After purchasing a ticket after
Jimmy Eat World were named, I was prepared for the all-moshing, rat-tail bearing idiots to be right up in everyones grill. What I got was mainly utter disappointment, all the kooks were part of my itinerary; cop sweat from the greasy guy jumping up behind me, covering me in his Carlton Mid during
Placebo; the emo kids letting loose at
Taking Back Sunday and the sweethearts to swoon with me at Jimmy Eat World. Instead I got folded arms and straight faces. If there were fans there they were seriously not showing it.
The beginning of the day was not showing much promise with
Closure In Moscow given the flick after organisers claiming the lads to be rude, demanding and not worth the amount they were being paid. Ouch. These guys remind me heaps of
The Mars Volta, give them a listen if ya dig.
The queue at the gates, which ended up rounding the streets, meant we missed The Gallows, terrible effort on our behalf.
We got there in time for
Taking Back Sunday, one of the ultimate in punk bands back in 2003. A great proportion of the set were new tracks from their latest LP
'New Again' which personally I thought to be silly. I do like the album, its just I see Soundwave as bringing together all the bands you would never expect to see from the hay days, half expecting they would play more songs from
'Where You Want To Be' and
'Louder Now' to satisfy the kids who were too young to come see the guys all those years ago, but maybe that's just me.
Frontman
Adam Lazzara seemed lack lustre in his performance. Halfway through the set he proclaimed 'I should have eaten a sandwich or something'. Whether that was the reason he was rubbish or not, who knows, but a friend who had seen them at
Taste of Chaos said they were so amazing and looked like they loved what they were doing. This was definitely not the case today. She also added a sly 'And he got fat'. They ended the set with '
Makedamnsure' where Lazzara climbed the side of stage and hung upside down whilst singing. Fair play to him for trying to excite the motionless crowd but it just seemed like a big gimmick. Very disappointing set.
Eagles of Death Metal were next. I was excited, these guys were bound to move this crowd. Out they came with the delicious moustaches and big personalities. There were some killer sing-a-long moments and it was an overall energetic set. Borrowing the drummer from
Queens of the Stone Age, they smashed through their set. As young wasted girls fell over and then preceding to continue laying on the ground, it appeared the kooks were coming out of the woodwork. This is what an all ages gig is all about, right? Highlights included
'Wannabe in LA' and '
(Only Nineteen)'.
The time of day came to line-up for drink tickets and then line-up to actually get drinks. The glee to this is when the 30 year old, boisterous sheilas, which made queueing up that much more painful, were told they don't do EFTPOS and that they lined up for nothing. Karma at its finest.
We hit the grand stand for
Alexisonfire. SO GOOD! Impossible to stay still watching these guys.
'Boiled Frogs',
'Young Cardinals' and watching the intense death pits from above were bullshit. The Canadian fellows know how to let loose, with frontman
George Pettit somehow defying gravity when he jumps and the angelic voice of
Dallas Green. Nice.
Paramore were an unexpected gem. Turned out to be the best act of the day for myself. 19 year old frontwoman
Hayley Williams hammered out every soaring note to impossible perfection whilst jumping around in her leopard print pants. She's a fresh addition to the 'would turn gay for' list. All the big hits including
'Misery Business' stirred the crowd into an absolute frenzy.
Waiting at least half an hour for a hotdog to be told they were all out was pretty amazing. And in queue hearing all your favourite
AFI songs was probs even better. Running back with dagwood dog in hand, sauce dripping down my arm, I still managed to see more than half the set. The AFI boys were looking as homosexual as ever, I mean this in the nicest way possible of coarse.
Davey Havok is legendary live. Highlights included
'Miss Murder' with the whole crowd singing every word,
'Leaving Song' was a nice reminiscent memory from
Sing the Sorrow way back in 2003. Thems the days.
The distinctive voice of frontman Brian Molko from Placebo rings through the RNA Showgrounds and you instantly know he's still got it. Playing favourites 'Meds', 'Every Me, Every You' they proved to be one of the most entertaining acts of the day.
Jimmy Eat World were the act I had been waiting for all day. Opening with 'Sweetness' frontman Jim Adkins' voice is the dream of every teenage girl. He tells the crowd how excited they are to be playing in Australia on such short notice and that it had been a while since the lads had gotten together and played. The setlist consisted mainly of all the slow, pretty songs which was kind of a mood killer, although slow dancing ensued; dips and twirls included. The set wasn't in any way mind-blowing. The boys didn't interact with each other or get the audience involved, they just... played. Ending the set with 'In the Middle' got the crowd going but even that seemed slower than normal. Expectations were probably set too high for a lot of fans, forgetting these guys have been out of action for a fair while.
Dying of thirst and feeling the effects of sun stroke, I stumbled out of the crowd in search of water, in turn missing the first three songs of Faith No More. I won't lie. I did a YouTube search on these guys before the day to see what the guys I only knew did an amazing cover of 'Easy', actually sang. What I found I really, really liked. 'Epic', 'Ashes to Ashes'.. the list of 'Bullshit they sing that!' songs just kept coming. Mike Patton has the energy of a 20 year old, he is amaaaazing. The suits, the ritzy walking stick the awesomely lame 'Bris-sexy' calls. Ah loved it. The headliners were impressive playing all the hits and amping the crowd with what was definitely hailed a killer comeback.
Sunburnt to a crisp and slightly disappointed in a lot of the day I wasn't surprised to hear some complaints on the way home about the atmosphere and performance of some of the bands being less than average. The buzz was missing and I pretty much felt like it was an 'ah well.. another band to add to the seen live list' which isn't what it should feel like. Live music shouldn't be like a cheap slut, another notch on the ol' belt kinda thing. I wouldn't say it was the worst festival I've ever been to, Sounds of Spring 08 takes that cake, but it was a close 2nd. Disappointing with a few diamonds amongst the filth, it would take an amazing act to get me there next year.
