Let’s get to the important part first up: This was the first Sydney Soundwave done right. From its beginnings at Sydney Park, through Eastern Creek and now to Olympic Park, the journey of Soundwave has been a bumpy one in NSW. A myriad of complaints marred just about every event – though the quality of the bands on offer has never been up for debate. This year, they took those complaints and crushed them, even giving Big Day Out a run for their money, utilising the same venue in a very impressive (though slightly reduced) way.
I got there early enough to catch Feeder, whose way-too-early-for-an-awesome-band slot made this one heck of a long day: my only gripe of the day. The band ripped through their back catalogue, with closing tracks “Buck Rogers” and “Just a Day” leaving much of the crowd going… oh, they’re THAT band! A wonderful way to kick off the day; this was a group I’d been wanting to see for a very long time, and they didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, the decidedly softer record Pushing The Senses was ignored for the most part – something completely understandable in the context of a hard rock festival.
The next few hours were spent enjoying the sort of music I wouldn’t normally go out of my way to listen to, but I found myself enjoying it all from start to finish. Sum 41 drew the first massive crowd of the day; you couldn’t get anywhere near the tent they were playing in (housed where the Essential stage normally is for BDO). MXPX closed things up with “Punk Rawk Show”, which I couldn’t help but sing along to. Monster Magnet were fucking AWESOME, possibly the highlight of the day – like the kids in the crowd at Feeder earlier, I had a “oh, they’re THAT band” sort of moment during the set, as I came to the realization that I knew just about every song. “Look to Your Orb for the Warning” was incredible, while “Powertrip” and set closer “Spacelord” has us all screaming ‘MOTHER FUCKER’ for the remainder of the day.
Primus showed off the crowd for who they truly were: fans of music. This was the Les Claypool show: often unintelligible, always strange and ridiculously enjoyable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a patiently attentive crowd in the Big Day Out stadium. “My Name is Mud” killed, and “Tommy The Cat” closed things up. Was a pleasure to see the man perform, as it was to witness Slash. What isn’t there to say about the iconic guitarist? The guy can rock it. Myles Kennedy took hold of most of the vocal duties, running through Slash’s solo material, and plenty of Gunners and Velvet Revolver classics to keep the crowd happy.
For me, today for always about the return of Queens of the Stone Age, and while they didn’t disappoint, they didn’t overwhelm either. A pretty standard set from the rockers; Josh, fresh from touring with Them Crooked Vultures (and apparently recording a second album with the group) casually swigging from a vodka bottle, as the stage was drapped in an amazing light show (the best saved for last) and what seemed to be the blueprints of the JFK assassination?
The set was opened with “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer” before rocking out “Lost Art of Keeping a Secret”, “3s and 7s” (dedicated to ‘Iron Fucking Maiden’), “Sick Sick Sick”, “Misfit Love”, “Monsters in the Parasol” (introduced as a ‘song about LSD and enjoying it a hell of a lot more than you should’), “Burn The Witch” (about ‘lies fucking lies’), “Little Sister” (opened by a sweet instrumental jam, one of several of the set), “I Think I Lost My Headache”, “Go With The Flow”, “No One Knows” and “A Song For the Dead” closing things up. Not a bad setlist, if I do say so myself!
Rob Zombie was tonight performing in Sydney for the first time in 16 years, making up for lost time with an epic set. Playing well overtime, the iconic artist played enough tracks to keep any fan happy – with House of a 1000 Corpses video playing in the background, amongst other paraphernalia – a pretty damn cool stage set up. “Dragula” was of course a highlight, while The Melvins could be seen sitting patiently on the other stage, waiting for Mr. Zombie to move along. They even started jamming sans sound or light. Rock and roll. The only downside to it all was that both The Melvins and Fucked Up got a super reduced set – and they were both absolutely incredible. For the latter, Damian Abraham aka Pink Eyes had energy that was reminiscent of Les Savy Fav’s frontman, and a sound that was true punk.
Meanwhile back on the main stage, Iron Maiden were playing a spectacular two hour set, fresh off Ed Force One. “Fear of the Dark” was an early favourite. I also made it in time to check out a couple of tracks from Third Eye Blind, one of the odder additions to the lineup, including “Never Let You Go”. They didn’t quite do it for me, and I didn’t stick around for “Semi-Charmed Life”, but it was cool to see them
I ended my night back at Fucked Up, with Pink Eyes jumping with and on everyone in the crowd, leaving us with this word of wisdom: “Punk started in Australia, with Radio Birdman and The Saints. I don’t care what the history books say…” You heard the man!
In summation, was this the best Soundwave ever? Most definitely. And that has little to do with the outstanding lineup. With the exception of the whole “Slayer cancel and incite a riot” thing – which I almost forgot to mention! – the day seemed to go off without a hitch. I honestly could not have had a better day if I tried. Thankfully, though, I’m not a Slayer fan, otherwise I think I may feel a bit differently about the whole thing….
