Review by Dane Wang:
After last year’s hiccup you would have thought that the promoters wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, but however they managed to outdo themselves again. Waiting in line for almost an hour to get in, I feared the worst for the remainder of the day; will there be enough free water? Will there be enough toilets? Will there be adequate shade? No, no and no.
Regardless of the poor organization the bands however were fantastic. First up were post hardcore band Chiodos. They truly are a talented group of performers; their live shows are undeniably impressive, playing hits such as “There’s No Penguins In Alaska” and “Two birds stoned at once”. Things were looking up.
Moving onto stage 5, I eagerly awaited to see Jack’s Mannequin. Andrew McMahon has an appealing charisma and radiates it on stage. With their heavy brand of piano pop rock, they kicked off with “The Resolution” captivating the audience with their tranquil ballad. Jack’s Mannequin also played favourites from their 2005 album ‘Everything in Transit’ with “The Mixtape”, “I’m ready” and “Dark Blue”.
There is no doubt that Saves the Day is one of the greatest and most influential pop punk bands of our time. Opening with the ever popular “At Your Funeral” Saves the Day set the wheel rolling to what was an astounding performance. “Rock Tonic Juice Magic” got the crowd moving while the mellow pop song “Anywhere With You” showed just how talented Chris Conley is as a musician and songwriter.
It’s evident that Anberlin loves Australia, and we love them too. They played crowd favourites from “Feel good drag” to a song they named after a city here in Australia; “Adelaide” and my personal favourite “Dismantle.Repair”. They continued to play what was a powerful and passionate set showcasing songs from their latest album New Surrender.
Hearing of their reunion in 2007, I was excited when I heard they were going to come down under. That’s right, Finch are back. With their melodic riffs, intense drumming and smooth bass lines they played an astounding live show. As the opening riffs of “Letters to You” began, the crowd went insane and we couldn’t help but to sing along as there was no better moment than hearing your favourite song being played live.
I then moved my way up and sat to watch the next band; Valencia. They opened up with their hit “Holiday”. Their set list contained mostly songs from their second studio album ‘We all need a reason to believe’ with songs such as “The good life”, “Safe to say” and “Better be prepared”. The only thing that disappointed me was they only had a small audience, as this band deserved much more.
After losing two members at the end of 2008, Houston Calls are still remain strong. With a solid fan base, they started the set with “Modest Manifesto”. Tom encouraged people to get rowdy and continued their set with songs such as “Life won’t wait” and “A shot in the dark”.
Say Anything opened with “Alive with the glory of love”, only taking seconds for Max Bemis’ loud and deafening voice to tear through the speakers. New songs from their 2007 album were also played from “Skinny Mean Man” to “Shiksa” with the crowd singing along with Bemis “I have a girlfriend now”. Say Anything continued to fly high with “Every man has a molly” getting the crowd to belt out “I will never have rough sex with Molly Connolly again”. “Wow, I can get sexual too” proved to be the highlight of the set as Bemis continued to show off his rock star moves and infectious melodies, confirming that Say Anything are truly a gift. They ended their set with “Woe”; however the crowd was still left hungry for more. Overall the organization of the event was poorly executed, the bands however made up for it.
Review by Larry Heath:
I couldn’t disagree with Dane’s opinion on the organisation more…
Like any festival, you can’t assume that “this line is the only line because it’s really long”.
Not once did I line up for a drink (water, beer or otherwise).
And that includes getting into the drinking area.
Not once did I wait for a toilet.
Only very briefly did I wait for food
…and I walked straight into the venue at 1pm.
Try saying that about any other Sydney festival!
I’ll admit, however, that if there had been a long queue when I had arrived (Dane was in the first batch of people probably around 11am), there were no indicators to point people to the queue-less entrance. But nonetheless, in comparison to what I heard about last year, this was a fantastically organised event, with the only downside to the layout being found at (what I believe was) stage 4, which became quite a hard area to get through at the best of times. And I’ve got to say, thanks to a lack of sound restrictions, Eastern Creek is a damn good place to have a festival. Just a pity it’s such a pain to get to from the CBD!
With the majority of the genres on offer at Soundwave far outside my music tastes, it was the Bloodhound Gang, The Subways, Alice in Chains and Nine Inch Nails for whom I bought a ticket… and I have to say, they all lived up to expectation.
Seeing The Bloodhound Gang made my inner 13 year old tremble with drunken excitement, with “Fire Water Burn” opening up the set in spectacular fashion, and naturally “The Bad Touch” was thrown in for good measure. “Ralph Wiggum” and “Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo” were among the songs they played off their latest LP, the latter of which led the crowd into a frenzy of spectacular proportions. A fantastic, often hilarious performance most thought they’d never have the chance to witness.
Nine Inch Nails, meanwhile, played a stellar set, disappointing those who wanted to hear all the hits, while keeping the hardcore fans happy with rarely played tracks, along with live favourites like “Reptile” and “March of the Pigs”. Oh such fun. The set finished up with “Hurt”. Lovely as always, but Trent and I both agree that the Johnny Cash version is better. Pity it’s probably the last time we’ll hear most of those songs live, as Trent prepares to play the disappearing act on the NIN bandwagon.
Moving back to 1pm-ish, The Subways really knew how to get things started on the main stage. Lead singer Billy Lunn entertained all the moshers at the front by diving into the stage. And what a dive! I’m sure that wasn’t the only one of the day, but certainly the only one I witnessed. While I’m not a fan of their new album, the tracks from it dominated the set, and surprisingly went off a treat. It was favourite “Rock and Roll Queen”, however, which allowed the crowd to show just how rock and roll they were.
Not being much of a hardcore/metal fan, most of the remaining bands that played were a new experience for me. My main discovery of the day was Hellogoodbye – who put on a fantastic set as the clouds disappeared; the sun bearing down on us for the first time. Evergreen Terrace was also a surprise for me, as I’d heard some of their recordings and found them terribly distasteful. Live, however, they are charismatic, fun, and a fantastic dose of metal. And I have to give them credit for their cover of “Mad World” as well. Never thought I’d hear that “Metal-ised”.
On the smaller stages, Jaguar Love were sans-drummer and thus a bit of a disappointment (I’ll take Blood Brothers or Pretty Girls Make Graves any day!), while Minus the Bear were as good as ever. Jack’s Mannequin also came onto the stage sounding terrific.And on the main stage, Canadians Billy Talent showed us all why they are immensely popular in their home country, as did Jack’s Mannequin.
I could go on and on about the bands, but the truth is, beyond these names, I’m really not sure who I saw, especially considering when I witness anything average, I just moved on and saw someone else. And this really was a unique festival (at least for this genre… it’s got nothing on ATP) in that there was ALWAYS someone interesting on, someone new to discover, and favourites to revisit. A fantastic day, incredibly improved from last year, and I can only hope that it returns bigger and better than ever next year!
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COMPLETE LIVE RECORDINGS (Where available, see to the right for setlists)
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