Soundwave 2014

[Swarzey]

Soooo my day:

Got in just after 10:30, walked around seeing the stage set ups n whatnot. Eventually went to Stage 4 for Amon Amarth. Heard a few of their songs before but mostly wanted to see their set up after a friend said it breathed fire. I was quite disappointed.

Headed into the main arena for Biffy Clyaton...no f**king idea who they were but were fun to watch but met up with an old friend who was a fan of Alter Bridge. Knew half their songs and quite enjoyed them. They had a few issues with guitars but other than that, they were spot on.

Packy said it perfectly about Alkaline Trio. Very disappointing because I was looking forward to seeing them. Ended up leaving with about 10 minutes to go.

Sat back in the stands for The Living End. Really fun to listen to while having lunch. Wish I had gone into the pit for it.

Generally I could listen to Placebo and enjoy them, but for the most part, I just couldn't do so. Really felt like it was never going to end.

The low light for me was definitely seeing ADTR. Too many 18 year old drunks barging their way through fitting into a few inches of space, 15/16/17 year olds doing the same, just frustrating despite standing my ground. When the band started, they simply couldn't stand up and started falling over which made it hard to enjoy. Bailed a few songs in.

I had heard Pennywise before but not much so I wanted to check them out. They were just fun. Despite not hearing any of the songs they had played, it was nice to get involved in the ending. Plenty of older heads in the crowd, a few drunk trying to mosh on the edges was pretty funny.

Didn't care much for the Annex band but I stuck around for Korn. Probably my biggest mistake going in for them. Wore myself out :lol: Very awesome live, very energetic and the crowd was hot for them. First time I saw how much the crowd fluctuates for the day.

Went back to Stage 1 and got a seat for the first hour of Green Day. Considered staying but I just didn't enjoy them as much as I thought I would and thought I'd enjoy Sevenfold much, much more. Was fun while it lasted but they didn't live up to the hype for me.

Caught the end of Rob Zombie which sucks because from what the bloke next to me told me, it was f**king awesome. Next time they're here, I'm not missing them for a second.

Didn't care much for Devil You Know. Few racist jokes that didn't work and seemed to get pissed because they had a small crowd when everyone was watching the crew set up for A7X. Didn't help we were chanting Sevenfold every time the music died down and when he asked if they could play one more song we said no :lol:

Avenged Sevenfold made the day for me. Their production was just incredible, stage was so well done and the set list was near perfect. A few more songs would have been nice but with an hour and 15 :/ The tribute to the Rev very touching and Unholy Confessions capping off the show with a shit load of flames and pyrotechnics.


Overall, just a f**king awesome day. One of my favourites to date.

 

[Twizzle]

I really do think that Soundwave it a tad too big. I think they need to kill 20 bands and a stage or 2.

Didn't visit stage 1, 2 or 3 at all

I completely agree, way too many bands and too many stages.

I visited every stage a few times and saw alot of bands, problem is there were about 4 full sets that I saw and bits and pieces of others.

Way too many clashes for mine.

I think it would have been better to just have 4 or 6 stages and get the quality in rather than quantity. The trek to stage 4/4a in Brizzy was a mission when it was crowded and they had some decent bands like Trivium and Black Dahliah Murder

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

The trek to stage 4/4a in Brizzy was a mission when it was crowded and they had some decent bands like Trivium and Black Dahliah Murder

Wasnt that a f**king nightmare! I got stuck in 2 massive traffic jams. The first was when 5FDP finished and there was a mass exodus from stage 4. Took me 20 minutes to get to stage 3 for asking alexandria and ended up missing some of their show.

The second was the mass exodus when Korn finished as they got a massive crowd and its kind of hard fitting everyone into those little tunnels.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Five Finger should have no complaints. Look at Amon Amarth and August Burns Red.. both played very early and seemed not to care. Both bigger bands than FFDP too.

I was at Thy Art when it happened. There was dumb shit said but nothing you won't hear at every deathcore show. They didn't ask fans to belt the security they just said "Make em work for their money" stupid but not malicious. They just wanted a stage event.

5FDP have 3.6million facebook fans. Amon Amarth have 900,000 and ABR have 1.5million.

Those numbers show that 5FDP are bigger than both those bands combined.

Facebook is a pretty good method of comparing popularity. Whats that? you say it's not?

Ok.. ABR most popular youtube video has 5million hits.
Amon Amarths biggest youtube video has 4.5 million hits

And 5FDP biggest is 16 million hits, its 2nd biggest is 14 million, 3rd and 4th biggest are 11 million, 5th biggest is 9 million, 6th and 7th biggest are over 5 million..

So.. 5FDP has 7 youtube videos that are higher than both ABR and AA. And quite significantly.

You may like ABR and AA more, but there is no denying who is the bigger band.

