake). After a bit of a delay due to technical issues, the US Pacific Northwesterners went through their set with a drum machine filling in for Clark, making the songs all a little bit dancey. Given the lack of drums, Whitney and Votolato did their best to keep the songs as strong as possible, and although it was far from a perfect set, it was a valiant effort from the Seattle duo (helped by the Minor Threat cover, of course).

Stage Four was developing into an almighty ball of fury as Evergreen Terrace, Poison The Well and Everytime I Die proved an unstoppable three-punch combo, with EID’s Rock N Roll Swindle and We’rewolf injecting that much needed hit of southern fried, bourbon-swilling rock into the day’s proceedings. It was more light-hearted fare across at Stage Three as the cutesy pop-rock of Helloogoodbye had the crowd bouncing around and singing along, whilst over at Stage Six Minus The Bear had the crowd totally transfixed with their buoyant songs floating over the audience’s collective soul.

At this point of the day, you begin to realise the sheer enormity and calibre of acts performing at the festival. The number of bands that you want to see versus the amount of time you actually have is almost inversely proportional, but you just have to make the most of what you have. For some people (guilty, yet again) this is why it is necessary to attend more than just one leg of Soundwave… there’s just too much on offer. Some acts though you just know you can’t miss – Dillinger Escape Plan proved to be one of those acts.

Probably more at home on Stage Four in terms of sound, the organisers seemed to get it right by placing the New Jersey mathcore group on the main stage as a sizeable number of punters became part of a performance that far surpassed any cattle display. Greg Puciato cuts a mean figure on stage, and his dodging skills were on full display as he and his bandmates ducked and weaved flying PET vessels throughout the majority of the set. Keen to make a game out of it, Puciato encouraged the crowd to continue throwing the bottes and even introduced a points system, but the real entertainment came in a number of forms, a few of which are listed here:

a)Breaking a string leading to breaking of the guitar, which was then launched into the crowd, sparking an all-out frenzy to claim the parts (I mean, he could have just swapped it over, but where’s the fun in that?);

b)Random climbing of the speaker stacks;

c)Performing a running double-leg fly kick into one of said speaker stacks in a moment of acrobatic madness;

d)Jumping into the crowd for the hell of it;

e)Traversing one of the stage’s girder frames to kick down the “No Moshing or Crowd Surfing” sign; and

f)General insane thrashing and circle pit hijinks within the crowd.

DEP may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they sure provided the main stage area with a heavy dose of intensity, which is more than one could say for follow-up act The Bloodhound Gang. Despite opening with Fire, Water, Burn and playing a number of their hits including I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks, Uhn Tiss, The Ballad Of Chasey Lain and Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo, there was a definite lack of enthusiasm from the crowd from start to finish. The group’s sound never came across that well, and the majority of their banter fell flat, leaving the band in the position to have to constantly pander to the crowd’s patriotism and poking fun at certain parts of Brisbane (Woodridge, Logan and The Beat Nightclub all got a mention). Ending with The Bad Touch, it was clear the nostalgia factor never really enticed many people to get involved, and the whole set basically proved to be a rest in between acts for many.

Those who stayed on to witness the pop-rock of Billy Talent did not leave disappointed as the Canadian quartet got the crowd jumping and moving in a flurry of arms and torsos from the get-go. Lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz speaks exactly the way he sings, leading this reviewer to think that he may actually be the voice of Terrance or Phillip from South Park. Phonetics aside, opener How It Goes was the perfect beginning in a set that truly surprised this reviewer, with Try Honestly and Fallen Leaves standing out as the highlights in a performance full of peppy power-pop and sharp and fast lighting underscoring every spike and bump in sound. Closer Red Flag was the song most wanted to hear, and it did not disappoint, ending a very powerful and tight performance by the North American rockers. By all accounts while this set was on, over at Stage Six LA gamecorers HORSE The Band put on an incredibly exceptional live show and one that should not be missed by fans of heavier sounds at the upcoming legs of Soundwave.

Pop-punk veterans New Found Glory had many fans packed tightly together at Stage Three, but their sound did not come across as well as expected for those standing just that little bit too far back, which proved to be much the same case for Dez Fafara’s DevilDriver. DevilDriver’s somewhat famous knack to always create a large circle pit in any crowd they play to held true yet again in Brisbane, as a good last half of the set seemed to have a never ending circle pit. However, the real surprise of the night was the William DuVall-lead Alice In Chains, as the 90s grungey rockers put on a perfect performance, pounding through their back catalogue with tracks Rooster, Man In The Box, No Excuses, Them Bones, Dam That River and Would? amongst the list. A tribute to deceased vocalist Layne Staley was obvious, but was a great moment for many in the crowd who had been waiting for the new incarnation of AIC to reach Australian shores.

Fighting the industrial might of Nine Inch Nails for audience members, Chicago punk rockers Alkaline Trio drew a good crowd and performed a number of fan favourites as well as a couple of new songs including a great version of I Found A Way, all delivered with a very tight, clear sound.

However it was hard to shy away from the festival drawcard Nine Inch Nails in what is supposed to be one of their final tours before they disband. In a mammoth hour-and-a-half set, NIN opened with 999,999 and 1,000,000 before they thumped out a range of songs from their massive back catalogue that had some crowd members moshing, while others were headbanging, some dancing, and others just gyrating. March Of The Pigs was as amazing as ever, Sicnh and Terrible Lie followed, Burn, La Mer and The Fragile were all performed just as great as every other song in the set and the one-two combo of The Hand That Feeds and Head Like A Hole proved to be a set highlight. After an intense lighting show which had very valid grounds for epilepsy warnings, Reznor and co. finished on Wish and Hurt to rapturous applause from all around the main arena, putting an end to a day which ran smoothly, despite a few no-shows (Less Than Jake, Jaguar Love’s drummer, The Dudesons and Dirty Sanchez). KMW Productions should pat themselves on the back for putting on a well-organised, efficient and talent-packed first leg of the festival… now they just need to do the same for the other four cities. Good luck!