Review by Toby McCarthy
Soundwave 2011 promised to deliver one of the most dynamic, eclectic and credible festival line-ups to ever visit these shores. With six different stages catering for range of guitar based tastes, this has become an event like no other. This relative newcomer to the festival circuit has played host to acts who attract a diehard and devoted following and have often stood the test of time and are respected for their integrity and durability (Alice In Chains, Faith No More...). For Brisbanites, this sublime day has risen from the ashes of the city’s Livid Festival at the RNA and it seemed as if much of the crew attending 2011’s version sensed the occasion of which they were about to a part.
It would be impossible to cover every act in this review with punters agonising where to go when European punk heroes Millencolin collided with 36 Crazyfists and Sevendust just after midday. All six stages pleased the publics’ insatiable appetite for destruction all day and this was just the entree with a heavy main course to come.
Devildriver didn’t disappoint their legion of fans in an intense, double-kick driven set that had the early afternoon pit sweating and punching their devil horns in the air. Stage 4 was the domain of the heaviest acts of the day and this band really stoked the fire of the crowd that had swelled in anticipation of what was to come.
The first genuine claim to the heavyweight title was posed by Stonesour back on the main stage. Fans of lead singer’s Corey Taylor’s genesis (Slipknot) have been critical of his latest incarnation’s album and this set was a reflection of the more commercially friendly sound the band has taken. It was a performance in two halves as they meandered through newer material off their accessible latest album before Through the Glass ignited a spark. Tracks such as 30/30-150 saved what could have been a disappointing set to prime the punters for what was clearly a highlight of the day next up.
It had been eleven years since the oddly engaging beats of Primus had girt our seas of cheese and an older but wiser crowd had steadily filtered into the main arena to witness a genuine musician grace our shores. How do you describe or define Primus to someone who has never heard them? The best I can do is that the lead singer, and his cartoonesque vocals, plays a thumping lead and radical rhythm line with a bass guitar over the top of the lead guitarist who plays a funky and wild bass line, backed by unconventional and occasionally obtrusive drumming. There is nothing that sounds like them. The planet has never seen a bass player like Les Claypool ever before. The man is truly a freak and he treated the masses to a performance that they will never forget. He emerged in a black wig with coloured extensions, shed it for the trademark bowler hat before donning the infamous pig mask recalling their awesome album Pork Soda. While Ler canoodled away maniacally on his guitar, (Les and Larry have reunited with drummer Jay Lane, from way back in Claypool’s Holy Mackerel days, no Herb or Brain!) Les changed his rhythm picking up no less than five or six instruments ranging from his six string bass to his banjo-bass. Fans drooled over a new track from an impending offering but the majority of the set harked back to their early 90’s visits. Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, John the Fisherman, Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers and Pudding Time were delivered with the tight precision that Primus are known for and lead man Les has lost nothing in his years away. Fans left yearning for another visit to celebrate a new album, but their old adage rings true: If you didn’t like Primus before, you probably still won’t.
Slash, the legendary ex-guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, had divided fans with some of his renditions on his latest solo recording featuring several different vocalists. It was clear very early that there is difference between a recorded Slash and a live one. He and his band rocked the place with crowd favourites Nightrain, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Rocket Queen and Paradise City needing no backing vocals as 40-odd thousand people chanted along in unison. This was easily the most fun set of day and despite the joke that Axl Rose’s Guns N’ Roses have become, the band’s earlier work still resonates a rebelliousness and riotous sense of good old rock n roll. The great man in the top hat obviously still has it and was at the top of his game in a crisp exhibition of his skills and was yet another master of his craft on display on this grand day.
Back over on stage 4, Norway’s Dimmu Borgir sweated their way through a dark set, as they reminded the crowd they had come from -30 degrees to 30 degrees plus! A mate’s (a metal doyen) girlfriend asked him what these guys were and the best he could come up with was, ‘Well, ahhh... they are black, and ahhh...they are metal...’ and he was right. They delivered probably the darkest set of the day and fans were fired up in the heat. Ill Nino delivered a solid and tight brand of their ‘Latin Metal’ beats but the crowd were really beginning to swell for one of the day’s next highlights, the almighty Slayer...
This was yet another quality act at this festival that has stood the test of time and it was clear from the multitude of t-shirts in the crowd there was plenty of support for these heavyweights. They didn’t disappoint with the crowd who showed their appreciation with the traditional circle pit and moshing wildly to classics such as Reign in Blood. Punters went crazy when Slayer closed the set with another signature piece Angle of Death. This is a band who are hardcore and whose fans aren’t far behind them. A non-believer would have been in awe at the definition of symbiosis here, band and fans feeding off each other and loving it. Slayer was a genuine standout of the day and it was a powerhouse performance from the one of the masters to well and truly start the main course.
