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| Heavy Metal in full flight |
Published in debate magazine, issue 2, March 2012.
Written by Carl Ewen
Established in 2004, as Gravity
Soundwave, Soundwave Festival has fast become one of the most exciting and
fasted growing alternative music festivals in the world. In 2012, 92 international
bands featured across a total of eleven stages, making this year’s Soundwave
the biggest yet.
Co-headlined by heavy metal
heavyweights System of a Down and Slipknot, my expectations for this year’s
festival were extremely high, even with this being my third Soundwave. Even
arriving at Brisbane Airport, my brother and I were lucky enough to land at the
same time as two flights from Los Angeles. We ended up meeting Coal Chamber,
Limp Bizkit and Steel Panther, so we were stoked!
We arrived early at the RNA
Showgrounds to beat the crowds and made our way straight to the metal stages to
catch some of the earlier bands of the day. First up is metalcore band Chimaira (7). Headed by lead singer
Mark Hunter, Chimaira launch into a solid performance, a little heavy on the
keyboards, but the solid blast beats and break downs more than make up for it.
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| Lexi Foxx - Steel Panther |
After Chimaira, its time to leave
the metal stage and head to the main arena, to wait in anticipation for one of
my favourite bands on this remarkable bill, Steel Panther (10). Hailing from L.A., specifically the Sunset
Strip, Steel Panther have been rocking crowds in L.A. since 2000 and released
their debut album, Feel The Steel in
2009 and sophomore album Balls Out.
Their exaggerated personas imbibe and parody the classic 1980’s glam metal
style.
My expectations for Panther were
very high, and I was not disappointed. Belting out hits from both albums, Community Property, Just Like Tiger Woods and
Death to all but Metal, Steel Panther
had the 8,000+ strong crowd singing their lungs out throughout the set. You can
tell that Steel Panther are truly excited to be here, and even ask the crowd
“Who’s downloaded our album illegally? Put your hand’s up. If you haven’t, do
it”.
The problem with so many amazing
bands playing a festival of this size is that you end up feeling like a pinball
ball bouncing between all the different stages. So it was back to the metal
stages to catch Heavy Metal super group, Hellyeah
(10).
Made up of Chad Gray and Greg
Tribbet from Mudvayne, Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell, Damageplan bassist
Bobzilla, and former Pantera/Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul, Hellyeah are the
ultimate metal party band. They are a truely unstoppable force, cranking
through an intense although short set of only 30 minutes, I still feel like I have
gotten my moneys worth.
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| Brian Fair - The Human Octopus |
Shadows
Fall (7) from Boston,
Massachusetts, are up next. Fronted by their heavily dreadlocked vocalist Briar
Fair, they open with The Power of I and I. Although the crowd is small, they
manage to produce one of the most entertaining circle pits of the day. Frontman
Fair’s head looks like an angry octopus with his ankle length dreads flying
everywhere during the set. He also lends some important advice to budding
musicians, “Never forget to bring your own guitars to a festival or you'll end
up with fuckin’ bananas on either side of the stage. We borrowed ‘em from Steel
Panther!".
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| Alt-Rock legends - Bush |
Formed in London in 1992,
alternative rock band Bush (8) take
the main stage at 3.20pm, after a ten year hiatus. Gavin Rossdale & Co.
play a range of hits from their extensive back catalogue, including Everything Zen, Come Down and a
performance of crowd favourite Glycerine,
featuring Rossdale solo on the electric guitar. My favourite moment of the
performance however, would be the electrifying cover of The Beatles Come Together, where Gavin leaves the
stage and performs at the barrier amongst all his adoring fans. Its great to
have these boys back together.
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| Fred getting up close with the punters |
One of the more controversial bands
on the bill are the Nu-Metal kings Limp Bizkit
(8). It has been eleven years since they last performed in Australia, since
the death of Jessica Michalik, who died of asphyxiation
during their 2001 Sydney, Big Day Out performance. Fred Durst & Co. pay
tribute to Jessica half way through their set by revealing a giant pink banner
bearing her name, which is extremely well received by the stadium full of
people in attendance. This does not appear to be forced sentiment, its real,
and is an extremely touching moment.
Limp Bizkit perform a very
entertaining and powerful set full of old-school hits and Fred even jumps into
the crowd during the set to get close to their fans. Finishing up with their
biggest hit Break Stuff, it is
evident to all in attendance that the Bizkit are back!
One of the acts that I was most
looking forward to seeing at Soundwave, proved to be the most disappointing. Marilyn Manson (2), was an absolute
shambles. The self-proclaimed “God of F**K” was high off his face by his own
account, claiming that he was “high on narcotics” throughout the show. His
half-assed, diva like performance included low points of throwing his microphone
to the ground after every song, face planting on the stage after tripping in
his platform boots and tossing bags of ‘narcotics’ into the crowd left everyone
feeling very dissatisfied with Manson.
Iowa natives, Slipknot (10) are the most ferocious and intense band on the
planet. This behemoth of a band is on a path to pay tribute to their fallen
brother, bassist Paul Gray who tragically passed away in May, 2010. Slipknot
provide the type of ‘greatest hits’ set that dreams are made of. Filled with
flaming pyrotechnics, a stage diving DJ and hydraulic rising drum kits,
Slipknot are on top of their game.
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| All hail the mighty Slipknot |
They open with the ominous opening
audio from their debut album and go straight into (sic), followed by Eyeless and
Wait and Bleed. All albums are well represented during their
80 minute set, including Duality, in
which DJ Sid Wilson proceeds to scale the lighting tower to dive into the
crowd. This is one of the best times I have ever seen Slipknot play. Frontman
Corey Taylor assures the crowd that Slipknot will be back, stating “All of you
have always stood by us, and Slipknot will always stand by you”. Maggots around
the world are thanking you Corey.
System
of A Down (10),
close the main stage with a healthy dose of alternative metal to the packed
main arena. Opening with the electrifying Prison
Song, System provide a substantial 28 song setlist, but as I just saw them
at Trusts Stadium the Wednesday prior, I’m off to check out Virginian metallers
Lamb of God (10).
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| System of a Down |
On stage, Lamb of God frontman Randy
Blythe can only best be described as a rabid dog stalking his pray with the way
he paces and runs back and forth throughout their set. Opening with Desolation from the new album Resolution
and blasting into stand out tracks, Walk
with me in Hell, Set to Fail and ruin, L.O.G have the crowd eating from
their hands. Although the set is cut short, they power on with standard closing
tracks Redneck and Black Label, complete with circle pits
and walls of death, Lamb of God are intense.
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| Genuine Rednecks, Lamb of God |
Soundwave Festival is definitely the
best festival in the Southern Hemisphere, and easily one of the best in the
world. If you like your music heavy, you need to save the cash to attend. You
will not be sorry. After three Soundwaves (2010, 2011 and 2012) I am already
saving for Soundwave 2013. I might just see you there.
Published in debate magazine, issue
2, March 2012.
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