Riding The Soundwave Through The Showgrounds.

It was finally here. The day I had been anticipating since the first few band announcements had started trickling out in mid-09. The day I had been waiting for since the major announcement of artists had me cheering and punching the air in our loungeroom at the sheer brilliance of the line-up. The day I had been counting down to since our tickets arrived in the mail. Friday, February 26th 2010, Soundwave Melbourne day and was I ever feeling...tired. Yes, even the excitment at the big day finally arriving couldn't defeat the fact that I had hardly slept the night before, on a somewhat cramped and turbulent 4 hour flight that left Darwin at 12.15 a.m. NT time and arrived in Melbourne around 6.15 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time. As we stepped off the plane into the beautiful coolness that was the Melbourne morning, i'm sure that Bec and I both thought the same thing, 'we're not going to make it through the whole day'. But I had to. HIM were closing stage 3 and I was going to see them, come hell or highwater.

After a few blissfull hours of sleep at my parents place, we made the trek into the city via the train. Let me point out that after the last few years of us driving to the Showgrounds, battling the traffic in the city and attempting to find a parking spot, the train was bliss. It rolled it's way from Bacchus Marsh into Southern Cross Station in a relaxing, albeit prompt manner. Note to self: next year take the train again. Southern Cross was no busier than any other Friday, except the tourists and the suits had been replaced by black t shirts. Out with Armani, in with Trivium.

The trip to the Showgrounds was surprisingly short, and soon enough we found ourselves walking through the gates with the rest of the black clad and tattooed masses. The fatigue factor had dropped by this stage and the second wind had kicked into gear. I looked around at the crowd, I have found that by looking at the t shirts, you get a good idea of who will draw the biggest crowds. A Day To Remember seemed to be the popular pick for this year, a few people were, like myself, sporting HIM t shirts and although the heartagram seemed to be prevelant, there seemed to be very few Bam Margera fan boys. (Don't get me wrong, I liked Viva La Bam, Jackass, the cKy videos etc, I just got sick of Bam fans sporting the heartagram having never heard HIM in their lives). Faith No More of course had their fair share of support in the t shirt stakes as well. One of the things I love about Soundwave, the people (for the most part) are there for the music. It's the antithesis of the Big Day Out, who could put anyone on stage and people will go just to say they've been to the BDO.

After a quick water stop, it was off to start doing what we came here for, the music. We caught the very tail of Gallows set. From the breif period that I saw them they seemed intense, especially considering their early timeslot. I think these guys could play at any time of the day and still pull off a helacious set and leave everything on stage. Next up after Gallows were Surrey* pop-punkers You Me At Six. Very much a female crowd, who knew every song that these guys played. And they were good, especially considering they were battling playing in a shed stage (the same stage that sadly killed Emery's performance the year before). You Me At Six really appeared to be enjoying themselves on stage and this rubbed off on the crowd.

Over to the mainstage we pressed, to catch some of the legendary Sunny Day Real Estates slot. Although their was a small dedicated contingent pressed up to the front of the stage, most of the people in the general vicinity sadly treated SDRE with apathy. Perhaps they were to old for the kids to know any of their stuff, or perhaps they didn't realise that bands like Sunny Day Real Estate paved the way for bands like Jimmy Eat World, who in turn paved the way for the likes of Fall Out Boy, whose success helped bands such as All Time Low. I don't know. Maybe Sunny Day Real Estate would have been better off on a smaller stage later in the day, with someone like Enter Shikari or A Day To Remember getting a main stage spot. The worst part was that SDRE really put alot of themselves into the songs they played, and the emotion of the lyrics was etched in singer Jeremy Enigk's face, but aside from the bands hardcore fans, it didn't register with alot of the audience.

Taking Back Sunday was our next stop, and the one Bec had most been looking forward too. The opened the set with the wonderful Cute Without The E (Cut From The Team) and lots of rockstar poses and microphone swinging from Adam Lazzara. A good set from TBS, but was it memorable? Not really. The sound was ok, but perhaps I was expecting to much after how good their New Again album was. A lot of people new and sung along to Cute Without The E, but after that didn't seem to know many more songs. Sometimes the guys on stage seemed to be really into the performance, other times they just seemed to be going through the motions.

Kudos to the Soundwave organisers for having one of the merch stands inside, and for thinking to split the merch stands this year as well. Shorter lines and shorter times waiting to be served this year was appreciated (last year I missed almost all of Underoaths set due to being in the middle of the merchandise stand mosh pit). The prices were very reasonable too. Nothing worse than being gouged close to $60 for a t shirt.

