Review: Jack Price
Photography: Luke Petty (Ohsnap Photography)
It’s Saturday night and Brisbane‘s The Tivoli is teeming with elder emo’s, sceneior citizens and post hard-core fans from all walks of life. Hardly a person not wearing either an Escape The Fate tee or some other commemorative garb from one of the more recent shows Brisbane has been host to.
With the stage set and the mosh pit starting to fill, excitement is in the air. It’s been 5 years since Escape The Fate graced us with their anniversary tour of This War Is Ours, and they are back again with their self titled album for The Dead Masquerade Tour, and the anticipation is felt throughout the room. The upstairs mezzanine is packed, while the downstairs begins to fill quickly as The Beautiful Monument take to the stage.
Homegrown opening act, The Beautiful Monument, were definitely not there to muck around, springing into action with their alternative sound reminiscent of early Flyleaf and Breaking Benjamin, a sound this reviewer very much enjoys. With two albums tucked neatly into their belt, this post hard-core outfit fronted by the amazing Lizi Blanco, had the energy and ambience of the veterans they were opening for and then some! The band was in full swing with songs like Burn and Stay, they ended their set with the recent single, Hellbound, with Blanco stating the song “Goes out to every Queen inside of this fucking venue”.
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows (D.R.U.G.S) is a surprising mid act to the line-up having had an 11 year hiatus between albums and only one constant band member in ex-Chiodos frontman Craig Owens, and to be honest, this reviewer was sceptical to see them perform live. Opening with If You Think This Song Is About You, It Probably Is, Owens‘ band of not-so-merry-men made it seem like the past never happened and they were fresh out of the studio! The set was tight, heavy and energetic, hitting the mid section of their setlist with The Only Thing You Talk About, before Craig let the Brisbane crowd in on a secret. The band had a little surprise for their fans and presented not one, but two Chiodos covers in There’s No Penguins In Alaska, and The Words “Best Friend” Become Redefined. As the set came to a close, the ambience was pumping and the crowd was ready to be taken on a trip further down memory lane.
Having seen the Las Vegas based post hard-core legends, Escape The Fate, twice before, expectations were high to continue at the same calibre they had performed at their previous anniversary tour for the album This World Is Ours.
The high-pitch chiming intro to Choose Your Fate rang out as darkness settled over the captivated crowd as roars… sorry, RAWRs errupted from the crowd with each member that stepped onto the stage, ending in the front man himself, Craig Mabbitt, who addresses the crowd fondly. Robert Ortiz and Matti Hoffman kicked off the set, slamming the crowd right in the face with the sudden onslaught of drums and distorted guitars and charging full steam into Massacre. Mabbitt errupted a blood-curdling scream and Erik Jensen entered the fray on bass.
There was one person missing from the line-up, which has had a few changes in recent years. TJ Bell was recently confirmed to be missing out on the tour down under with Mabbitt replying to a comment on an instagram post stating “Aussie never cleared TJ for entry AGAIN” when questioned about his absence in a group photo.
Their missing bandmate could be to blame for the few issues the band did run into on stage as some of their performance seemed to be slightly out of time, while Craig failed to attempt any deep growls in songs like City Of Sin or Day Of Wreckoning, replacing them with his signature high screams. The ballad World Around Me was also missing from the set list, however, ETF made up for that in the encore.
Taking to stage once more, they took the opportunity to showcase their latest tracks LOW and H8 MY SELF which sounded studio quality!
Fan favourites The Flood and Ashley followed, both songs showcasing Craig‘s range in clean vocals. A brief interlude left Jensen to his own devices, to which he sampled a little White Stripes – Seven Nation Army. Ortiz was kind enough to get in on the impromptu jam session, providing drums for the catchy tune.
After a face-melting guitar solo from lead guitarist Matti Hoffman, the end was coming with This War Is Ours seeing Mabbitt jumping backwards off the upstairs balcony and being caught by the adoring crowd below, and the banger tune One For The Money from 2013’s Ungrateful.
For a trip down memory lane and getting to relive 2010 for an hour or so was a great time. Hopefully next time we get all the Escape The Fate boys in town.
As for the supporting act Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, fingers crossed it won’t be another decade for another album and as for The Beautiful Monument, they are well on their way to riding the waves they’re making.
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