Download has been and gone but the side shows continue to roll on and tour the rest of the country. When a festival like Download brings so many great bands together at one time you end up with these amazing side shows which are in essence mini-festivals themselves. Tonight’s line up is an awesome mix of bands from the festival whose varied musical sounds are what makes the scene so great to be a part of.
Chase Atlantic’s sound might feel like an odd fit for the line-up tonight or even Download itself, with a sound that is more akin to dark alternative pop with an RnB flavour. These local lads have had a busy year making waves across USA and Canada and hearing them live tonight I can see why. Chase Atlantic have a sound that is catchy as fuck, just have a listen to their hit Swim and you will see what I mean, music that makes you groove and grind to the beat. Watching them perform tonight you can see a lot of passion in them and the crowd equally digging every moment of it, expect to see more of these guys real soon.
Issues take to the stage and take no prisoners, they are one of the bands on the line-up tonight I am really excited to see. They unleash a sound that is a metal-punk hybrid the dual singers are everything I love about this genre, one part pitch perfect sing-along melodies then heavy scream your lungs out, and then beat on your chest to brutally heavy drumming. Each track had us hitting it hard COMA, Mad at Myself then the set finisher of Hooligans seen us unleash an exuberant amount of energy that was nothing short of exhilarating.
Fuck yeah let’s keep this party going the party boys from Falling in Reverse have graced the stage frontman Ronnie walks out sending the girls screaming with excitement they waste no time in turning the party dial way up playing genre anthems such as The Drug in Me Is You and Fuck You and All Your Friends. Falling in Reverse fucking killed it tonight with their unrelenting explosive sound and Ronnie’s enigmatic stage presence and ridiculous vocal range left us all wanting more.
Neck Deep have in short space of time become one of pop punks most loved bands, it’s easy to hear why when you listen to their studio work and to witness them live is even more awesome. Opening with Happy Judgement Day had the energy and excitement in the room being lifted higher and higher with everybody jumping. With a limited time to impress Neck Deep just hit us with one hit after the next we only really could catch our breath when we all stopped and sang along to In Bloom making for one of those touching live music moments.
It has been one hell of a night so far and we are nowhere near the end as Good Charlotte walk out to a hero’s welcome literally lighting up the stage we begin things by throwing our hands up sing along to The Anthem. Frontman Joel Madden tells us that Good Charlotte has spent so much time in Australia over the years that they have even been mistaken as an Australian band to which a huge cheer comes from the crowd. These guys know how to put on a good show and do so very well. Over the years, they have released so many mega hits it would be hard to fit them all into one show but not tonight.
Tonight, the boys decided they wanted to keep thing rolling and not wanting to stop to which no one in the crowd had any objections with. I am old school GC fan so songs like My Bloody Valentine and Riot Girl just make me so happy to hear. If your more into the new stuff then you would have loved getting down to Dance Floor Anthem or I Just Want to Live if you’re a fan of everything else then don’t worry because it was played, sang and moshed tonight in this building a packed Hordern loved everything from start to end.
So many of tonight’s bands couldn’t thank Good Charlotte enough not for just being on the tour but for being an important part of them being a band going to show just how important their music is to all of us in the room tonight so with one chance left to see a spectacular line up make sure you get to The Riverstage Brisbane March 28th.
Review – Chad
Photo Gallery Christian Ross
