Atreyu 'In Our Wake' Album Tour, Sydney, February 27 2020

THE TIME IS NOW!

“Everyone leaves a legacy no matter how big or small”, so when our time’s up, what will we leave in our wake? With the earth being plagued with recent pestilence (the deadly strand of Coronavirus), war, famine and ultimately, death, not to mention the recent catastrophic bushfires then flooding in Australia, you’d think the four horseman have risen and it really is armageddon!

So it’s a good thing U.S Metalcore godfathers Atreyu have raised the question of what will we leave in our wake with their latest album ‘In Our Wake’.

You may not think now is the time for such questions, but yes, the time is now... 

In all the chaos in the wake of this concert, I’ve had time to reflect and put this show into perspective. When I recently spoke to drummer and vocalist Brandon (listen to the full interview here) and asked, “when you come out onto the stage, what do you give fans that other metal bands don’t?” Brandon told me “for us music is a place where we can go and let our guard down, and kind of, be vulnerable, kind of, show our insides a bit, we want people to be able to do the same thing at our shows. I think a lot of metal shows or heavy music is very serious and whatever, we’re very lighthearted on stage it’s a very fun atmosphere I think that, we want to give that open door for people to just come and lose their s***”. So, was shit lost?... figuratively, not literally.

For starters, before doors open, I notice that the queue of fans waiting to enter isn’t exactly extensive, and those of here seem quite calm and unsurprisingly, I hear talk of VOCID19, so has this scared fans away and put a damp blanket on the night?

Secondly, this venue plays host to many heavy genre performances, and I’ve got to know the typical sound here, it’s like a natural ruby, red-hot, dense, has many layers but can often bare too many imperfections (in this case commonly too much bass) and generally is clear, but still gritty.

Thirdly, typically the opening song will be the first song off the bands’ touring album, and the grand finale will be their greatest hit, so in this case, ‘In Our Wake’ and ‘Becoming The Bull’ respectively?

So, is this a clear but gritty little gem that makes us lose our s***?

In a nutshell, yes, much s*** was lost! The band did not however, fulfill my prediction of the opening and closing songs however, instead, they chose the placement of the songs throughout the show according to the rise and fall of energy it would seem, which is in my opinion, a far more effective move, as if you’ve paid to see a band who has more than one “hit”, chances are no matter what, everyone’s gonna stick around until the very end anyway, whether you leave your best to last or not. So when they open the show with ‘The Time Is Now’... any guesses as to what was lost?

Despite my observation earlier of a laxed queue, the venue is absolutely packed now thankfully, also thankfully, people are politely and respectfully losing their s***, they’re dancing, jumping and singing along, which the latter does render the sound mix hard to hear the bands’ vocals at times, but all in all is a pretty top-quality sound mix. Even when a band member steps off the stage and onto the step of the barricade to engage fans, people are still letting everyone around them, you know, breathe and stay alive.

Currently as I write this two weeks later, thinking back over the concert going over my notes, it brings a smile to my face and gives me a warm refreshing respite from the stress and gloom of the COVID19 outbreak, which has been making me lose my s*** in a whole other way.

So whether it is the anthemic sing alongs, the intense energy the entire band dished out from start to finish, the flow of energy from song to song or the addition of a brilliant cover of Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’, which brings the singing along to a whole new height, or all the above, Brandon was true to his word and gave us all the open door for us to let our guard down, and lose our s***. 

Now that's what sets Atreyu apart from other heavy metal bands!

DZ Deathrays 'Positive Rising; Part 1' album tour - Manning Bar Sydney, October 19 2019

MANNING BAR WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN

The night’s calm is broken, I’m pretty sure those in Melbourne can hear the cries and the tidal-wave of sonic energy, the earth shakes and Manning Bar is never the same again.

8:20pm.

A young blind journalist (me), is met with a steadily growing venue, with eager punters joining him at the front barrier. The spunky all-girl Sydney four piece punk-rock band The Buoys emerge to tame the night first up, to rowdy cheers from an obvious friend/fan or two.

