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PARKWAY DRIVE

Billboard The Venue – Melbourne, 21st December, 2008.

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Parkway Drive have just completed another national tour, with the last of four Melbourne shows having finished last night. Billboards may not be one of the largest venues in Melbourne, but to sell it out three times (and nearly a fourth) is an impressive feat by anyone’s measure. And so it was that I caught them one warm Sunday summer night at the end of a big year for the Byron Bay band, to see what al the hype is about.

It’s saying something pretty big when an Aussie band can do a national tour and have two American bands as warm up acts. Unfortunately, because someone posted incorrect set times on the net, I missed the first and most promising of these two bands, A Day to Remember, and turned up halfway through the set of the second.

Making my way towards the stage, I was greeted with a landscape straight from the Dutch countryside – windmills. An impressively active band on stage, my expectations were heightened when lead singer Mitch Lucker announced they were going to play a Deftones cover. Engine no. 9 sounded like an OK choice for a cover until Lucker started to sing. Try to imagine a traditional, run of the mill hardcore band fronted by Danni Filth. Scary, isn’t it? Well, that pretty much sums up Suicide Silence.

Earlier in the day, the entire five band list had entertained kiddies with an under 18 performance. By the look of the crowd however, it appeared that parkway drive concerts are split into two types: shows for under 18s and shows for under 19s. Having such a narrow support base makes selling out the venue three times over an even more impressive act. On the plus side, the kids did what kids do best – go ape shit for hardcore music. Despite the fact that Suicide Silence sounded like a monkey trying to grate cheese, the crowd was all over the place in an energetic moshpit, happily fanned down by the guitarists windmills. Thankfully, their time came to an end, and the roadies could set the stage for the main act.

A more traditional hardcore band, Parkway Drive are an experienced act. Singer Winston McCall rules the stage and is at ease conversing in the language of Hardcore with the crowd between songs. With the sound for the night being average whilst not bad, circle pits inevitably formed. Like any hardcore gig, the moshpit soon resembled a meeting of the village idiots, as hooded goons started swinging their arms about them, flykicking faux enemies and just doing generally angry looking things. And whilst their anger may be as fake as an emo’s suffering, the pain they inflict on others is not. At least one member of the crowd was seen with a seriously bloodied face, but just like underworld killings, there are no victims…

Songs that came across best live included Idols and Anchors, Pandora and Carrion. Guitar melodies rang freely throughout the room, and although the vocals were sometime drowned out in the mix, the crowd were more than happy to sing along. The set being only fifty minutes long allowed the band and the crowd to keep up the intensity until the end. Blood had been spilt, punches thrown, beer spilt, and some music had been played – another hardcore gig had come to an end.

6.5/10

Review by Mathew Boelsen