There’s no doubt that since the announcement, everyone’s had this year’s Soundwave lineup drilled into their head.
Metal royalty Metallica, genre defiers Linkin Park, everyone’s favourite punk band Blink-182, and nearly 70 other acts all secured this year’s festival to be a surefire hit.
While fans could constantly post their excitement on social networking sites it’s not until they’re standing at the front gate with a ticket, a printout of the timetable with the surrounds of soon-to-be dead grass, humongous stages and 15,000 other people sharing the same musical interests that they realize just how remarkable the day ahead could be.
Arguably the quietest time at any festival is the morning – soon after the gates opened. While this did hold true for Adelaide’s Soundwave, the first few acts had attracted a significantly larger crowd than expected.
Early comers Memphis May Fire performed to a bursting crowd, where the Texans performed attitude filled tracks such as “The Deceived”, “Legacy”, and the ever-popular “The Sinner”.
Although post-hardcore bands were a dime a dozen this year around, they managed to set the performance bar quite high for their peers to try and beat.
Then it was onto the main stages for Welsh rockers The Blackout, where it was fairly evident to see that both stages had been completely repositioned in the field in comparison to previous years – perhaps in fear that there would have been a limited amount of room for the headliners otherwise.
Despite The Blackout’s vocalist Sean Smith citing the crowd as “the most awkward mosh pit I’ve ever seen,” the show was energetic at times, though a more ‘run of the mill’ performance.
Then, it was a quick walk past the merchandise stall (that saw the staff being pummeled by punters at a 20:1 ratio) toward the smaller main stages to see one of the now few survivors of the Industrial scene – Mindless Self Indulgence.
It doesn’t matter if you like their music or not, watching frontman Jimmy Urine dash around on both stages, shouting at the crowd, referring to them as being either “Adelgay” or a “sausage fest”, is nothing short of enjoyable.
Opening with hit “Shut Me Up” and closing with an a capella attempt of a classic Australian song he liked to call “You’ll Come-a Waltzing Matilda With My Dick”, the four-piece were set to please everyone watching.
Dashing over to DragonForce showed that the huge stage tent is literally packed out. Do people like “Though The Fire And The Flames” this much?
As the roar of 3,000 metal heads was heard when the song started playing, it was fairly evident of how huge their fan base is.
Though, as soon as the song ended, punters quickly dispersed, while the younger females (and a few guys) stayed back for Minnesota pop punks Motion City Soundtrack.
Playing just the lead single of their most recent album Go, as well as varied hits such as “L.G. FUAD”, and “Everything Is Alright” the melodic five piece acted as a good break from all the punk and hardcore acts.
As the day turned into evening, both the numbers and the acts grew bigger and bigger.
Looking around at punters, a great deal of those were wearing a variety of Blink-182 shirts – and for good reason, too. A massive swarm for the trio emerged to hear the songs that drove them through their school days.
“What’s My Age Again”, “All the Small Things” and “The Rock Show” didn’t fail to provide surges of nostalgia, and it was still quite nice for “Blowjob” to make an appearance.
The ever-amazing Metallica performed to the majority of the day’s crowd for a staggering two hours and fifteen minutes complete with an encore but that wasn’t even the best part. Playing a tonne of their older material early on, with songs such as “Master of Puppets”, “Wherever I May Roam”, “Orion”, and closing with “Enter Sandman”.
For such a huge band, it was phenomenal to see how much they cared about crowd participation – especially singing to the fantastic “Wherever I May Roam”, among others.
Stunning visuals that included floodlights, fireworks and a two-leveled stage, as well as a showcase of unbelievable talent, showed that the popular headliners deserve every second of their extensive stage time.
Anyone not a diehard fan may have felt as though their set time was a little too much. Good news was that there was a multitude of alternatives on at the same time – namely Tennessee’s Paramore.
Crowds were overflowing just to catch a glimpse at frontman Hayley Williams’ darling punk jumps and powerful voice.
Hit after hit, from “Brick By Boring Brick” to “Misery Business” as well as the band bringing their fans on stage, there was not a single dull moment in the hour-long performance.
And with a long day over, punters with ringing ears squeezed through the exit gates – half with defeated looks, the others still wanting more.
Until next year, Bonython Park.