These gals have attitude! Their sound is instantly alluring despite Hillary’s vocals being swallowed by the gritty guitar dominated mix. A few songs in, and after some seemingly shy talk from Hillary, more energy bursts free and gives the band’s performance a bit of edge. When the band close their set, enthusiastic cheers erupted from the still growing crowd, but of course fronted by the band’s friend/fan, who when our blind journalist asks the lovely lady “was that VOIID?”, thinking The Buoys sound does resemble that of VOIID’s and seeing as he’d never actually checked out The Buoys before, the girl retorts “uh-no! That was The Buoys!” as if how dare he not know, like we’d just seen Stevie Nicks.

9:00pm.

The venue is reaching its peak capacity, with the strong odour of alcohol hanging over the crowd like fog. Also all-girl band VOIID tries their luck taming the emerging beast of rowdiness and intoxication in the venue.

Like The Buoys before them, the sound mix is gritty, rough and guitar dominated, smearing the vocals. However, whereas The Buoys’ Hillary seemed a little shy, VOIID lead singer Anji fits the band’s skate-punk/garage-rock vibe perfectly! If The Buoys have attitude, than you better back the hell up now! I mean that literally, because VOIID’s feisty, edgy guitar shreds and infectious vocal hooks that aren’t completely swallowed by the sound mix, riles the crowd right up with Anji jumping around the stage nimbly like a monkey conductor. The crowd literally act like monkeys, the blind journalist is slammed against the barrier, with a sugary scented beverage, or what was left of it, now drenching his upper shirt. Snapping around, he’s met with a large group of men pushing, punching and egging on others. And seriously, what a waste of a drink?

10:00pm.

It sounds as if the venue is at maximum capacity, but there’s still room to dance on the dancefloor to our journalists appreciation, as the draw card that really enticed him to come along to this show is up now. To put this simply, Polish Club are practically impossible not to dance to! If you read the review of their headline show at The Entrance Leagues Club in June, you’ll remember I was having so much fun dancing to the feel-good soul/rock vibes that I abandoned the note taking, as they were really cramping my style!

Tonight is no different, lead singer Novalk dishes out some engaging banter to tame the monkeys in the crowd perfectly and keep everyone dancing, and even jumps off the stage to hug a girl and lean back against me, almost with Novalks head on my chest, while playing the guitar to spark the energy that little bit more. And to harness the good-vibes even more, the sound mix seems to be perfectly tailored to Polish Club’s sound!

Polish Club, making even a blind journalist who sucks at dancing hot and sweaty and needing a hit of sugar!

11:00pm.

No rest for the wicked, and my perspiration is made worse with any and all space I once had being filled with excited punters ready for DZ Deathrays. The night’s calm is broken, I’m pretty sure those in Melbourne can hear the cries and the tidal-wave of sonic energy, the earth shakes and Manning Bar is never the same again. The band’s first song might be eerie and somewhat anticlimactic, but from the second song onwards, a surge of white-hot energy erupts from the stage. 

The sound would be perfect, if not for the entire audience singing along and cheering constantly, but I honestly can’t blame them. The band have a raw natural energy to their music, which they demonstrate perfectly on-stage both musically and in charisma. I could go on and on about each song, but really these guys aren’t mucking around and mean business! A part of what makes this show so epic, I think, are the band’s before DZ Deathrays. Sure, a good support band helps the overall experience of a concert, but the line-up tonight was perfectly suited to build the energy in the venue to explosive heights. Another thing, is this has to be the best lighting display I’ve ever witnessed at this venue! I know, I know, it’s supposed to be about the music, but this is just a complementing cherry on top of this decadent rock sundae! How can a blind person see the lights you ask? Well, this is a mystery novel remember...

You know the band’s done a really good or really bad job when it takes you two days to get over their gig, and I have no doubt, after that onslaught of glorious energy.

It really is no mystery why Manning Bar will never be the same again...