Live Reviews : Soundwave 2012 in Melbourne; a review

If you came over here expecting to hear about what Trivium, In Flames and essentially every other band on Stage 4A/B was like, look away. That may seem slightly odd considering the metal part of our name, however I had already seen Gojira, Kvelertak, Mastodon (which you can read about here), Meshuggah and Devin Townsend at their respective sideshows, and I’d rather kiss Fred Durst than watch a Lamb of God set.

Despite saying that, after wandering through the thankfully queue-less gates, I wandered straight over to said stage to catch The Black Dahlia Murder. They blasted through a quick half-hour set comprised of three Ritual tracks, and two from each of the prior two albums. Moments of the set were particularly groovy, and the crowd clearly loved it; however the sound was killed a tad by early winds. Regardless of how much I enjoyed the set though, vocalist Trevor Strnad made the set a struggle to sit through, with his topless, tough guy attitude reminding me why I generally despise metal frontmen.

A hike over to the main stage put me in front of absolute legends (already) Steel Panther. Kicking things off with personal favourite “Eyes of a Panther”, the glam rockers looked as naturally comfortable on stage as any band possibly could, making the type of crude comments and sexual innuendo that you’d expect. “Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)” had those in the crowd who were unfamiliar with the band laughing their heads off, while “Asian Hooker” had a pretty good singalong going. Michael Starr’s voice was superb, and the whole band absolutely electric, however despite not wanting to miss hit “Death To All But Metal”, I couldn’t resist heading back to the metal stage for France’s Gojira. Despite playing the same setlist as their brilliant sideshow (again with “Oroborus” as a badly chosen opener), and the festival setting knocking the intensity down a few notches, they were phenomenal yet again. With such great responses at both shows, let’s all hope they return again soon.

While trying to block the sound of Hellyeah out of my ears, it was time to wander to the bar for a few beers. By the time we got through those horrendous alcohol coupon lines, and then the actual bar lines, the few beers had to be thrown down faster than lukewarm Carlton Dry should ever be consumed, so I could make it to Wednesday 13 in time. I’d been looking forward to seeing the horror punk act for quite a while, despite the last two albums being a tad subpar, so I wasn’t exactly happy to walk into the little shed to see some terrible, gothed-up metalcore band (Motionless in White?). I’ve since learnt there was a timetable change, and I was given an out-dated one at the door. Thanks for that guys.

The next few hours was a case of wandering. What I saw of A Day To Remember was painfully bland, however their “let’s use crowd surfers as surfboards” idea actually led to some successful attempts, which were somewhat impressive. Hearing The Beatles over the hill was confusing for a bit, until it became apparent that it was Bush covering “Come Together”, and it worked surprisingly well. Limp Bizkit were a laugh for a few songs, especially considering Fred’s backwards cap and oversized jersey are now complimented by a grey beard. “Hot Dog” was a track, I’ll admit, I was obsessed with back when I was a baby who wasn’t allowed to listen to music with coarse language, so that was fun to hear live, and “My Generation” went down a treat, however when they broke the ridiculousness by dedicating it all to a girl who had died at their concert a few years earlier, it all became too much, and I was dragged over to what was easily the worst few minutes of the festival.

Squashed into the sauna that was stage 6, I suffered through a couple of songs from all-girl act Kittie, who’s harsher bits weren’t too horrid but who’s cleanly sung, melodic parts (and the amount of scene kiddies in that room) were close to seeing me explode into a murderous rampage. And just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, Enter Shikari started, with their ridiculous attempt at trying to blend a whole bunch of styles that should never be together. I escaped, fleeing for my life, and the lives of those around me, and wandered back to the Bizkit. Yes, Fred Durst was my saviour, for a brief moment.

And to be honest, he was still better than Marilyn Manson as well. At least Freddy seemed like he wanted to be there. Manson spent his set trudging around the stage, mumbling half of his vocals and skipping half of the others, while he stopped between every song to go and have (what seemed like) abusive conversations with the stage crew, and throwing water bottles to the ground. Either he now thinks he is too cool to need to try, or he just couldn’t be bothered, but either way he might as well hang up his gothic boots. His one pathetic attempt at seeming as extreme as he once was saw him pretend that somebody through some precious white powder on stage, only for him to poor it back into the audience, to “give back to the people”. While his cover of the Eurythmics track “Sweet Dreams” went down well, the rest of his set was a disgrace to his own name, and to rock shows in general.

If it weren’t for the fact we were keeping a good spot for Slipknot, we would have left, but it was worth it. The eight piece put on a show like few others; fire, drumkits on hydraulic lifts, acrobatic antics by stage members, and a fantastic light show. A few tracks (“Psychosocial” and the bland “Before I Forget”) left a bit to be desired, however the heavier, more energetic tracks were a whole lotta fun. “Liberate” sounded massive and the schizophrenic, rap-drenched “Spit It Out” was a party. It was all dampened a bit by not-so-great sound though, with the wind blowing it around and some parts being almost too quiet to hear. At the end of the day, there’s always a chance of that at festivals, it was just a bit disappointing after how great the sound has been at the last few editions of Soundwave.

It was time for a sit down to relax, and wipe off the sweat of far too many hairy metalheads. After
recovering some energy, I wandered over to catch the last bit of Devin Townsend, only to see him finish the set with the funky “Bad Devil”; the track that introduced me to him in the first place, and the one I was shattered he didn’t play at the sideshow. That one track was the highlight of the day for me.

The band to finish the day was System of a Down, someone who I never thought I’d witness live. While they weren’t overly energetic on stage, and the set did drag a bit in places, it was a show I’m happy I saw. The vocals performances were great, and the set list was stellar, including renditions of “Marian” by The Sisters of Mercy and the Dire Straits classic “Sultans of Swing”, with the lyrics changed to feature the band’s title. “Kill Rock ‘n Roll” sounded spot-on, as did the classics like “War?” and “Aerials”. It was a bit hard to see anything, being so far back at what seemed like an overcrowded festival, but it was an undeniably fun set, and a great end to a great day.

Well, that is, except for the sunburn…

You can view our full photo gallery from the festival by clicking on this sentence.