Review and gallery: Dan Maynard

Tonight, has been twenty years in the making, a labour of love that has brought our favourite Byron Bay band from point A, being a small-town hardcore band to point B, an iconic world-renowned arena monstrosity.

Parkway Drive have become a staple in the music industry, a festival headlining act across Europe, selling out shows across the globe and continuing to release untouchable albums consistently. Now, after twenty years of blood sweat and tears, Parkway Drive begin their long awaited 20-year anniversary tour tonight, here in Brisbane.

Kicking off the night’s festivities are Melbourne based metalcore band Void of Vision. A band having quickly found mass popularity over the last decade, they’re the perfect fit for tonights opening slot.

And honestly, you could have thrown these guys into any slot of the night and it would have been worthy. There’s absolutely no denying the power behind this band, but when they walk out on stage tonight, the crowd go absolutely wild, and Void of Vision takes complete control of the arena. Making their way through a solid set including songs like Altar and The Lonely People, throwing in some new tracks such as Blood for Blood and Gamma Knife. The boys leave nothing behind, making sure the crowd is warmed up and ready for the night.

Californian metalcore veterans The Ghost Inside take second slot for the lineup, with an intro that literally shakes the ground, that alone was enough to hype up the crowd. It’s when they blast into Death Grip from their 2024 album Searching for Solace that the place turns into a complete warpath.

Fans who have waited years to see the band once again are letting out years of anticipation, arms flailing and bodies flying, it’s a true metal show right now and the whole place is feeling it. Vocalist Jonathan Vigil takes a moment to talk to the crowd, discussing the bands tragic head on collision during a 2015 tour, explaining just how grateful and excited they are to be able to return to Australia. And they make sure that they give the long-awaited fans what they wanted, I can’t imagine they will be far off returning for their own tour.

I Prevail, a band that is no stranger to Australia. This will be their third time in our country in the last five years and it’s evident that the fans are far from tired of it. As a horror induced video plays over the screens, the band make their way to the stage and take no time at all, opening with There’s Fear in Letting Go, the opening track from their 2022 album TRUE POWER. The set sits heavy with True Power, smashing out a whole seven songs from the album including Body Bag, Self–Destruction, and Visceral.

Filling in the rest of the set with a few tracks from TRAUMA and their cover of Taylor Swifts Blank Space. Closing the set with Gasoline, the band leave the stage, and the crowd is more than ready for what’s to come….or so they think.

The lights drop and the screens to the side of the stage light up with videos of our main acts past. Clips that span from the very beginning to their headlining spots in Europe this year. No audio other than some soundscape to set the mood, it’s an emotional and smile-inducing set of clips that show the bands rise from their humble beginnings sleeping on the beach and playing on the floor of clubs to the monolith they have become.

As the video ends, the back of the arena stairs light up and there stands Parkway Drive in all their glory, smiles from ear to ear. They make their way down through the crowd, fist bumps, high fives and smiles the whole way until they reach a stage that is set up about 20 meters from the main stage with a drumset in the middle. As they reach the stage, they take a moment to embrace the crowd before guitarist Jeff Ling plays the opening chords to Carrion from 2007s massive album Horizons, followed by Prey.

I see the small stage as a symbol of their small beginnings in Byron Bay, playing on tiny stages to their friends with next to no lights. Which ties in perfectly to what’s about to come. What nobody expected. The band stand back to the crowd, as the intro to Glitch plays, a catwalk slowly drops down to connect the centre stage and the main stage where a black curtain has covered up the stage setup all night.

Once the band have their bridge to the main stage, the curtain drops, and the most monstrous stage set up is revealed. A giant replicated steel beam ruin, with the drum kit embedded into the centre of one of the beams. I’m sure how I describe this does no justice, there were audible gasps across the crowd with the reveal.

With a full stage at their disposal, it doesn’t take long for the pyro to begin, making it clear you’re at a Parkway show. I could sit here and rattle off the set to you and explain how amazing it was, which it was….but it’s the set pieces that bring this show together. Everything from I Killed the Prom Queens Michael Crafter rising out of the centre stage to sing Boneyards with Winston, the literal waterfall over the centre stage soaking Winston during Horizons, Jeff and the bands violinist being taken up halfway to the ceiling on the catwalk during Darker Still and a cascade of sparks flowing from a raised catwalk during The Void.

This show is filled with non-stop theatrical set pieces, pyro and perfectly thought out moments. In true Parkway fashion, there’s no holding back on the show. A band that has spent years putting every cent they make back into their live show, twenty years of that has put them in a position to put on a show that rivals almost any band touring the world right now.

Winston takes a moment to explain to the crowd that instead of playing only a couple of tracks from their debut album Killing with a Smile, they decided to put together a medley, killing with a Smashup as Winston calls it. Now medleys, I honestly don’t usually have much time for them. But wow, holy flipping wow!

This was no ordinary medley. This is hands down the best medley I’ve ever heard. Made up of Gimme Ad, Anasasis, It’s Hard to Speak Without a Tongue, Smoke Em If Ya Got Em and Romance is Dead it’s an absolute onslaught of nostalgia and songs, we haven’t seen them play for years, some songs in over a decade.

The night closes with Crushed firstly, ending with Winston lifted up on the catwalk, high in the air screaming the last of the songs surrounded by airborne flames, not to mention the stage floor that is flooded in flames and flames shooting out of every direction on the main stage.

Look, basically it’s a fucking lot of flames. I can’t stress that enough. The night is truly reaching an end as Winston and the band take to the centre stage once more, going back to their beginnings once more to finish the night with their big closer Wild Eyes.

As an Australian, as a person who was there from the beginning and has watched these five gentlemen grow at what seems an impossible rate, it is hard to not feel proud, it’s hard not to take pride in knowing a band who began their path only an hour and a half south of where I grew up, now stand on one of the most impressive stage setups I have ever seen and reign as one of the most iconic and sought after bands in modern metal.

You can love metal, you can hate metal, but if you can’t feel absolute love and pride for what this band from little old Byron Bay has accomplished, you’re not human.

This is one of the greatest stories in music history and it should be celebrated immensely. I love this band and somehow my love has only grown fonder after last night’s performance. I hope for the worlds sake that this tour makes it overseas, which no doubt it will and I can only be stoked that I got to be there on the very first night.