[skinslapper]

Okay ladies and gents. The festival season is almost officially over with and all my bucks could afford was the best show of the summer. Soundwave last Monday, Steel blue oval. Here's my rundown.

First of all, stinking hot 38 degree (Celsius) day. Trying to find as much shade as possible. Heard the unearthed local act Vanity in the queue to go in, but typically they opened the gates too late so there was a bigger crowd outside than in for the first bands of the day, including Comeback kid who I wanted to see. After finally getting in then running around like a headless chicken because organisers moved the stage, I got to their set to catch the very last bar of their killer track "wake the dead". Not happy.

Stuck around at the punk stage and caught the set of A Wilhelm Scream. Great, fun act who ripped it up very nicely.

With a little time to kill, at my bandmates request, we headed over to stage 3 in the tent for some much needed shade and had a listen in to ex-propaghandi bass players new group The Weakerthans. Very Folk sort of sound. Not band, but not Counting Crows and not what most of us were there to see on the day, so a couple of us moved onto catch some of Baronesses set. Think Queens of the Stone Age on steroids and a lot more depressed.

Stuck around at that stage to see Isis who were something of a prog wildcard tip for the day. Great, solid sound, but I just found myself wanting a bit more variety. I found they were pretty much in the same speed and dynamics for the whole set and it just got a little tedious after a while.

At this point I found myself with no mates and feeling rather tired on account of only having 4 hours sleep the night before, I wandered back to the tent, lent up against the drinking fence and had a brief nap (literally) to the soothing strains of Glassjaw. I know nothing of this band, but according to those who were looking forward to them, I didn’t miss anything.

A beam and coke later I made my way back to the metal tent and caught the “real Spinal Tap”, Anvil. Despite their being a little sloppy, I personally found them to be very entertaining. It was good to hear some old-school riffage, big-assed drums and a cranking bass tone that wouldn’t have been out of place with any other act on the day. I thought the singers endearments towards the crowd were very heartfelt and his steel vibrator solo would’ve taught Tom Morrelo a thing or two.

New discovery of the day was a British prog-hardcore act called Rolo Tomassi. Tight, off-time signatures, cutting use of synths and a tiny, blonde, chick singer who could produce these deep, Cavalera style growls that left you thinking she was possessed. Seriously youtube these guys they’re nuts.
Meshuggah nailed it as usual, Alexisonfire stunned a massive crowd, AFI (all for income) were a total joke, Janes Addiction Showed ‘em how we used to do it, Architects set up the pommy hard-core punters and Gallows knocked ‘em down.

And now to my 2 personal fav. bands of the day. Firstly, Faith No More. Their set was probably half comprised of their more tongue-in-cheek material including Easy, I started a Joke and Just a man, but I personally found myself being quite fond of those silly tracks, I guess that means I’m all grown up now. None the less, our old favs like Epic, The gentle art of making enemies and Mid-life crisis all served to tear Perth a new one along with some more obscure gems like Ugly in the morning and Be aggressive. All in all, their hair might be going silver (including Mikes dreads) but those farts still know how to slay ‘em in an oval, unlike some of their peers. Ahem, Pearl Jam!

And the final act of the day, when no one else was on, four dudes I’ve been mega-panting to see again, Brit rave punkers Enter Shikari. Unfortunate ailments aside (singer had tonsillitis, technical difficulties put them 10 minutes late, sound guy was a tool and hadn’t turned up the drummers toms for the first three songs on a communal kit that had been miked up for half the day) they still worked the crowd into a last-ditch frenzy and brought out Architects frontman to help them out. All in all it was still great to see them, but I truly hope they’ll be back soon to do themselves justice.

Great day out, awesome bands, could make some improvements for next year including, multiple entry points, actually putting stages where the map says they are and don’t give international acts communal drum kits. I mean really, we’re paying enough for the tickets, put on some more roadies for gods sake, it’s just plain, disrespectful. Disappointment of the day would be not catching Anthrax, I’m not a big fan but apparently they killed it ended with an awesome rendition of New Noise.But overall we were pretty darn satisfied with the outcome and I can’t wait to hear what we’ll be treated to next year.

In the words of the great Thurston Moore, “the festival scene is beautiful man”.