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!

Missy Higgins @ Sydney Coliseum Theatre, February 28 2020

WHAT MAKES A CONCERT SPECIAL?

What makes a concert special? A truly satisfying and memorable event? When you go to as many concerts as I do, simply going to a concert in general, is not necessarily special. So what does make one special?

Is it perhaps that this is the first concert in a brand-new state of the art venue since it’s official re-opening? Maybe the fact that Missy Higgins, a household name in the Australian contemporary pop scene is giving this new venue a whirl? Is it the staff and accessibility of the venue, or perhaps none of the above, and just simply the performance and sound and nothing else?

Now because this review is, well, special, I’m going to do things a bit differently. Because there’s a lot to cover, I’m going to pick and choose selecting things to treat you to, like a gourmet meal, so bon appetit! 

First, the staff and venue accessibility entrees. As soon as I enter the Eastern foyer, staff, namely Patricia, greeted me to assist with signing in and then gave very specific and helpful directions to my companion. When this venue was in it’s planning phase, it was described as “the West's answer to a second Opera House”. Quite a tall order! Now, we all know and love the iconic Opera House, but as far as accessibility goes, it isn’t without fault, seeing as the venue was built in a time before elevators I suspect, or at least before a great need for them. As a result, despite adaptation over the years, there is at least one instance in which stairs are unavoidable. This venue on the other hand, has been built in a time where elevators and OH&S regulations are required, so as a result, getting from the Eastern foyer to the theatre is not only easy thanks to constant support from staff along the way, but also because there are completely level walkways and elevators throughout the venue, regardless if you’re ticketed to sit at the back of the balcony. This has an effect much like a sweet and succulent entree to warm and invigorate the taste-buds before the main meal.

The main course, being the performance of course, is a complex one, so I’ll break it down into four parts. First we have the ingredients, which in this case are the songs Missy chooses to play and the talking and crowd interaction throughout the set. Second, there’s the quantity, so at the end of the show, are you feeling satisfied, or are you left still hungry for more, or are you bloated and feel the meal was too big. Third, you have the sauce and seasoning, which is the sound from the band, acoustics of the venue, and sound mixer. And finally, how well was everything cooked? If you can’t put that metaphor together yourself, pretty much, did Missy and her band perform each song well?

The songs and talking/crowd interaction; Normally from what I’ve experienced at concerts, the most effective way to open a show is to head straight into the first song, which should be an energy lift, to raise the energy and get the crowd excited, and then after the first or second song, then talk to the audience. But this is a, well, special show (if you’ve made a drinking game from everytime I say well, special, you’re probably getting quite smashed by now!), so when Missy, and if I’m correct, only Missy, first walks out onto the stage, she greets us, not a shy or simple “hey Sydney, thanks for coming! This first song is X and goes something like…”, no, Missy slices through everyone’s expectation and breaks out well-rehearsed and tasteful humour! Example being “wow, what a beautiful venue! Honestly this is all I know of Rooty Hill”, Before introducing her first song, a delicate and raw song that is only her exquisite voice and well garnished piano playing which brings a more relaxed casual essence to the atmosphere in the theatre. This humour is spotted throughout the set after most of Missy’s songs, interacting with her audience in instances such as when a woman yells out “can my girlfriend sing with you?!” which Missy replies “uhm, that’s not really in the set, how loud is your voice?” and the absolutely priceless instance in which Missy combines a personal anecdote of her life and how the song links to the moment, in which Missy tells us how she was given the opportunity to record a song for a TV show on Foxtel, and how she’s not up with the whole Foxtel-y world but “I figured out a loophole. Sign up for Foxtel on demand, do the ten day free trial, watch the series in ten days, then cancel the subscription! Bob’s your uncle!” which is followed by an eruption of laughter! and how before playing a particular song, she told us the story leading up to it in which she went through a phase of not knowing if she could continue with the demands of the music industry, keep writing music so she “as cliche as it is, had to go and find myself, I went to India, got diarrhea etc etc and eventually it lead me back to music”.

Now as far as the songs go, after the first delicacy of the piano and vocals solo, Missy then introduces the rest of her band, including drums, bass, keyboard, guitar and backing vocals. These musical ingredients give the set a wide range of textures to play with! The set flows from one song to the next according to the rise and fall of musical energy more so than the most popular songs being last. This is the equivalent of a multi-course meal tailored to introduce each flavour one after the other in the most complementive way. Another noteworthy technique is adding a couple of acoustic solo songs roughly in the middle of the set, giving the palate a cleansing break to emphasize the the burst of flavours in the second half. One of these acoustic songs by Missy features her on a Ukulele giving a funky flavour twist to the typical pop music elements.

As far as the sound goes, the sauce and seasoning, there’s a few points that need outlining. The first, is this theatre is one, fully carpeted and by the sounds of it, has lots of sound absorbing materials and well crafted shaping of the roof and walls to best manipulate sound, A.K.A, good acoustics. The problem with the Opera House is that the Concert Hall I’m fairly certain, was designed for non-amplified sounds, commonly well, opera singing. So the Concert Hall’s design is to best carry and resonate sound throughout the venue, which can be tricky to tame for contemporary music of today. This venue however, was perfectly tailored for optimal performance from the sound system which brings a whole new meaning to loud and clear! This of course, is nothing without the sound mixer doing a good or bad job of the performers’ sound, which in this case, is superb! All sounds on stage are perfectly complementive to one another, whilst highlighting Missy’s vocals, and the backing vocals just shy of power to Missy’s. It also elevates and highlights the guitar solo’s in a few songs’ bridge sections, likewise with the piano solo’s in others. So does that answer the point of the bands’ sound? If not, let me spell it out for you… S, c, r, u, m, p, t, i, o, u, s! There is so much musical colour and tantalizing elements as I mentioned before, to the blues vibes in popular tracks like ‘Scar’ and ‘Ten Days’, which the latter has a more enriched blues energy for this live rendition, which is uplifting and delighting despite the emotional content of the song. Not to mention the contrasting darker feel of ‘Cemetary’ which paradoxically has a potent dance aroma to it.

