Pix by Rashid Alkamraikhi
Words by Jimmy Glinster
For once, it wasn’t the rest of the HEAVY crew that was late, it was me, the time nazi! But we still did manage to get to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre just after doors, and by not taking notice of what I was doing, I missed the car park turn-off and somehow ended up in a better car park. Success by failure is kind of my forte!
Anyway, after a bag check and a quick sweep down with a metal detector, we make our way inside and shortly after, Void of Vision take stage. At 5:30, Five fucking Thirty! It’s not too often shit gets this fucking heavy at Five fucking Thirty in the afternoon, but here we are as the band punches us straight in the face with heavy riffs and thumping drums. The room is quickly filling up, and the heads are starting to nod in respect.
The band delivers heavy riff after heavy riff, with a mix of screams and clean vocals via a dual vocal assault from the lead vocalist and right of stage guitarist/keyboardist. A shadow boxing pit quickly opens up to the front right of stage as the beginnings of a circle pit stir on the left. About half-way through the set a monetary break into a sample beat promotes a clap along from the crowd before shit gets really heavy again.
The band takes a moment to thanks the fans who have sold out the show tonight and also to give credit to the other bands on the bill. By the end of the set there are continuous circle pits on both sides of the stage. The frontman announces they have released a new album today before launching into their last track which ends with an epic breakdown section and simultaneous walls of death on either side of the separated pit.
After a short break and stage rearrangement, The Ghost Inside take the stage. “The drummer from The Ghost Insides only got one leg” just doesn’t have the same ring to it does it, but it’s true, or so I’ve just been told. I’m not sure what to say about these guys apart from the fact they are goddamn fucking heavy. They are also from America or so they tell us. Sorry to hear that guys, I hope things get great for you again…
Dual circle pits erupt either side of the pit and breakdown after breakdown keep stirring the crowd into a frenzy. Shit just got all singalong clean in a chorus all of sudden which was in fact a nice short break between the heavy riffs and screaming. We get told the story about the epic bus accident that cost their drummer his leg and also cost the lives of some of their crew at the time. Hectic, and extremely sad.
The next song is an absolute beast, but it does have those singalong bits in it again. The crowd don’t care though as they rip the pit a new one. The floor is pretty much full now, so the movement becomes a little more contained amongst all the bodies. Liver one, for now anyway. There’s still plenty of rooms for the punters to raise their hands and clap along though, and they do so in a unified force. The band finishes with a song called Aftermath which unsurprisingly is another heavy banger. I lied though; their last track was Engine 45.
Due to the show unusually running 5 minutes of time, we hear a band kick off from the bar area and quickly head back in to catch I Prevail a few riffs in. Two vocalists strut the stage and share vocal duties bouncing raps, screams and cleans off each other. The crowd participates in a chant of “if you don’t know the devil, then you don’t know me”. This must be one of their big songs cause everyone apart from me seems to know it.
I’m not sure what these guys tune to, but it’s fucking low. The bass is almost hitting “The Brown Note” and I’m afraid if it gets any lower that I may actually shit my pants… The stage goes black, and video screens light up either side to play a short video with a spooky hooded figure in it, along with some insightful words. I thought the next song might have been a bit darker after that, buts it’s actually one of their softer singalong ones. That is u until the breakdown hits and then Ooft!
The band launches into a cover of Blank Space which the screaming singer say he hates performing. Why? Probably because it’s a Tay Tay song. I really should concentrate on this band rather the trying to post some reels cause the internet in here is shit, and I’m missing these guys rip the place a new one with 3 separate circle pits in progress.
Apparently, the next song has some crowd participations and excitements, or so we’ve just been told. It’s a bouncing groover, that’s a certainty and the heads in the crowd are bouncing in agreement. A phat baseline is followed mid song by a breakdown and the crowd is told to break their necks.
This is the bands fifth visit in 10 years, or so we are told, and the next song is about mental health issues. It starts like some kind of pop ballad with super soft vocals, but once the band joins in it takes no time at all to become heavy. Unfortunately, it cycles through the soft bits a few times. I’ll deal with it though, because it’s otherwise been pretty fucking heavy up to this point.
The stage blacks out again and we get another short video with a chair in it, and an owl, and that creepy hooded dude again. This is one hell of a production for a support band, and I can’t wait to see what the headliner pulls out. She’s a full house now, and on that note, I’m gonna save some words for the headliner as the bands launches into their last song. I really fucking enjoyed this band, and I think I need to take some time to check them out.
