Review and Photography: JD Garrahy
The privilege of living in Queensland is getting either the first or last show of a tour. Tonight, it’s the latter and we are so damn ready for the chaos that is sure to ensue. Bring on the festivities.
Launching straight into a heavily bass driven set are local legends Headwreck. If you haven’t seen this Brisbane quartet powerhouse, you’re doing yourself a disservice, absolutely demolishing their half hour set and cramming in as much as possible, Connor & Co. get the crowd in the right spirits for the impending brutality that is upon us.
Resolve are up next and damn if I’m not left utterly annihilated by this band. Frontman Anthony Diliberto is a mess of unchained energy and gives everything to the crowd from the very first second of this set. Their stage presence (along with some of the best lighting I’ve seen), is incredible. Massive riffs coupled with percussive intricacies that would leave even the most seasoned of drummers gobsmacked, the French contingent tonight is absolutely on fire.
This is the metal we have been missing here in Oz, and we’re so fucking ready for more of it. These guys seriously need to come back here really fast as I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that has fallen in love with them (if you saw how empty their merch stand was afterwards, you’d agree). Finishing their set with Older Days, the crowd was not ready in the slightest for their departure, but the thought of our next offering was more than enough to keep the punters keen.
Silent Planet are clearly a destructive force within the metal world and tonight’s performance is nothing short of incredible. From the moment the house lights go down, the energy is absolutely electric. And as front man Garrett Russell hits the stage, his unique style of barefoot brutality is unmatched. Crushing every single note and getting maximum crowd participation feels like second nature to the California locals.
As they crack through the setlist, every single person in the venue gives their all to thrashing around in unison, living another worldly experience through this music. We have waited too long to have Silent Planet grace our shores, and you know what, if they came back next week, they would pack out that venue as well. Kudos to the Erra lads for bringing some next level supports over for this tour.
It has been something of pure magic watching Erra evolve as a band, and hit bigger and bigger stages in our great land. It almost feels like they should be honorary Aussies at this point, with the amount of time they’ve spent here in recent years. Hitting The Brightside all those years ago while out here as support for The Plot In You, returning as support for Northlane, and now absolutely killing their first ever headline tour, the progression of this band has been insane to say the least.
Touring their latest album Cure around the US, I was really hoping we would get that same show here, and hell yes, we did! From the moment JT Cavey’s voice rings out on set opener Slow Sour Bleed, it’s clear that these guys came here to show exactly how modern metal should be administered. Hard, fast and with plenty of savagery.
Tonight’s setlist is such a compilation of their career, that it feels like being in an MMA octagon, hit after hit, followed but submissions that make you forget to breath at times. The crowd participation on Gungrave is amazing and I’m sure that passers by of The Tiv can probably hear the crowd more than they can hear Erra at this point. It is not the last time the crowd will provide such an energetic performance.
Blue Reverie, well, fuck! I have listened to this track so many times since Cure was released, but it’s not until you hear it live that you truly get a scope of how much feeling is encapsulated into one song. Jesse’s cleans, as always are on point and then you have him and Clint just slaying the fret work, it gives the track an extra depth that cannot be felt through any recording.
I cannot let this review go without a nod to how much JT’s vocals have progressed over the years. The guy has some of the most barbarous vocals in the metal world and tonight is no different. When you have a mix of JT’s gutturals and Jesse’s cleans, the feeling of Erra’s music is amplified tenfold. I will never tire of seeing such a display of vocal prowess in a live setting (I may have also destroyed a vocal chord or two trying to sing along).
The energy that Alex is putting in behind the kit is fantastic, especially on the afore mentioned Gungrave. Those double kicks just hit you right in your core and leave you wanting more. He seriously makes it look like the drumsticks are just an extension of his arms. If the way he makes drumming look so easy was in fact that, there would be a shit tonne more drummers in the world. But what we witness tonight is a man that is a master of his craft. Bravo, good sir.
I really didn’t want this set to end as it was a heavy nod to the Cure album, and after nearly a year of cramming into my earholes, my Erra hunger has been satisfied. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see these guys back at the end of the year for a very deserving festival slot, they would own that shit! With merch snapped up (the line seriously did not go down for the majority of the show), memories made, and voices non-existent, we all depart The Tivoli with a collective satisfaction of witnessing something magical. See you soon, lads, we shall welcome you back as the honorary Aussies you deserve to be.
– GALLERY –
