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Parkway Drive

w/ August burns Red, Architects, and In Trenches

Palace Theatre – 21st August 2009

Touring on the coat tails of their recently released DVD, Parkway Drive (PD) played to a packed Palace on Friday night. The rise and rise of this aussie metalcore outfit has been great to witness and enjoy over the years. The Palace was sold out weeks in advance, which shows just how much the groundswell of support for PD has grown. The Palace seemed the perfect venue for this show given the ample space and elevated viewing platforms that are just close enough to the ground level to encourage ill-advised pit diving.

PD was solidly supported by Melbourne metalcore heads In Trenches, pommy mathcore outfit Architects and Pennsylvania based Christian hardcore group August Burns Red.

In Trenches kicked things off in emphatic style to a fast filling venue. Playing live shows on the back of their recent release Relive & Regret, IT did the Melbourne crowd proud, receiving enthusiastic applause for their refreshingly original sound. Pits were forming early on and there were clearly many punters there who knew IT’s tracks back to front.

Architects were playing a long way from home, but judging by the crowd response they could feel quite at home in Oz. While some of their trademark technical proficiency was at times hard to distinguish in a live forum, there is no doubt that their song construction ability has won them many fans in Australia (judging by the sheer ferocity of the pit during breakdowns). Including a few tracks off their 2009 release Hollow Crown, they provided well balanced support for the upcoming acts.

There was a tangible change in the crowd’s mood by the time August Burns Red blasted their way through an extraordinarily tight set. There was no room left on the floor and the pit had already begun to spill up the stairs at times. Stand out tracks included Existence and Thirty and SevenConstellations. Other highlights included Barbarian, Backburner, Up Against the Wall, The Truth of a Liar and they closed things out spectacularly with the epic Composure. By the time they left the stage, the crowd was a proverbial well oiled machine, waiting to kick into top gear once PD came on. from their third studio album

After watching Parkway Drive’s recently released DVD, I found it surprising that they don’t see themselves as metal heads given the technicality and production values of their studio releases which are clearly some of the Australia’s best metalcore exports in recent years. Whatever you call them, one thing that is clear when they play live is that they are damn good!

The set list predominantly focused on their most recent studio album Horizons, although there were a couple of tracks played from their first studio album Killing With A Smile. There was also a new track that they have been working on thrown in for good measure. The mix was faultless and the pit really started to crank once PD had kicked things off.

While the whole set list was great to listen to, the standouts would have to be Carrion, Smoke ‘Em If Ya Got ‘Em, It’s Hard to Speak Without a Tongue, Five Months, Boneyards and Dead Man’s Chest.

Punters were going ballistic and not one, but two decided that the pit looked better than the staircase platforms they were standing on at each side of the venue. So both proceeded to dive into the pit from relatively great heights and it looked as though there were no major injuries.

One of the most uplifting things I have ever seen also occurred when a wheelchair bound punter was lifted onto the shoulders of several people in the pit during Carrion so that he could witness this great live performance with an unimpeded view. Not long after, his chair had been lifted onto the stage and as he banged his head like he was having the time of his life, all of the band members looked truly chuffed that their music was giving this guy and the rest of the sold out crowd a night that they would not forget.

Following some encore action, the show was over and Melbourne fans were left to wonder when PD will next make the trek down to our city.

This show was an example of an Aussie act at the top of their game and testament to their relentless pursuit of getting their music out there. Oh and if you haven’t seen the DVD yet, do yourself a favour and watch it ASAP, it’s killer.

Review by Greg Luke, photos by heidi Takla