Parkway Drive – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 19th June @ Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre

Parkway Drive
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
June 19th, 2016
Supported by  The Brave & Make Them Suffer 

Australia’s biggest and most recognised metalcore act Parkway Drive crashed their way into the Gold Coast for their “All Aussie Adventure” regional tour which has seen the band perform in some areas they haven’t been to since they first started out in Byron Bay all those years ago and despite the Goldy being bigger than most other areas, both the bands and crowd definitely brought their A Game.

The evening kicked off with Brisbane local act The Brave taking to the stage early in the night and proved why they deserved their recent signing to UNFD. Even though the room was barely past half capacity, the boys put on a performance to show new and current fans they’re going to be in it for the long haul. I was thoroughly impressed with each song they smashed though and can definitely see these guys headlining their own tour in future years to come. Keep an eye on The Brave, they’ll be the next In Hearts Wake/Northlane/Hellions.

Up next Perth metal act Make Them Suffer hit the stage in a loud assault on our ears combining their heavy sounds and screams (including pig squeals every now and then) with a charming, yet alluring clean vocals by female keyboardist Louisa Burton. Fans were treated to 9 minutes of pure meta awesomeness halfway though their set in the form of a song which kept on going and going, unfortunately, whilst their heavy and almost industrial rock sound was loud, it didn’t seem to capture the attention of fans beyond the first 7 rows of people. Had it have been a smaller venue, I reckon the sound would have given the band that extra push they needed, however they still gave it their best and it was an above average performance. Will be keen to see them at a club show in future for a second opinion.

Onwards to the main event, Parkway Drive took to the stage amongst the chants of the entire Convention Centre, the lights went dark and the cheering went off when the Byron Bay boys took their positions for show opener “Destroyer“. Cue bright lights, streamers and confetti and the show was well and truly underway. Almost instantaneously the band went straight into the second track from last year’s #1 record IRE “Dying to Believe” and it was on for young and old (quite literally, ages for this show ranged between 8 years old and pushing 50), the head-banging and vicious moshing kick started faster than before and continued to do so for the remainder of the night.

Front-man Winston McCall addressed the audience at the end of the song stating “it had been about 3 years since they last performed on the Gold Coast, but it certainly wouldn’t be as long as that next time”. What better time to start crowd favourite “Carrion” after this moving reflection of fan appreciation which had the band slow things down enough for everyone to catch their breath, but this slow tempo of the set flowed perfectly into “Vice Grip“, where the fans sang the “Yeah Yeah Yeah” bits at the top of their lungs, almost drowning out the band as they were playing.

If you’re a band who has been around for as many years (if not more) as Parkway Drive, you’ll know your fans will appreciate hearing a song from early on in your career and the evidence of this statement was clear enough when “Idols and Anchors” from 2007’s Horizons started up and everyone in attendance tried their very best to get as close to the stage as possible. The circle pit also increased in size and ferocity and I suddenly found myself running around with my fellow metal heads having the time of my life, that was until I tripped on my own foot and went crumbling to the ground below me. It was at that moment I realised I’m 29 and probably too old to be running around screaming at the top of my lungs, that and being a bloke who can’t multi-task, I decided to take a step back and admire the rest of the song from the sidelines. “Dedicated” began with yet another thank you to the fans for their ongoing support over the years and a promise that the band will be touring Australia more, considering they’ve been overseas so much over the past few years. Winston screamed his appreciation into our lives yet again and we all loved him for it.

Talking about blasts from the past, no one was ready when Winston announced the next song they were about to play was dropped from their set list three years ago, but about halfway though “Boneyards” it was clear to see why they needed to add this one back in for future gigs. Everyone loves a classic and you can’t beat a time old song like that one. Up next “Dark Days” and “Karma” rolled into each other (following a short breather in between) and the mosh pit grew excessively larger during this time, one skillful punter even managed to run past the poorly alert security presence backstage and managed to launch himself, cannonball style into the awaiting crowd stuck to the barrier.

“Wild Eyes” another crowd sing-a-long had everyone double fisting the air and singing along as loud as possible, the band, feeding off their energy continued to perform without fault and were obviously loving every second of it. As we found ourselves at the last song of the night, the band showed their appreciation for the opening acts The Brave and Make them Suffer which was more than the usual “give it up for these acts” speech heard at similar shows. The fact Parkway have been there and overcome all the battles and struggles over their time and they still seem to give a shit about the newer bands, goes to show how good these blokes really are. With one final thank you to the fans the guitar started up and “BOTTOM FEEDER” began. There was not one person standing still during this time, even of the outskirts of the mosh-pit, everyone was moving around in some way shape of form. As Winston screamed the last words of the song, the room went black and the crowd screamed louder than ever before.

As expected, the “One More Song” chant began and within a matter of seconds the band were back on stage for their Encore, which started with “Crushed“, bringing the heavy one last time before slowing things down one last time with “Home is for the Heartless” from 2010’s Deep Blue album. Now usually during this time, the band has one more chance to wow the crowd and capture their attention for the remainder of the set, however attention turned to the right hand side of the mosh-pit where two young kids (no older than 8 years old) were rocking the fuck out on their parent’s shoulders, complete with devil horns, fist pumping and the biggest set of noise cancelling headphones I’ve ever seen on a kid. Now I tried my best to watch the band one more time but I kept getting distracted by these kids who were loving the absolute shit out of this show and as time went on, the audience caught wind of this and were showing their love for the kids too, eventually they (on their shoulder rides) started making their way front and centre and fans were clearing the way to make sure they got up close with the band for their final song.

This filled me with such emotion to realise there are kids moving forward in their lives at such a young age who will grow up and appreciate this music for years to come and the fatc the metal community worked together to make sure these kids had a great experience was evidence enough to show we are all one big heavy music loving family and Parkway Drive, even though we have to share them with the rest of the world, are one of the biggest bands we look up to and respect for all they’ve done in their career for the scene and bands alike.

Last night was a fantastic display of how far this band have come, if you saw them on their IRE Tour last year, it was fairly similar in style (minus the flame throwers) but still a great chance to see the biggest and best metalcore band our country has to offer. – Browny (@brownypaul)

Photographer Candace Krieger captured the show below

PARKWAY DRIVE – ALL AUSSIE ADVENTURE TOUR

THURSDAY 23 JUNE – PCYC, BATEAU BAY (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from Oztix outlets and www.oztix.com.au

FRIDAY 24 JUNE – PANTHERS, PENRITH (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from Ticketek and ticketek.com.au

SATURDAY 25 JUNE – WOLLONGONG UNI, WOLLONGONG (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from Moshtix outlets and http://www.moshtix.com.au

SUNDAY 26 JUNE – ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, SUTHERLAND (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from the venue and www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Community/Entertainment-Centre

THURSDAY 30 JUNE – THE CUBE, ALBURY (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from http://www.thecubewodonga.com.au

FRIDAY 1 JULY- BENDIGO STADIUM, BENDIGO (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from Oztix outlets and www.oztix.com.au

SATURDAY 2 JULY – THE ARENA, GEELONG (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from Ticketek and ticketek.com.au

SUNDAY 3 JULY – CHELSEA HEIGHTS, FRANKSTON (18+) – SOLD OUT

MONDAY 4 JULY – CHELSEA HEIGHTS, FRANKSTON (18+)
Tickets available from Moshtix outlets and www.moshtix.com.au