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Soundwave 2013: Flemington Racecourse Melbourne

Upon leaving the crowded, reeking train at Flemington Racecourse, the crowd of punctured and inebriated souls began shuffling towards the source of the distant music, dodging sniffer dogs and police officers. For some, the day came to a bad start, as deceivingly cute beagles sat at their feet and wagged their tales. Once past the ID checks and scalpers, the real mayhem begun. Amongst a 65000+ crowd of mohawks, stretchers and bullrings, it was time to catch one of the first big acts of the day, The Lawrence Arms.

Dragonforce 2:20-3:00

Despite their early set time, Dragonforce drew an impressive crowd, who piled on top of each other to witness this world class speed-metal band famous for ‘Through The Fire and The Flames’.

As the band’s medieval orchestral introduction began to play, the audience’s cheers grew louder, as if anticipating huge warriors. Suddenly, they strode on stage and, without delay, began emancipating the audience with their distinctive power-metal.

Herman Li, Sam Totman and Vladim Pruzhanov took to the front of the stage, wielding their instruments like weaponry, and began liquefying the minds of the crowd.

Playing tracks from a variety of albums, such as ‘Cry Thunder’, ‘Operation Ground and Pound’, and ‘Seasons’, the band went out with a bang;

“We have time for one more song, so we better play one you all fucking know!” announced lead vocalist Marc Hudson.

His pledge was met by the incredible rumbling chants and shouts of an eager and passionate crowd.

Before he could finish, the rumble turned to an overwhelming roar, and the band played ‘Through The Fire and The Flames’.

For 7 minutes the mass of people throbbed with its own heartbeat, and shimmered green lights, creeping through thick fog.

The band bowed elegantly, and strode backstage.

Flogging Molly 3:30-4:15

Next up were Flogging Molly. From the minute they played ‘Requiem for a Dying Song’, their angry punk was met with cheers and drunken dancing.

Dave King liberated the audience with revolutionary riddles about the power of the worker, while the band pumped powerful folk riffs through the speakers.

As King announced ‘Float’,”a song about keeping your head up”, the audience stood still and silent, like statues, in admiration of this melancholy, downtempo tune.

‘Whats Left of the Flag’, a tribute to King’s father, re-sparked the spastic dancing and slurred sing-a-longs.

Once again, Flogging Molly penetrated spectators with their angry, political, and passionate protest songs, and kick-started a brilliant night of punk rock.

Sum 41 4:15-5:00

Starting right where Flogging Molly had left off, Sum 41 wasted no time in giving their fans, who glued themselves to the stage, what they wanted.

Beginning with ‘Hell Song’, the entire audience reminisced of their childish crusades against authority, and erupted in huge cheers.

Continuing the show with ‘Situation’ and ‘All to Blame’, the whole mosh pit came to life and bounced, while the ‘horns’ hand signals plunged into the air like daggers.

Given the band’s long time away from Australia, the crowd was burning with anticipation to hear the soundtrack to their teenage years.

And they got what they came for.

Apart from a few short instrumental jams between songs, the band made sure to play ‘Fat Lip’, ‘In Too Deep’, ‘Still Waiting’, ‘Walking Disaster’ and a punk/metal cover of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’.

As a result, the entire audience was electrified as distorted, palm muted power chords; punchy bass lines and breakneck drumbeats erupted off the stage and caused momentary mayhem. Punks and metalheads charged over barriers and collided with the security guards beyond them.

When Derryck, Tom, Steve and Jason disappeared backstage, the mosh expelled wide-eyed and exuberant souls, who glistened with a fat layer of mixed body fluids. With hours ahead of them, they took their positions at the adjacent stage.

Bullet For My Valentine 5:00-5:45

Bullet For My Valentine were chanted onto the stage by the audience as a banner of the album artwork from their latest album, Temper Temper, unveiled.

Opening with ‘Breaking Point’, their dark contemporary metal bombarded the crowd, who wriggled at their feet like a ball of maggots. Soon, a pit was formed, with crazed fans carelessly bludgeoning each other in dance.

The pit carelessly spat out bloodied and bruised victims: One guy clasping his eye as thick red blood dripped through the crevices in his hand.

