Soundwave 2008

25/2/08


Soundwave 2008
24-2-08, Sydney Park.


I will get the nasty business out of the way before I concentrate on the music of the sold-out Soundwave 2008. This festival was without a doubt, the most poorly organised I can remember, possibly ever. An absolutely pathetic entry system, which saw people pushed out into the bush had tempers flaring before they were even inside. Hour-long queues for food from outlets that didn’t even sell drinks – no soft drink was being sold anywhere for that matter. Bands starting early due to no-shows, leading to many punters missing their favourite acts. Stages not clearly marked. No timetables available unless you cut out the one from Drum Media. I could keep going, but I have a word limit.


Of the early bands, Divine Heresy appeared to be causing serious carnage over on the metal stage. While, on the main stage, the emo rock by numbers of Boys Like Girls and Plain White T’s was quite painful for this reviewer, but certainly elicited many (high pitched unsurprisingly) cheers from their audience. Metalcore act Still Remains no-showed, throwing the timetable out on the metal stage for the rest of the day/night. Why not just leave an interval for an hour in order to keep the times up to date? There were plenty of other bands to keep the punters occupied.


Back on the main stage, and let’s be honest – Arizona post hardcore act Scary Kids Scaring Kids are not even close to being original or innovative. However, they do what they do very well. Impressive tracks such as ‘The Deep End’ and ‘Voices’ had the crowd moving in appreciation.

Let’s be honest again, many of the bands at Soundwave sounded remarkably similar. This is not the case with New York’s Mindless Self Indulgence. Trying to describe their twisted style of electro punk is not easy, but this is what elevated MSI from the pack. And vocalist Jimmy Urine telling the blonde haired masses they were poor excuses for Goths easily rated as a highlight of the day.

As Thursday exploded onto the main stage with ‘For the Workforce, Drowning’, it became clearly evident why so many bands try and fail to imitate the New Jersey post hardcore pioneers. While so many other bands seemed to lift the dust only with their hit singles so far today, Thursday had the crowd right where they wanted them as they graced us with a wide selection of tracks spanning their career. Brilliant.



Motion City Soundtrack followed. They may be pop punk, commercial and at times, sugar sweet, but MCS are almost impossible to dislike. Tracks such as ‘Fell in Love Without You’ and ‘This Is For Real’ had their very excited audience in rapture. These guys are simply loads of fun and catchy as hell.


There are some places one dare not venture unless you are male, under 22, and pumped full of too many Red Bulls (that is contradictory actually, as that would imply that soft drinks were actually being sold). Shadows Fall’s mosh pit is such a place. As the Massachusetts metalcore kings pounded out their set, they elicited the most savage mosh this reviewer has seen in a long time. Ouch.


American emo rockers Saosin sounded very off colour over on stage 3. They were completely out of tune and I was completely out of there.


Unfortunately, about 5 songs into Californian metallers As I Lay Dying’s set, a Neanderthal in the crowd threw a glass bottle, knocking out guitarist Nick Hipa. This resulted in the band, quite rightfully walking off. Thanks idiot, way to let the world think we are all bottle throwing bogans in Sydney. Let’s hope Nick is alright.

Over on the main stage, Incubus were going down a treat with the huge crowd, many quite clearly came to see them. Throwing up plenty of crowd pleasers and plenty of style, Incubus proved one of the highlights of the festival.

Headlining the metal stage were American giants Killswitch Engage. While so many metal bands fall into the bonehead stereotype, or just simply lack any form of originality or talent these days, KE prove there is still life left in the genre. KE are tight, intelligent and professional. “Nobody else gets hurt today, nobody out there and nobody up here, respect us and respect yourselves” said vocalist Howard Jones, to the roar of the 98% of the crowd who were well-behaved today. Seamlessly rolling out massive sounding tracks from their back catalogue to the cheers of the hypnotised masses, KE simply stole the show with tight riffs and epic choruses. Stunning.

Bottle-throwing aside, considering how frustrating everything was at Soundwave 2008, the crowd were remarkably well-behaved. If the promoters of this festival want another sell-out next year, they need to rectify the problems that plagued this year’s event. Because despite the excellent performances by many of the bands on the line-up, the day as a whole caused many headaches for many people, who may just choose to see their favourite band’s side show next year instead of attending the main event.