Parkway Drive @ Uni Cloisters,Adelaide (02/10/10)

Wed 6th Oct, 2010 in Gig Reviews

On this particular Saturday night, the weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor gig at the Adelaide Uni Cloisters, especially for fans of hardcore metal. The headliners, Byron Bay’s Parkway Drive were joined by fellow Byron Bay band 50 Lions, and American hardcore bands The Ghost Inside and The Devil Wears Prada.

It wasn’t long after I exited my train in the city before I could hear the outdoor hardcore coming from the Uni down the road. It was supposedly about the time the gig was due to kick-off so I made my way there as quickly as I could, getting more excited about the show, as I could hear it getting louder the closer I got. Considering I could hear that the bands had already started, I wasn’t happy to find that there was a huge line- up of hundreds of people still waiting to get into the Cloisters and the line didn’t seem to be moving quickly at all. This seemed to be due to the fact that this was an all-ages gig and punters were being wrist-banded as being either of drinking age or under-age. This process slowed down the entry into the gig quite a bit. As I waited to get in, I heard a few comments from people who had been inside, saying that we had missed two bands already. I assumed that this was just to tease the people still lined up.

By the time I got inside the uni grounds, the band I had heard on stage while I waited had just finished their set so I unfortunately missed that band but I was looking forward to the remaining three bands that were on the bill.

There was a great summer gig atmosphere in the air as the packed house seemed to be in great spirits and ready to hear some more hardcore music.

The next band to take to the stage was Ohio’s The Devil Wears Prada. From the start of their set until the very last note, the crowd and the band were full of energy, with each band member contributing to their stage presence equally. Although The Devil Wears Prada are definitely a heavy hardcore band, their use of keyboards and the melodic backing vocals from their guitarist, contrasting with vocalist Mike Hranica’s typically growly metal vocals , sets this band aside from a lot of the hardcore bands out there. As they finished their seemingly brief set, they parted with a quick Christian message about their beliefs and announced that Parkway Drive were coming up next. It was then I realised that we weren’t being teased out the front; the people trying to get in when I arrived had actually missed two bands before they managed to get inside the venue. I’m not quite sure how that happened. Either the start time that was advertised was incorrect or the first two bands had fifteen minute sets each. Either way, I was not happy to have missed so much.

By the time Parkway Drive started their set, the already animated crowd went even crazier. It was clear who the majority of the crowd were here to see. As much as I love an outdoor gig in summer, I wasn’t too sure what the atmosphere would be like with such heavy bands providing the music but it soon became very clear.
The music may have been dark, angry, and heavy but the atmosphere in the Uni Cloisters was the opposite. The crowd sang along at the top of their voices to most of Parkway’s songs, the stage backdrop transformed into a tropical theme complete with palm trees, and mid-way through the set, an Oompa Loompa (yes, from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) came out to ride across the packed crowd on an inflatable raft, and later with a surfboard, all the while with a camcorder strapped to his head. The whole time this was going on, a multitude of giant beach balls had been released into the crowd and were passed overhead by everyone for the majority of the set. Essentially, this was a hardcore gig with a Bon Jovi feel to it and it was the perfect night for it. After a little over an hour of high energy hardcore metal, including the encore, the show was over and the packed-in crowd started streaming out the Uni grounds, looking very satisfied. Although I was not impressed that I missed the first two bands and it seemed a little too early to be going home, I was happy that I had seen The Devil Wears Prada and Parkway Drive both put on impressive shows which were short and sharp but didn’t get boring for a minute. This gig felt like the start of an exciting summer, which I hope is full of outdoor gigs which can rival this one.