The Story So Far – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 25th March @ The Factory Theatre, Sydney NSW
The Story So Far
The Factory Theatre, Sydney NSW
March 16th, 2018
Support: Slowly Slowly
This week we’ve been blessed with countless phenomenal bands as a result of Download festival sideshows. Sunday was the day of The Story So Far and boy oh boy was it a time. The boys haven’t been in Australia for quite some time and for those not at the festival this was a time to celebrate the return of a pop-punk staple.
The venue was almost full by the time Slowly Slowly walked on stage. Front-man Ben Stewart walks on stage confidently with the comfort of an already hyped crowd who clearly were all running on the high of an overindulged weekend of music. Opening with the hypnotic ‘Dinosaurs’, he captures the audience’s attention immediately and provides the perfect build up as the band runs on stage for the rest of the set. Drawing mostly from their EP Chamomile the Melbourne natives were received incredibly well; even new track ‘Alchemy’ had people swaying. It’s clear these boys are on the up and up and personally they definitely gained a new fan.
The Story So Far is just one of those bands that you can’t help but love. They’re a staple on everyone’s pop-punk Spotify playlist honestly and that clearly includes their newest single ‘Out Of It’, which became evident as the entire venue erupted the moment the first chords rang out. Singing back every word and starting the first of many mosh pits and crowd surfers galore.
Flexing an ability to curate a well-balanced set list of both classics and newer hits, this is followed up by ‘Empty Space’ and ‘The Glass’ from What You Don’t See which was as equally well-received with every single punter knowing every word. This actually came in handy throughout the set because it became clear that front-man Parker Cannon was clearly straining to hit the some of the higher notes; choosing to attack somethings in a slightly lower key and other times throwing it to the audiences when it was clearly not going to go well. Honestly, it was the day after Download so it’s totally understandable that his voice had taken a hit and honestly for the circumstances he still did exceedingly well and nothing affected the overall effect of the show.
The crowd pleasing set continued with another slew of bangers both new and old; ‘Nerve’, ‘Daughters’ and ‘All Wrong’ send the crowd into a nostalgic frenzy. To be blunt it was just ridiculously fun. TSSF have a talent of creating songs that you just want to shout as loud as possible to in your car or bedroom but that desire for volume really reaches its potential at a live show and my oh my there were going to be a lot of people with no voices the next day; with most of them likely being the same people going to Good Charlotte I can imagine that was a very croaky crowd.
The new album got treated with as just much love and affection, Cannon powers through absolute banger ‘Distaste’, classic hit in the making ‘Heavy Gloom’, and the gorgeous masterpiece that is ‘Solo’. The bands energy really picking up at this point as the crowd passionately points at them which is a sentence that would make absolutely no sense in any other context.
Then it happened. Some bands end with a bang. TSSF end with a marathon of a bang. I didn’t think it was physically possible for the room to be more filled with sweat, but the vibe transcend to a whole new level of insane as the boys smashed out iconic classics ‘Things I Can’t Change’, ‘Quicksand’ and ‘Roam’ in succession. Finishing with the most nostalgia filled encore ever, the crowd used up the last of their voices and energy on the glorious ‘High Regard’; solidifying the night as unforgettable and personally one of the best shows I’ve been to in awhile.
Revisit out chat with Slowly Slowly frontman Ben Stewart after their signing to UNFD here
Review & Gallery by Bree Vane. Please credit Wall of Sound and Bree Vane if you repost.
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Slowly Slowly
The Story So Far
