The Claremont Showgrounds was whipped into a hostile frenzy as the nationwide Soundwave tour wound up in Perth. When the likes of Deftones, Hatebreed, Suicidal Tendencies and The Bronx come together in one show, you know you’re not going to be in amongst a crowd of respectful and mild mannered gentleman there to sit down with a nice red and slice of camembert. The only red that was evident was from spatters of blood on the pavement leading up to the very active first aid post and the manners got about as mild as booze fuelled chants of “fuck off you’re shit” at a band one couldn’t help but feel sorry for. The promoters promoted the festival with the line “Does the sight of one more self-righteous arsehole with bad hygiene and an acoustic guitar make you want to take life membership at the nearest vomitarium?” And they certainly attracted the crowd they were aiming at with this question. This all created a necessary atmosphere though and complimented the acts who were performing, making for a worthwhile Saturday’s entertainment.

Early in the day on stage two, the yet to turn primitive crowd, if they were lucky enough to be paying attention, were treated to a tight, well presented, acoustic rock outfit from New York known as As Tall as Lions. It was unfortunate that they were playing at a festival such as Soundwave and not one like Southbound or West Coast Blues and Roots where they would have been more appreciated, as they performed a set of quality New York rock songs and will no doubt receive more coverage in the future.

The acoustic rock mood was only short lived though as texan goth rockers Fly Leaf, with the soaring vocals of lead singer Lacey Moseley took to stage three. Even though the crowd seemed fairly unfamiliar with their work, the quintet performed a solid show and gave it their all. Most impressive was the band’s bassist who, while the bass guitarist is typically the reserved member of the band, was easily the most energetic member and let the crowd know he was having a good time.

Stage three failed to come into fruition however, until one of the highlight acts of the day performed to a suddenly inebriated and reckless crowd. When The Bronx appeared on stage at 3.40pm, the Soundwave festival really had begun. This band represented everything that the festival appeared to have based itself on, raising a big middle finger to ‘the man’ and just rocking out however they wanted. The faithful fans were running wild, the casual listeners were running wild and the people who had never even heard them were running wild. This was mainly in part due to the attention lead singer Matt Caughthran paid to the people who had turned up to enjoy their show. Throwing himself early on in the set into the crowd and being passed around the mosh pit and then later on midway through song, venturing into the licensed area, sculling a beer and returning to the stage. That sort of behaviour is not forgotten by a crowd of alcohol loving young Australian’s and was the moment on the edge of everyones lips when asking them how their day was. The Bronx stirred the crowd up into a chaotic mood and set the tone for the rest of the day, the show they performed will go down as one of the better festival sets of 2007.

With the day now in full swing, it was time to venture inside Robinson Pavilion to catch some of the main acts of the day. Robinson Pavilion is terrible for music of this nature, no matter how much insulation they line the tin walls with, unless you’re standing close to the stage all you get is a hollow sound with no vocal clarity, irritating high end and weak bottom end. This aside, a good performance is a good performance and Unwritten Law, the first of the main acts, did not put on a good performance. This is a band still relying on past hits to get them through with their new material nothing spectacular. Unfortunately for them, their old music has not seemed to have maintained the interest of their original fans; most of whom have grown up and lent their ears to more stimulating acts. They performed an unconvincing set littered with all the songs you’d expect to hear and left one feeling as though it should have been them on stage three and The Bronx unleashing chaos on the main stage. They were a stark contrast to The Bronx as far as crowd respect goes, with vocalist Scott Morris not winning any new fans, by appearing to be more than just high on a performance rush, nattering arrogant, narcisstic lines and then pulling a ‘Muse’ and thanking Adelaide instead of Perth, maybe in his head he was still in Adelaide. While Muse’s artistic talent was enough to overshadow their mistake at the Big Day Out, for Unwritten Law it was not.

After an uninspiring set from Unwritten Law the crowd at the mainstage needed something to lift their spirits; enter Thrice. Thrice are an extremely talented band that have been around for a while now and have developed somewhat of a cult following in the hardcore punk scene. Perth fans had waited a long time to see them live and finally the moment had come. Opening with the brilliant, Image of the Invisible, the perfect opener for a live set, the mosh pit tightened and bodies started to fly. The frenzied mood of the crowd had returned. They then broke into a progressive set of tunes from their most recent albums Vheissu and Artist in the Ambulance, the title track of that album being one of the highlights of the set. You could not fault their tightness and production, flowing between ambient ‘between song’ samples into hectic moments of rage and torment. The band appeared clearly humbled by how well received they were by the crowd and performed one of the better sets of the day. The only disappointment of their set was the lack of songs from their earlier albums, this dismayed a lot of the older fans of the band and left a lot of people feeling that they still hadn’t really heard Thrice live, a stellar set none the less.

There was no relief outside if you wanted to have a rest after the Thrice show, as Hatebreed took to stage two and incited one of the most aggressive mosh pits you will ever witness. They organised a game of british bulldogs, where the crowd met in the middle with fists flying everywhere and once the fists stopped flying it was bodies, shoes, bottles and a myriad of other projectiles that started flying. A massive circle pit was also a highlight of the Hatebreed set and they performed a worthy soundtrack to the pandemonium that was taking place beneath them.

Back inside Robinson Pavillion one of the massive crowd pullers of the day, especially for the teenage crowd, walked out on stage to a high pitched wail from a mass of adoring female fans. It was +44, minus Travis Barker, which equaled the Mark Hoppus band with some other guys playing as well. +44 did not really impress, their best tracks of the set were the opener Lycanthrope and a cover of Berlin’s The Metro. It was obvious the whole band was about Mark Hoppus, who spent half the time paying out on his other band members, it was done in a humorous manner but yet still came across as insincere. He did however pay his respect to fill-in drummer Gil Sharone, who was a worthy replacement and impressed with some complex beats and highly skilled drumming on a uniquely iridescent drumkit. Their set would have no doubt delighted their throng of young fans there to see them, but to those who weren’t as easily convinced, they did not deliver enough.

Night had well and truly fallen by the time +44 finished, and the atmosphere was particularly hostile at this point. As Suicidial Tendencies were thrashing out some skate punk nostalgia on stage two, an unlucky punter at the back of the crowd was laid out on the pavement with a punch to the side of the head, which did put a dampener on the day’s proceedings, as the only fists that had been thrown before that were all in good fun and with no malice at all. Despite this, Suicidal Tendencies were a perfect leadup to an amazing Deftones set that was to follow back in the Pavilion.

The Deftones’ performance started with a stage full of smoke, backed by an epic synthesizer track, playing the melody of their newest single Hole In The Earth. The light show they put on was brilliant to say the least and accentuated the mystical dimension they have to their songs. When the imposing figure of Chino Moreno broke through the smoke the crowd cheered and the band broke into a set that made sure everyone got their moneys worth. Playing a well balanced range of popular tracks from all of their albums, including Root from debut album Adrenaline, new fans and old fans were delighted with what they were witnessing. Moreno’s trademark shrieks are something that have to be heard live to be believed and he included them at just the right moments for maximum effect. Showing he’s not all solemn and serious, he decided to throw in his own version of Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back, during the break down in Around the Fur, which surely left a lot of fans scratching their heads but was funny none the less. A tight and precise rendition of new single Hole in the Earth was definitely a highlight of the set, and even Moreno agreed, muttering an approving statement when the song had finished. They wrapped up their set and the whole festival perfectly with the towering Change (In the House of Flies), the crowd singing in perfect chorus and then exiting the shed, tired, battered, voiceless and content. Let’s have Soundwave 2008 ready on standby please.