The sirens go off and we start to head in, but then I get stopped by a security guard that could be mistaken as someone’s grandmother, telling me that my selfie stick, or Gimble for those who know, is not allowed and that I have to put it into the cloak room (despite having already been given the all clear by security on the way in). A half hour or so fuck around ensues and I end up just taking it back out to my car after stopping for a quick piss and then getting lost in the car park for 10 minutes.
As I head back, I notice that the food stalls are empty, so I take the chance to get a $16 chicken burger and “enjoy” it while Parkway Drive are making some noise inside. When I finally make it back inside, the band are doing their thing amongst some quite hefty stage props looking like something out of that Borderlands game. One of which has the drummer angled facing to the right of stage which results in us being unable to see home from our “Gold” seating positions.
I have a set list, but I have no idea where we are now up to in the set. Luckily frontman Winston McCall tells me this one’s is called Boneyards and it’s apparently the heaviest thing they’ve ever done. After checking back in on the set list, I realise that a power tripping mall cop has just cost me the first 5 songs of Parkways set. I’m sure glad they checked my bag and swept me with that metal detector on the way in…
Michael Crafter from I Killed the Prom Queen joins them onstage to finish of the song and Winston giving him props for giving the band their first break before the band launches into Horizons and at least 4 separate circle pits erupt throughout the mosh pit floor. I should note here that there is a massive bridge from the stage pit to a platform in the centre of the pit where Winston perched himself for most of the set. He does switch with the guitarist at one point who is lifted up towards the sling on the bridge while ripping a guitar solo. Oh, and then fireworks start pissing out the bottom of the bridge.
The stage goes black and next minute a hooded clan rises up from the mid-pit stage. They are then joined by Winston who is now cloaked head to toe in black. He was head to toe in white previously in case you were wondering. Oh, he also has a fishnet shirt on and a stand that looks like a metal antler or something of the like. There is also a contortionist in front of him too that doing some weird contortionist shit.
I’m not sure what this is all about, but I’m sure it has some kind of meaning at it. They should probably just hurry up and play something heavy though. I’m here for a metal show, not a pantomime. Luckily, they very quickly do, but not before setting off some fireworks, and then some more fireworks, and then a few more. A cry for fists in the air provides 13,000 or so fists in the air. Then the stage goes black again, and when it lights up, Winston is getting rained on and going by my set list, this song is called Wishing Wells.
Next up is the Killing with a Smile medley which apparently us over 40’s will enjoy. Everybody was King Fu Fighting for that one and there was also a lot of clapping at one point as the medley slowed down for a few bars. Smoke Em If Ya Got Em … or something like that, and now spirit fingers? I’ve got no idea what the fuck is going on right now.
Romance is Dead, and the drummer might be too because I haven’t seen him all night and there is a lot of flames shooting around all over the stage. Nek minnut, Winston pops up in the middle of the crowd and asks for a circle pit around him which the crowd graciously provides. This is the Woah woah oh a oh a oh song … whatever that is called. Meanwhile, lead guitarist Jeff Ling has placed himself on the front platform in isolation now that the bridge has made its way back up to the ceiling.
When the bridge comes back down, there is a three-piece string section playing some classical thing which I’m guessing is the intro to a song. That song is Chronos, and to end it a, a guitar and electric cello dual kicks off on the front platform.
Next up is Darker Still which turns the sea of black shirted bodies into a sea of phone lights which is a pretty good sight, but Chocolate Starfish did it first at Mundi Mundi bash. Sorry lads. The lights only last half the song as the crowd realises that they are wasting their phone batteries.
After that little drinks break, Winstons words not mine, the bands kicks into Bottom Feeder. The riff comes in thick and heavy, and bass player Jia “Pie” O’Connor takes a minute to prance out along the bridge and dance around Winston for a minute before return to his, and every other bass player place, at the back of the stage. Chuggy chuggy, clappy clappy, hands in the air, fire.
And then we get a Drum Solo, that we couldn’t see anyway, so we take our opportunity to bail a snog or two early to beat the cattle crawl and carpark formerly known as the … carpark. The band finishes with Crust and Wild Eyes. Well, that’s at least what the setlist says anyway, but I wouldn’t know because I was halfway back down the Gateway by then.
That was one hell of a production! Probably something you should check out if you can find a ticket somewhere.
