Soundwave 2011

So last night, J and I went to Soundwave. It's a festival of rock and metal bands, 67 of them I think I counted on the lineup. 6 stages of awesome. The problem of course, was trying to make a schedule where you could see all the bands you wanted, without too much conflict. So. Much. Choice.

We drove in, and the traffic was nuts. As was the parking. When we got to the front (and were still nowhere near the parking) J told me to get out and go in so I didn't miss the band I most wanted to see, and he'd meet me in there. I am glad I took him up on this, because he was gone another hour, and I'd have missed them. Them was Anberlin. I love this band, and according to the Brisbane and Sydney soundwaves, they were going to play my all time favorite song. I was SO excited. Imagine then, my disappointment when they dropped it and sang another song instead. I was gutted. They were great live, I enjoyed it and they sang some other great stuff, but I was really sad they didn't do dismantle.repair :(

After Anberlin, I had to find J. My phone played up all day dropping in and out of signal, which made finding him almost impossible. He kept saying he was at stage 3 (Anberlin) but he wasn't, was so confusing. We eventually met at the breathalyzer van. He had followed the signs on the buildings that are there permanently, and assumed 3 meant stage 3. It did not. He was at the wrong stage. He then explained he had seen Bless The Fall and that they were playing British Bulldogs in the crowd. I was in hysterics. Wall of Death!!

We then decided to find main stages 1 and 2 and see Bullet For My Valentine. Only we got lost and ended up at stage 4 seeing Devildriver. Then we found BFMV, who were seriously good, and played Tears Dont Fall - which sort of made up for Anberlin not doing dismantle.repair. Sort of. We decided to hang around there for a few hours and after BFMV we saw Stone Sour. I'd never heard of them before but I really dug them. I'm gonna get some of their stuff now for sure. Next up was Primus. The dude can play one helluva bass but wtf? The singing was painful. We endured it... and got some food in the meantime. Including my awesome slushee cup which was a plastic, like, voodoo man or something. Hilarious. Had to take it home for Finn! After Primus we saw 30 seconds to mars. They sucked. It just wasn't any good. Jared Leto was all about Jared Leto. And his 'thing' is spinning in circles. And that's really all I can say about that.



Then Slash hit the stage. He was fan-freakin-tastic. And, I had to admit, I was stoked to hear him do some old GnR stuff. Classic Slash guitar riffs in Mr Brownstone, My Michelle, Sweet Child O Mine and Paradise City as well as his newer stuff. He rocked. Loved it. Dude is starting to look old though... After Slash, J went to nab his spot for Iron Maiden in a couple hours time whilst One Day As A Lion played. I made him a bet that he wouldn't reach the front, $100 that he'd not get there and if he did, I wanted proof! I missed a lot of the One Day As A Lion set but what I heard was phenomenal, and J said it was his fave set of the day. I have a thing for Zack de la Rocha's voice at the best of times so it was pretty awesome. I headed off to hear Coheed and Cambria, on a recommendation from a friend, and they didn't disappoint. Very tight and a great show too. Dug the dudes 'fro.

Then I headed across to stage 6 for my highlight of the day, Bring Me The Horizon. Christ those guys were good live. They played some brilliant songs too, and finished with my fave, Chelsea Smile. So Much Awesome. They had the circle pit going and then the guitarist stage dived off massive speakers. We were all told to sit down so they could find him again. So we all sat down. Pretty funny, especially when everyone got up into a massive crowd wide JUMP JUMP JUMP. I did my best growly REPENT REPENT singing. Win.
After BMTH, I hung around waiting for the next band, also on a rec from a friend. Meanwhile, J sent me a photo of his hand on the front barrier over at Stage 1. I lost the bet!



Protest The Hero were awesome, but I felt for them because the crowd had dwindled, and so the acoustics were kind of shot and had an echo. They still rocked it. Just as they were finishing up, I ducked back over to #3 and caught some Millencolin. They were super smooth. Very tight show. Really amazing live, another hit for me. Finally, back to 6 for some Asking Alexandria. Mid way through, J texted me saying he was ready to go whenever I was, so I bailed early and we beat the crowd trying to all get out of the carpark at once by a good 20 minutes or so. Cleverity.