Soundwave Festival passed through Melbourne last weekend, so before it moves onto Sydney and Brisbane tomorrow, we look back on our top 5 moments of the weekend, and give our readers a little taste of what's to come on the rest of the tour...
5. King Parrot frontman Matthew Young in his own wall of death
We all know that the wall of death is pretty damn metal, but what's even more metal than that? When you stand in the middle of your own. Matthew Young, vocalist of Melbourne local band King Parrot figured the best way to get the day 2 crowd going would be to start a wall of death with him standing smack bang in the middle of it. Metal. As. Fuck.
4. Tonight Alive's Rage Against The Machine medley
Australia's biggest pop-punk exports Tonight Alive seem to have a thing with Soundwave and playing covers, having busted out a blistering version of Mumford And Sons' "Little Lion Man" last time they played the festival in 2012. This year, however, they cranked it up a notch, delivering the sweaty Melbourne crowd a three-pronged Rage Against The Machine medley that had the crowd bouncing in the name of awesome.
3. Apocalyptica proving that classical instruments can well and truly rock out
Guitars are the weapon of choice for the vast majority of bands at Soundwave (it is a metal festival after all), but Finnish veterans Apocalyptica showed the uninitiated that you don't need six strings and a distortion pedal to impress a crowd. The sound of three cellists riffing as hard as any guitarist could was, based on the audience's reaction, more than enough to show punters that you don't need a pitch black Ibanez to fit in at Soundwave.
2. Slipknot get the crowd fired up... with fire, of course
Day 1 in Melbourne was more than hot enough for the vast majority of festival-goers, but not for shock rock legends Slipknot, apparently. Despite the mercury soaring into the high 30s throughout the day the headliners still attracted one of the biggest crowds, with the seven-piece outfit pulling out all the stops including their trademark masks, incredible instrumental proficiency, and flamethrowers. Why? Because flamethrowers are goddamn awesome, that's why.
1. Killer Be Killed make their live debut
One of the biggest talking points during the leadup to the festival was the live debut of Killer Be Killed, the supergroup consisting of members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, The Mars Volta and Sepultura. All accounts agree that they absolutely nailed it, showing off tracks from their 2014 self-titled debut album.
Honourable mentions:
Dragonforce's massive circle pits
While British power/speed metal group Dragonforce may not be everyone's cup of tea, it can't be denied that the circle pits they conjured up were simply huge. Their biggest hit also created the biggest pit, with set closer "Through the Fire and Flames" sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Melbourne bringing out all four seasons in one day
Oh Melbourne, you really are a meteorologist's worst nightmare. The live music capital of Australia gave everyone a taste of its unpredictable weather, with the sweltering heat making way for lightning and hail warnings, all within a few hours. Do we bring sunscreen next year? An umbrella? Lightning rod? Nobody knows.
Did we leave out your favourites? Not enough German death metal? Let us know in the comments on our Facebook page! And for tickets and more details for Sydney and Brisbane head to http://www.soundwavefestival.com/