A Day To Remember, Underoath,The Dream The Chase @ TheTivoli (15/05/2011)

Sun 22nd May, 2011 in Gig Reviews

It’s a cool Sunday night and The Tivoli is filled to the brim with the enthusiastic fans that make up Brisbane’s young punk and hardcore scene. As they file into the venue the promise of a fun night of music is confirmed as all eyes are drawn to the large net holding dozens of balloons that is suspended above the floor.

The Dream The Chase are the local Brisbane lads who kick off proceedings. Although they start slowly they quickly warm up and the crowd reacts, moving and moshing in the pit area. Tracks such as Chosen and Who Is Alone are ones that really stand out during the set.

The stage is absolutely packed with amps and the riser for the headliner’s drum kit and it leaves little room for the quintet to move around, but even with the cramped set, they are as energetic as possible and start the night off well.

Christian metalcore six-piece Underoath are up next and from the start Spencer Chamberlain writhes, bounces and moves about the stage like a man possessed.
On the keys and also with a quick cameo on percussion, Christopher Dudley is also extremely energetic, as is Timothy McTague on guitar and backing vocals.

Underoath have a vast catalogue of songs to choose from and as talented and well rehearsed as they are, some of their songs don’t do them justice as a live act. In Division and Paperlung off their latest album , along with older favourites like Breathing In A New Mentality really get the crowd going, but there is a noticeable lull during the middle of the set when The Created Void is played.

Chamberlain is also in control of all the vocal duties since the departure of clean vocalist Aaron Gillespie and while he begins strongly, the set takes it toll and the strain when he is trying to reach the higher notes is audible towards the end. However the band restore all faith as they finish strongly with A Boy Brushed Red…Living In Black and White and Writing On The Wall.

The wait for headliners is finally over as not one, but two curtains drop to reveal A Day To Remember and as confetti explodes over the pit, the entire venue is screaming their approval as one of the most entertaining bands in the business kicks off their set.

From the moment Jeremy McKinnon takes to the microphone it is clear that these five Americans are just so happy to be onstage and performing for the masses. They obviously love what they do and this translates into an awesome live show. They are full of energy and use the entire stage to their advantage as they run, bounce, headbang in sync and dodge the roadies who occasionally wander onstage to either fix up a mic stand or to lob rolls of toilet paper into the crowd.

The band mixes up their set list and play everything from their pop punk tracks like All I Want to their slightly heavier tunes like 2nd Sucks which shows the crowd that deep roar that McKinnon can produce. One of the most interesting parts of the set comes during Why Walk On Water When You Got Boats when McKinnon explains to the crowd that he wants to see crowd surfing on crowd surfing. Basically it is someone standing on top of someone else while they are crowd surfing. The bouncers certainly had a fun time rescuing the punters attempting to pull it off.

But the most fun of the night was when McKinnon himself ventured out onto the mosh entombed in a giant inflatable ball that he used to run around the heads of the crowd that was packed onto the main floor of The Tivoli during the opening chords of Homesick. Somehow managing to cram almost 20 songs into their main set, the boys go offstage after declaring their last song to be The Plot To Bomb The Panhandle and releasing the dozens of balloons into the crowd, but they soon return to give us a two song encore.

McKinnon, accompanied by an acoustic guitar, shows us his softer side as he sings If It Means A Lot To You. The crowd are enthusiastic as they help him out with the easy sing-a-long. But the slower pace is brief and the band launch into the final song of the night and easily the most popular, the heavier The Downfall Of Us All, a fitting end to one of the most energetic and entertaining shows of 2011.