The action on Stage 4 had taken the majority of the older crew away from the main arena where 30 Seconds From Mars pleased everyone else under about the age of 20. Front-man Jared Leto was popular with the few teen girls in the crowd, but as Slayer finished the buzz stated to gather back on the main stage for yet another legend to grace the stage.
Zack De La Rocha’s (Rage Against The Machine front-man) new project One Day as a Lion have only released a five track EP in this country but their set was as electric as any all day due to Zack’s incredible energy and intensity. He danced and pranced and screeched and roared through an amazing repertoire of tracks not dissimilar in theme and content to his previous band’s work, but with less metal and more funk and grunt. Backed by two other musicians, one drummer and another one on this strange organ-like device that appeared to have three or four levels that ground out some heaving beats, Zack was simply superb. Live versions of If You Fear Dying and One Day As A Lion were just awesome and had the main stage just throbbing. With talk of albums from both these guys and Rage Against The Machine in the final works, a salivating crowd await De La Rocha’s imminent and angry return. Rage on Zack.
Capitalising on this buzz, Queens of the Stone Age simply rocked the house as the punters became bloated with the main course and starved of time to check everything out. With five albums now under their belt providing a diverse range of material now, this band never fail to deliver live and this night was no exception. Crowds favourite No One Knows had the entire crowd boogying and singing along just as they were to Slash a few hours previously. Josh Homme (ex- Kyuss, Them Crooked Vultures) and the boys kept the momentum rolling with rollicking versions of Burn the Witch and Mexicola while Go With the Flow absolutely rocked the RNA to its core an a genuine highlight of the day. While the majority of the bands who appear at Soundwave are much heavier than q.o.t.s.a., few display their professionalism and integrity. This reviewer has seen these guys at least half a dozen times and they are a consistently amazing band live. If you’ve never seen ‘em on stage, do so next time they are in town.
If there was a criticism that had arisen during the day it was the clashes in the schedule that had divided fans’ loyalties and ears. With almost 70 bands it is inevitable but with acts who cater for similar tastes. It would these bands an injustice to review acts under a false pretence (I couldn’t get away from the main stage, having a ball), but reports trickled in of The Amity Afliction, Pennywise, Less Than Jake and Rob Zombie leaving crew baying for more.
Dessert time. And then there was one. If fans sporting t-shirts were any gauge, Slayer and Iron Maiden were the acts to see on the day. One punter had even made an enormous Maiden top hat, (that may have been a weird nod to Slash too) that must have been an absolute pain in the arse to lug around all day, but how hardcore was he? That sort of obvious devotion surely meant that these guys would blow us all away. Surely?
They did win the best set of the day award, (just ahead of Primus’s two massive waving astronauts), with roadies constructing an impressive multi-levelled moon base landscape complete with grounded rocket all in an effort to recreate the concept behind their fifteenth and latest album The Final Frontier. It looked like a cross between Hobbiton and Tattooine and allowed busy front-man Bruce Dickinson to run amok. The band opened with the opening track from their new one Satellite 15...The Final Frontier and then delved into their previous canon of works to impress fans. To the uninitiated it may have looked and sounded like they meandered into a mire of self indulgence. Like a lot of bands that day, fans would have been impressed- although a little disappointed they didn’t play Run to the Hills, however some were critical (it did appear as if the exits were a little busier than usual during a headline act) and argued that plenty of other bands deserved to headline. Dickinson’s carefully ripped ‘Psych Ward’ muscle shirt and persona coupled with the sci-fi backdrop seemed a little clichéd and hackneyed compared to some of the legends who had dazzled fans all day however, that was the point. That was them. Eddie (the iconic deathly figure who features on every album cover), Bruce and the boys did their thing and their fans, their true fans, would’ve loved it. The guy in the top hat did. I explained this point to a mate who was scathing in his discourse, and after he thought about it, he turned and asked, ‘A bit like Primus?’ Yes my friend. A lot like Primus.
As we departed from the altar of metal on which we had gorged so greedily all day, I was full. True, full of unbelievably expensive mid-strength beer, (let’s just say for the cost of five or six middies you could pick up a carton of heavies at a bottlo) but full of the spirit of what had truly been a remarkable day, and has become a must-do for festival fans. For its audience, the menu contains a diverse range of tastes across several genres and sub-genres of metal, punk, hardcore and rock n roll, and caters for diners of all ages. A kid who graduated high school in the nineties was now a punter who was overwhelmed by the presence of Zack De La Rocha, Corey Taylor, Les Claypool, Josh Homme, Slash, Slayer, Pennywise and Iron Maiden on one day. It was like your Walkman was now on stage in 3-D and a forgotten stash of mixed tapes had come to life. Other festival line-ups may have one or two acts of this ilk in an attempt to lure a broad cross section of people, and subsequently marginalise metal, and are often dictated by popular charts, sales and downloads. Soundwave is a beacon of hope for those who love their tunes with a little more grunt, passion, integrity, history and volume...Please Sir, may I have some more?...
Maybe next year they will let us send along a photographer???
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