ChunSoundwave 2008 @ Melbourne Showgrounds
March 27th 2008 10:35
February 29th. The last day of a long, hot summer that has yielded some amazing live sets from a cluster of stellar acts. So what better way to celebrate the end of another great summer than to join the heaving masses at the Melbourne Showgrounds for Soundwave 2008, the biggest punk and metal extravaganza in Australia?
Soundwave has enjoyed a rapid rise to top as the pre-eminent festival for punk rockers and this was the first year that Melbourne was added to the touring schedule. Thankfully for anyone that went to the Big Day Out in the dustbowl known as Flemington, the Soundwave organisers made the right call in choosing the Showgrounds as its home.
After getting in early and spending a good 45 minutes in line, I finally managed to get through the gates and I scrambled across the Showgrounds to catch Seattle three-piece the Fall of Troy. Yet as I arrived at the faraway Stage 4, it seemed that the Fall of Troy and grown a couple of extra band members and were playing an intense brand of metalcore. As it turned out, From Autumn to Ashes graciously swapped times with the Fall of Troy to allow the boys from Seattle to play to a bigger audience.
When the Fall of Troy took to the stage at 1.20pm after doing their own soundchecks, they delivered one helluva set worthy of a festival finale, rather than an opening slot. Dressed like your typical Seattle grunge band, the Fall of Troy are so much more. Hardcore, post-hardcore, psychedelic freak out and pop; the Fall of Troy seem determined to escape any and all forms of classification. Lucky for them their genre defying sound is absolutely mesmerising and had the mosh pit thrashing with reckless abandon. After a 35 minute set that was way too short, frontman Thomas Erak brought things to a suitably epic finale by diving into the crowd and having the shirt literally torn off his back as the crowd surged to get a piece of him.
A fair amount of hype as been swirling around the Fall of Troy for sometime, but rest assured that they are the real deal. At only 23 years of age Thomas Erak seems destined for big things. His stage presence and charisma coupled with his awe-inspiring ability marks him as a man to keep an eye on. Hopefully the Fall of Troy will be back in Australia sooner rather than later and more people can be exposed to their amazing brand of post-hardcore rock.
Thomas Erak: the Next Big Thing?
Feeling bruised and sweaty after surviving the Fall of Troy mosh pit, I was in need of some R&R and it just so happened that City and Color was just about to takeover Stage 5. As far as side-projects go, Dallas Green's City and Color is in the rare position of being nearly as popular as his main gig, Alexisonfire, though City and Color seems to appeal to a slightly different demographic as young girls flocked to Stage 5 to swoon and moan to Green's heartfelt acoustic folk numbers. Apart from the swaths of sweaty, young girls loudly professing their undying love for Green, City and Color's excellent set was the perfect side dish to the aggressive hard rock that was the main course of the day.
From there it was over to the main stage to check out the dance-rock of Mindless Self Indulgence, where the brilliantly named Jimmy Urine did his best to entertain and piss off as many people as possible. Urine quickly had the young kids eating out of his hand, though he had an impossible task winning over some of the grisly veterans waiting for Thursday to come on. Dodging bottles and happily flipping the bird at the naysayers, Urine and his band delivered a fun filled set. I don't intend to listen to any of their records, but you can't deny that their live sets are amusing at the very least.
Some aimless wandering followed and I eventually arrived back at the main stage in time for Motion City Soundtrack and their infectious brand of pop-punk. When the sing-a-longs came to an end, it was time for the ball tearing aggression of Alexisonfire.
Canada's finest post-hardcore act gets an A for effort, frontman George Pettit was in particularly fine form as he prowled the stage like a caged animal and delivered his lines with venom, but the band was let down by a patchy sound system.
When Alexisonfire wrapped, I made a quick dash back to Stage 5 to check out Jim Ward and his acoustic project. I have a kind of love-hate relationship with Jim Ward. On the one hand, he remains a legend as a founding member of the revolutionary hardcore act, At the Drive In and I've enjoyed his some of his work in Sparta, but Sparta's set last year at the HiFi Bar left me feeling so cold that I've been re-evaluating my opinion on Ward ever since.
Though I only managed to catch the last 15 minutes of his Soundwave set, it went a long way to restoring my faith in Ward. A disappointingly small audience of barely 30 people showed up, but they'd all agree that Ward brought a passion and intensity to the stage that could captivate a stadium. The acoustic version of Sparta mainstay, Air, that he closed with was especially poignant.
Jimmy Urine shows how to make friends and influence people
Day had now become night and it was time for headlining act and punk legends the Offspring to take the stage. This was a by the numbers set that delivered all the expected hits for which the band are famous, but that description sells the performance short. Noodles and crew belted out all the classics at such a frenetic pace that the mosh pit could barely keep up. After an explosive encore that included Self Esteem, the Offspring capped off a red letter day for Aussie punks. Summer might be over, but we'll always have the memories and the knowledge that it's only few months till we do it all over again.
The Offspring delivered the goods at Soundwave '08
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