Playing a vast mix of new and old songs, such as ‘Suffocating on the Words of Sorrow’, ‘Riot’, ‘Last Rite’ and ‘Scream, Aim, Fire,’ their beautifully melodic, yet aggressive thrash-metal fusion rolled over the audience like a bulldozer.

As the screens zoomed in on Jason James (bassist and backing vocalist), whose head bobbed slowly back and forth with all his facial features sagging into a low, aggressive frown, suspicions that he may not be human were confirmed.

Ending the show with ‘Tears Don’t Fall’ and ‘Waking the Demon’, Bullet For My Valentine left the audience in a more derelict state than they had inherited them by Sum 41: They seemed to be swimming in sweat, and their clothes had been torn, their shoes gone missing, and their bodies punctured.

Cypress Hill 5:45-6:45

Despite their epic performance, Cypress Hill seemed slightly out of place at Australia’s most renowned metal festivals.

Most noticeable about the set was the comfortable spaces between the lingerers at the foot of the stage. The audience consisted of dedicated fans, seizing this rare opportunity to see one of hip hop’s most recognised acts.

Before the show had even begun, a dense layer of sweet smelling smoke engulfed the audience who, although they showed no physical signs of it, were anxious.

Julio G, Sen Dog and B-Real strutted onto the stage, and were welcomed by a warm cheer. They greeted Melbourne in their cool, laidback manner, and kicked off the show with tracks from Black Sunday, such as ‘Hand on the Glock’, ‘When The Shit Goes Down’, and ‘I Ain’t Goin Out Like That’, as well as some tracks from Rise Up.

On two occasions, one of the two rappers would take his position on a percussion set to the side of the stage, providing deafening percussive beats that shook the audience.

The highlights of the show were definitely ‘Insane in the Brain’ and ‘I Want to Get High’, during which the smoke thickened. B-Real used this novel opportunity to take a few tokes from his vaporizer. Sadly, anyone who came to the show expecting him to blow a huge trumpet was disappointed.

Regardless, Sen Dog was right in saying;

“When you talk to people about Soundwave, and they tell you that, for whatever reason they didn’t see Cypress Hill, you tell ‘em; YOU FUCKED UP!”

 Paramore- 7:45-9:00

Anyone wanting to secure killer positions for The Offspring made their move to the front of the stage just after Garbage’s set. Afraid to lose their spots, they sat through an hour and fifteen minutes of Paramore.

They are a band who are very unique in a very special way; To anyone who loves them, they are the greatest thing in the world, but to anyone who doesn’t like them, they are not hateable. For some bizarre reason, Paramore can easily be listened to and ignored.

However, eagerly awaiting The Offspring amongst a sweating, stinking mass of drunks made their already long set seem unbearable. With fifteen minutes left to play, The Offspring fans had begun their attempt to chant Hayley Williams off stage. It seems not even her looks could save her from that.

The Offspring 9:00-10:00

The minute Paramore disappeared, and the blue lights shun onto the flaming skull logo serving as a backdrop, the audience filled spaces between each other, and united in their eager stare at the stage.

Opening with ‘Your Gonna Go Far, Kid’, The Offspring penetrated their audience with one of their best exemplars of new-age punk. The journey to the past these guys took the audience on had begun, and what better way to kick it off?

From there on, their set was an hour of non-stop, powerful punk that mesmerised the entire audience. They played all the greatest hits, including; ‘Gone Away’, ‘All I Want, Pretty Fly (for a white guy)’, and ‘Spare Me The Details’.

In turn, the audience formed a sentient, pulsating mosh pit that bellowed the lyrics of every song. Whether it was the twenty-year-olds, who commemorated their skater phase, or teenager sporting snapbacks, everyone was savouring The Offspring’s long awaited return to Australia.

Self Esteem gave the audience their last déjà vu with the unforgettable 1994 album, Smash. Noodles and Dexter showered the audience in beer for one last time, before everyone wedged and fought through the exits like ants, and collapsed into trains, taxis or park benches.

Lot's Wife Editors

The author Lot's Wife Editors

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