Confession – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 22 March @ Stay Gold, Melbourne VIC

Confession
Stay Gold, VIC
22 March, 2019
Supports: Honest Crooks, Uni/Vs and Starve

It’s been three long years without the antics of Michael Crafter floating around in the hardcore scene, and it seems like he missed the lifestyle as much as we missed him – and the banter; well maybe predominantly the banter. Nonetheless, to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and a sentimental track, Crafter organised a couple of return Confession shows on March 22 and 23, so we thought we’d pop over for the first show.

Moderately new venue Stay Gold, hosted the quartet of performances, opening up with Starve, a local new age metalcore band. They didn’t waste time leaping on stage just as doors opened, giving early-comers a taste of their material. The vocals were bolstering and the venue paid favours to their sound. The band played their brand new hit ‘Accusatory’ and delivered a home-grown killer set to some loyal fans.

Uni/Vs from Brisbane were stoked to have been invited down to support Confession. The band was well placed in the lineup for the evening with a diverse metal/post-hardcore sound, reminiscent of I Killed the Prom Queen vocals. The gig was a superb spot for them to sandwich their Australian tour, and the crowd was two-stepping in fine form to the well-established Queenslanders. The band received great crowd feedback as they got through tracks off their latest record ‘Smile’.

Honest Crooks took the tempo up a notch, and by a notch, I mean a bucket-load. The Tamworth/Canberra band were brutally heavy and delivered a very-well finessed deathcore set. The pair of breakdowns and bellowing growls were a recipe of heavy heaven. The crowd was stacked into the tight venue and the band smashed through their set, leaving us thirsty for more. The band have supported some big names over the years, and are getting their name out there in a way they deserve. These guys topped off the support acts tidily.

Finally, Crafter and his hand-picked cronies were ready to jump back up on stage, in front of a dusted Confession banner, bringing us back nostalgically by a few years. The crowd were screaming for the band; people were so excited, and several had even flown across the country to catch these rare return shows. You could tell Crafter was incredibly excited to be there and may have run out of steam after the first song and joked about it with the crowd. He was incredibly candid and treated punters like old mates who he knew well, playing at a garage show.

It was great to see figures like Richie Newman on guitar as well as some other familiar faces on-stage during different songs, including a couple of the guys from Alpha Wolf. The crowd was filming with tripods and go-pros to catch a glimpse of this show. Crafter was bellowing the lyrics through some of the band’s biggest hits on records like ‘Cancer’ and ‘Life and Death’.

Crafter carried out ‘classic Crafter’ antics, criticising the Catholic Church and telling his bandmates to learn the songs a bit better. The crowd loved it and the emotion/character was definitely there from years ago when he left the scene. Overall, it was great to hear familiar songs and have a bit of fun with a band that partly shaped the scene we thrive in today. Make sure to head down for the final show tonight.

Gig Review by Ricky Aarons @rickysaul90

Photo Gallery by Dylan Martin.  Insta: @dylanmartin_photography
Please credit Wall of Sound and Dylan Martin if you use published photos.

Honest Crooks

Uni/Vs

Starve

Confession