One of the bands that I was most excited to see was up next, Canadians Alexisonfire. They blew me away in 2008 when they put on a tour de force at Soundwave then, and I was eager to see how much of my favourite album of last year, Old Crows/Young Cardinals, would be included into the set. I wasn't dissapointed to find the setlist drew heavily from not just Old Crows/Young Cardinals, but also from the previous Crisis album as well. The Northern, Young Cardinals, Born And Raised and Support Crime all sounded as good live as they did on the album, whilst Crisis songs such as Boiled Frogs, Mailbox Arson, This Could Be Anywhere In The World and even older favorite Accidents of the Watch Out! album still sounded as good as they did in 2008. While Dallas appeared kind of pissed off and Wade and Steele did their things up there, George commands the attention of the audience, standing on the front speakers in his Ramones shorts, glaring out at the crowd before launching into the gutteral screaming. Perhaps Alexisonfire were a little better in 08, but they were still damn good here.

Went to have a look at Paramore, but the crowd was just to massive to get anywhere near a good vantage point. From where we were all we could see was a red headed spot in leopard print running around the stage. We did see an unfortunate young lady convulsing on the ground being treated by the first aid staff. I later found out that a girl suffered a broken neck and went into shock, whilst another had a broken shoulder from the Paramore mosh. I hope they've both recovered well, but it got me to thinking. With all the hardcore and metal bands on the bill, the worst injuries occured at Paramores set?

Time for a break, so over to the seats at stage 3 to catch a glimpse of ska legends Reel Big Fish put on a fun, light-hearted set. If Reel Big Fish ever released their disco version of S.R. then i'm sure it would be a massive hit with the masses (after the musical geniuses of Calvin Harris and Dizzee Rascal remixed it of course...). Following the Fish were another legendary band, The Get Up Kids. These guys still have it, started out a great performance with Holiday and sounded the way the did when they first recorded the song back in the 90's. I would have loved the Get Up Kids/ Jimmy Eat World sidewave too.

Back to the mainstage we trudged, this time to see AFI. And boy were we not dissapointed! Davy Havok, resplendant in his gold jacket, ran around the stage manically reminiscent of an 80's game show host. This man has charisma in spades, with or without said gold jacket. The set was very, very heavily influenced by Crash Love and December Underground, with a token cameo appearance or two of songs such as The Leaving Song Part II from previous albums (love that song by the way, probably my favorite AFI song). Despite this even fans of the bands earlier, much punkish sound would have had to have gone away satisfied with AFI's performance. Everything sounded great, the band played tightly and Davy was in control of the stage in a way not seen at Soundwave since Little Jimmy Urine and Mindless Self Indulgence tore the place up in 2008. I'll be there for sure next time A Fire Inside grace our shores on the heels of this performance.

One lamb kebab and a brief stop at Anti-Flag later, we were back at the mainstages awaiting the arrival of one of the bands we were both excited to see, the one and only Jimmy Eat World. I must admit, I had been keen to see My Chemical Romance and was disappointed when they pulled out, but I was just as excited to finally see Jimmy Eat World. Once Janes Addiction finally stopped playing (sorry, didn't impress me much) the large crowd caught their first glimpse of JEW on a Melbourne stage in 5 years. And JEW didn't disappoint. Playing a set that included a plethora of songs of their modern classic album Bleed American mixed in with other favorites such as 23, Lucky Denver Mint and Futures, JEW made sure the huge crowds interest didn't wain. Highlights, surprisingly, weren't massive hits The Middle and Bleed American but the brilliant Hear You Me, which is as great live as it is on cd and Always Be, featuring Haley Williams on guest vocals. Please Jimmy Eat World, don't leave it another five years before you come back again.

Closing act time seemed to come all too quickly, and as much as I would have loved to have seen A Day To Remember and Faith No More, for me no matter who else was I on the bill I was going to see HIM. I had missed them on their previous Australian tours and I wasn't going to miss them again. So, after the long wait, would they be as good as I hoped? The answer was yes absolutely. Their setlist selected songs from across their entire career, highlights being Right Here In My Arms, Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly, Join Me and new song Like St. Valentine. Ville Valo is one of those people who just seems to draw your attention simply by being in the general vacinity. Soberness seems to suit Ville as he and the rest of the band appeared to be having a blast on stage. Despite some early issues with the sound, Ville's voice hits the high falsetto live with the same ease that he does on the albums. The only downside for me was no Funeral Of Hearts (my favorite HIM song, I was even wearing the shirt) and I thought that When Love And Death Embrace was a strange choice of closer, however with that said, HIM were just as good as I hoped they would be.

The flight back to good old Victoria was long and cramped, we ended the day a little sunburnt and beyond tired, but still we had an absolute blast. The only regret is that I didn't have a ticket to Adelaide Soundwave so I could see some of the bands I missed such as A Day To Remember, Faith No More, Four Year Strong, Enter Shikari and All Time Low. Will I be back there next year, you bet your life I will be! Thanks to the organisers, see you all there next year.

TOP 3 ACTS: AFI, HIM and Alexisonfire. Honourable mention to Jimmy Eat World.
COULD DO WITHOUT: Sorry to anyone who's a fan, but Eagles Of Death Metal annoyed the hell out of me. Can you dig it?
WHO I'D LIKE FOR NEXT YEAR: NoFx, Thursday, Story Of the Year and Mindless Self Indulgence would be a good start. Can they top this year? Can't wait to find out!

*not Welsh as I intially stated.