 

[beave]

5 finger are no doubt bigger, a lot of mainstream rock radio stations in the states play their music seeing as though its probably right on the cusp of what you can and can't play heaviness wise, still doesn't make ihem any good though


You can be a big band and still have some common decency for the other bands on the bill, the shit the singer pulled on saturday in brissy was worthy of a punch to the nose.

 

[BLKOUT!]

I completely agree, way too many bands and too many stages.

I visited every stage a few times and saw alot of bands, problem is there were about 4 full sets that I saw and bits and pieces of others.

Way too many clashes for mine.

I think it would have been better to just have 4 or 6 stages and get the quality in rather than quantity. The trek to stage 4/4a in Brizzy was a mission when it was crowded and they had some decent bands like Trivium and Black Dahliah Murder

There's some talk about it moving to a 2 day event. I don't know how I feel about that, on the surface it would solve some problems but I feel like it'd just lead to it being over-sold even more than it is already. You can barely move after 7pm in Melbourne it's really bad.

 

[Packy]

5FDP have 3.6million facebook fans. Amon Amarth have 900,000 and ABR have 1.5million.

Those numbers show that 5FDP are bigger than both those bands combined.

Facebook is a pretty good method of comparing popularity. Whats that? you say it's not?

Ok.. ABR most popular youtube video has 5million hits.
Amon Amarths biggest youtube video has 4.5 million hits

And 5FDP biggest is 16 million hits, its 2nd biggest is 14 million, 3rd and 4th biggest are 11 million, 5th biggest is 9 million, 6th and 7th biggest are over 5 million..

So.. 5FDP has 7 youtube videos that are higher than both ABR and AA. And quite significantly.

You may like ABR and AA more, but there is no denying who is the bigger band.

Pretty sure that I had them confused with someone else. I hadn't heard of them. Either way.. big band or small.. Still a decent display of douchebaggery.

f**k me dead.. I just had a quick look at some other bands and Bullet for My Valentine have somethign with 60mill WTFFFFFFF

Attack Attack has 11mill?

Kids are f**king stupid

 

[Packy]

Mother of God.. Disturbed have shit with over 20million views.

Just end me.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

I reckon metal fans are the most judgemental out of any music fans in the world and even more judgemental towards other metal fans who like a particular metal sub genre. I love metalcore and hardcore, but thes genres are often considered to be for teenagers and I'm 30 this year.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

And for the record I love bfmv and disturbed.

 

[beave]

I wouldn't really call Disturbed metal hey.



















More like 'Ooooooh-wa-wa-wa-wa-core'.........

 

[Twizzle]

Stupify gets a gig on my Youtube sessions every month, one of my fav songs

 

[braz]

Pretty good day yesterday, not too hot and not too crowded. Spent most of my time on the outside stages which helped.

Missed Amon Amarth as they started at 11am! WTF is up with that - Odin would be pissed.

First up for me was Tesseract. These guys have been pretty hyped but didn't really do much for me. Sound wasn't great either.

Next went over to the metal stage for Testament. First time seeing them live and after some initial sound issues they put on a bloody good show. Would have liked to have heard Practice What You Preach.

Then went over to the main stage to watch the last 40 mins of the Living End with the missus. Always a fun live band with plenty of catchy, sing-along choruses.

Back to the metal stage for some GWAR. No words. They assasinated Tony Abbott and the Queen on stage.

Next was Filter. Was only really watching them as Clutch was due to follow them. They sounded alright I guess but the lead singer is a complete tool. Went into some rant about NIN before Hey man, nice shot (which is a song I always dug). Then goes 10 minutes over time and when the Clutch fans start chanting he chucks a hissy fit - "Shut up with your Jesus on the Dashboard blah blah". Douche.

Clutch ripped it up, but I wasn't expecting anything less. Mostly tracks from Earth Rocker (so happy I saw their headline show the other night). Neil was clearly pissed as they had to cut out a few songs. They are one of the tighest live bands I have seen - 20 yrs of constant touring will do that (this was their 4th gig in 4 days). Neils day did get better though...

Caught one song of Crosses. Sound quite good, I should check out their stuff.

Problem with this festival is always the number of clashes. Made the choice of Alice in Chains over Baroness which I regret in hindsight. It's not that AIC weren't good - they just aren't really suited to a massive arena. Much prefer a more intimate setting. They didn't play anything off the new albums with Duvall which I found a bit weird.

Back to the metal stage for most of Down. Sounded good, nice mix off all the albums with lots from the first two which are the best stuff. Phil still rambling crap between songs so nothing's changed since the times I saw Pantera in the nineties. Where was Kirk?

Missed most of Gojira unfortunately as I ran out of cash and was searching for an ATM. Sounded tops though.

Eagles of Death Metal next. This bad are great fun and suprisingly sounded super heavy. The chicks I was with including wifey lapped it up!