And to sum it all up, am I and the rest of the audience satisfied? Did the show not have enough? thus were we left wanting more? Or are we bloated? Well, a little bit of all the above I guess! I’m thoroughly satisfied on all counts, and it was the perfect amount/proportion, but because it was so delicious, and I consumed it as much as I possibly could, I am quite bloated, but it’s the same feeling like when you’ve eaten a whole bunch of your mum’s homemade Baileys, white chocolate and Maltesers cheesecake… 

More please! That’s what makes a concert well, special and memorable! 

The Amity Affliction - UOW Unibar, Wollongong NSW AU, January 24 2020

FEELING ALL F****D UP?…

How do you feel? Are you okay? What happens when you’re not? When you feel all f****d up, you think to yourself “all I do is sink into my impending coffin”....

What do you do?...

Even those at the height of their euphoria, surely are affected too as the dramatic war/death-march bang of the drums and underlining bass to flickering lights, floats over the audience in a pent-up frustration-filled mist, as the band makes their grand entrance. This sets the perfect tone for what comes next.

Joel’s rapturous screams and the heavy minor tones in the first two songs (the second of which I’m fairly sure is new single ‘All My Friends Are Dead’ off the band’s upcoming album) build up the heat and aggression exponentially, which the crowd seem to consume as intended! Cleverly, the first two songs are powerhouse slaughters, screams of desperation, whereas the third song still keeps the energy at a red-hot fever-pitch, with constant movement of stage from the band, weaving through and around complementing lighting, which gives an emphasis to the frustration/desperation/angst feelings of the music. However, this song introduces Ahren’s clean more-melodic vocals as well as some free-falling piano droplets in the chorus after the wailing guitar riffs and aggressive scream vocals in the verses. This I feel puts more emphasis on the desperation. I have a feeling I’m on the money with the intent of the essence one feels in this song, as in the more pleading desperation of the chorus, both Joel and Ahren support each other perfectly in both sound and on-stage charisma, which makes one another stronger. So when Ahren reaches out to the audience to offer a hand in singing in the bridge section, it hits home hard!

The aggressive screaming vocals, rapid pounding drums seeming to emulate a rushing heartbeat, thick commanding bassline and razor-sharp guitar riffs that cut deep. Plus the acoustics of the venue don’t seem ideal, as I took note of the shiny wood flooring in which my cane slid across as I entered, and from what I can see, it’s a rather large venue. I can tell this as I can hear the sounds echoing off the walls and up the back… recipe for disaster. Just like a glimmer of hope, a slither of positivity, a lifeline if you will, in a terrible situation, these speakers are capable enough to hit us with the full-force of the bands punch (musically) AND keep perfect clarity, even at such high volume! But the real saving-grace is the sound mixer, who clearly knows this venue and/or the bands sound! Despite the reflective surfaces which the sound bounces to-and-fro in their own invisible moshpit, but the sound mixer prevails to my immense relief!

The mood is shifted slightly to a more uplifting hopeful essence with ‘Shine On’ and its anthemic easy to sing- along-to chorus. But when after ‘Shine On’ comes ‘Ivy (Doomsday)’ it maintains an anthemic power in the chorus, uplifting the energy in the crowd, whilst still delivering a serious, overwhelming potency in the songs core.

Now that this reckoning is in full effect, the crowd is hyped up to extreme levels, making me very thankful I chose to steer clear of the centre of the barrier! (two metres to my left is all hell breaking loose!) The security can’t keep up with the constant flow of crowd surfers, especially in crowd favourite songs like ‘Pittsburgh’, ‘I Take The Weather With Me’ new hit ‘Soak Me In Bleach’ and the grand finale of ‘All F****d Up’, seriously, as I watch the line of crowd surfers exiting/walking in front of the barrier, it seems as though half a dozen all came out simultaneously! No wonder the heat in here is extreme!

Instead of going on and on with how the band smash out all the songs to perfection, well, I do believe Ahren struggled a little in one of the choruses of the later songs, but I’ll turn a blind eye, but all you need to know is this…

Consistently throughout the set I, and I’m sure the rest of us here, are reminded of the power of music, friends, family and everyone around us to help guide us through dark times. The band display this perfectly with the way Joel and Ahren lean on each other and complement each other, as well as the band reaching out to their audience to help with singing key lines, letting the crowd sing lead whilst Ahren sings harmonies in the verse of one song drawing near the sets close, and melodies in strategic intervals, bringing an uplifting positive power to the heavy somber darkness of the songs’ meanings, in a perfect paradox!

How do you feel? Are you okay? What happens when you’re not? When you feel all f****d up, you think to yourself “all I do is sink into my impending coffin”....

What do you do? Reach out, ask for help and draw strength, courage and support from those around you like The Amity Affliction.

Music brings us together...