Watched a couple of songs from Devildriver. Not really a fan but they do get the crowd moving. I must admit I like that song - Hold Back the Day.

Next was Dillinger Escape Plan. A brutal and absolutely crushing performance. Left a bit early to get a good spot for Mastodon.

Had to put up with Ill Nino while I was waiting for Masto. Jesus they suck. Max Cavalera as much as I love Sepultura you have a lot to answer for with bands like this. Even had four drummers on stage for the last song.

Last but definitely not least was Mastodon. Having seen them plenty of times I do admit that they can be a bit up and down (probably depending on how wasted Brent is!). But when they are on form I doubt there is a better metal band out there IMO. Awesome set covering all their albums including Remission - Trampled Under Hoof . Last song was a personal musical highlight. When I saw the bill I had hoped this would happen and was giggling like a little school girl when Mr Fallon joined them for Blood and Thunder. Pure awesomeness.

Great finish to a pretty good day out.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Not sure what Max Cavalera the god of metal has to with ill nino.

 

[adamkungl]

Testament, Gojira, Mastodon, GWAR all f**king awesome.

 

[braz]

Not sure what Max Cavalera the god of metal has to with ill nino.

Seps don't make the album Roots (which is an album I love BTW) then tripe like Ill Nino doesn't exist I reckon.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Seps don't make the album Roots (which is an album I love BTW) then tripe like Ill Nino doesn't exist I reckon.

I like ill niño and thought they had a great high energy set. But I don't reckon they were influenced by soulfly or sepultura. (Soulfly shit on sepultura from above IMO)

 

[beave]

No, if Ahrue Luster manned up and played the good era of Machinehead tunes and he wouldn't have been given the ass and Ill nino wouldn't even exist........

 

[Aaron_sfas]

I took a different journey to most:

Trophy Eyes: Went in early to lend some support to the Unearthed band. They were good. Bit heavier than their studio stuff let on, but enjoyed their set.

Real Friends: Sing along pop-punk from some new kids on the Soundwave scene. Tight as, and their lead singer spent much of the set in the crowd getting groped. I love these guys

Mayday Parade: Haven't really paid them much mind since Lancaster left, but they were very tight.

The Story So Far: I saw these guys at a small show last year. Shocked by how many fans they've picked up since then. A bit formulaic, but catchy, energetic and near flawless

The Living End: So keen to go nuts in the mosh for these guys... then the GF gets sick No need to say they were awesome. We all know they were awesome.

Placebo: Meh. Only caught a couple of songs and didn't know them, so hard to enjoy

Panic! at the disco: they have plenty of haters, but I can't help loving these guys. Urie in a freak. Hitting crazy notes, doing back flips and running around the stage without missing a note. They've gone a little too electronic for my liking lately, but this set was amazing.

Bowling for soup: My highlight of the day. There's something about and old pop-punk band that puts zero energy into making them selves seem cool that appeals to just about any one. They were freaking funny too. Played most of their hits in a short set.

Pennywise: I've never been a huge fan, but have always wanted to see these guys. Very good. Loved finally getting in amongst it during Bro Hyme

Finch: One album wonders from the early 2000's... They played mostly that album... So points for being self aware I guess. Sounded a bit messy

Jimmy Eat World: Awesome set, but they should have been on a smaller stage this time I think, especially with Korn playing at the same time. I guess the promoters didn't want a massive crowd change over on the main stage before Green Day, which brings me to

Green Day: 3 hours set... Ok, now minus all the times Billy Joe did 'aaaaaeeee-yo' call and responses with the crowd mid song, a intro to the set that consisted of 3 recorded songs, and 'Wake me up when September ends' (and song that i define as 'Nickleback bad'), and you have maybe a solid 2 hour set.

Ultimately they were good. The first hour of their set was kind of painful, as they played a lot of their more recent stuff, including afore-mentioned 'aaaaaeeee-yo''s, but after that they played heaps of stuff for older fans, with a lot of tracks off Dookie.

End of the day, their banter was 90% entertaining, 10% irritating, which I'll call passable. But it is a bit annoying that they look 3 hours of main stage time when a big part of that was just wasted.



Sick day as usual. GG Soundwave

 

[Packy]

I reckon metal fans are the most judgemental out of any music fans in the world and even more judgemental towards other metal fans who like a particular metal sub genre. I love metalcore and hardcore, but thes genres are often considered to be for teenagers and I'm 30 this year.

Yeah you could be right. Then again it could be that people speak their mind more freely in our circles.

To me so much stuff like Disturbed is just Metal by Numbers. Entry level stuff that doesn't push you or them anywhere. I can dig a good tune and sure I will sing along with some songs but I just don't understand hwo some of these bands become world wide legends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chiVMrWMHko&feature=kp


Also it is nothing to do with genre or sub genre. I am well over 30 and have bands in all sub genres I dig.