In Hearts Wake – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 27th March @ The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD

In Hearts Wake
Saturday 27 March
The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
Supports: Thornhill, Gravemind and Drown This City

To start, I will say I am not one for going against COVID regulations – my anxiety forces me to follow the rules, especially ones that are to stop me from possibly dying of death flu. In her press conference on Friday, Anastasia Palaszczuk said she was disappointed in the lack of social distancing. If she had been at the gig on Saturday night for some reason, she would have been so disappointed in us. While In Hearts Wake did two shows that night, so there were smaller crowds and all legalities were followed, mosh pits were back, and they were WILD — absolutely ZERO social distancing.

9:30pm is a late start for an old gal like me, (unfortunately I missed the legends in Drown This City, but our photographer Charlyn snapped some quality shots of their set below) however, I made it in time to see Gravemind’s set, which was incredible. The crowd was already huge, the energy was frantic, and the mosh pit was already in full swing.

Next up was Thornhill, last time they played in Brisbane, they set off a fire alarm at The Brightside. Their set was cut short and the venue evacuated. This time, they were just as hot, but thankfully we got to see the entire set. They started their set with ‘Nurture’ and had the crowd captivated from the second they came on. While the gig was an In Hearts Wake headliner, you could tell many people were there to see Thornhill just as much. This was my first time seeing the Thorny boys, and I am so glad I finally got to see them — they lived up to everything I thought they would.

After a short break and a crowd singalong of ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, the stage went black; the crowd was chanting, and then an old television was wheeled out by people wearing gas masks. The remixed refrains of Greta Thunberg rang out, and ‘Crisis’ started with the band behind a black curtain. The curtain dropped, and they played the rest of the song with gas masks on while apocalyptic scenes of the world played on the TV. Then the TV was wheeled away, and Jake Taylor started the brutal vocals of ‘Worldwide Suicide’. The crowd was feral from the second IHW started and didn’t calm down throughout the set.

Being the Kaliyuga tour, the set included several songs from the album but had several songs from all the band’s older albums as well. The set was pretty much half and half, six songs from Kaliyuga and seven from the other albums. An interesting moment was the band doing acoustic versions of ‘Husk’ from Kaliyuga and ‘Waterborne’ from Ark. There were two acoustic guitars, and clean vocalist Kyle Erich had a ukulele for ‘Husk’. The performance of ‘Husk’ was really different from the album version, and it was like a completely different band had started playing. For the first 20 seconds or so, I don’t think the crowd knew what to make of it, but it didn’t take long for them to get into it, and it was a nice moment that showed the versatility and talent of the entire band. ‘Waterborne’ brought something I had never witnessed before, an acoustic mosh. Moshers will circle pit to anything, and I am here for it!

After the short breather during the acoustic section, shit ramped right back up and reached an extra level of wild. By the time the band got to the last two songs ‘Son Of A Witch’ and the crowd favourite ‘Hellbringer’, the pit took up most of the floor. ‘Hellbringer’ was as fantastic as hoped, and while Jamie Hails didn’t pop out to surprise us for his verse in the song, Gravemind vocalist Dylan Gillies-Parsons stood in for him and absolutely did the verse justice!

This gig was honestly such a delight, and I spent the entire thing with a big smile on my face (which is a big deal because I was in a particularly crappy mood before I went). The band were on point, and their stage presence was fantastic, especially Jake, Kyle and guitarist Eaven Dall. It was the first big gig I’ve been to since the world lost its shit last year, and to finally see proper circle pits and walls of death made me so happy, also petition for all bands to go two shows so the crowds are smaller. It was nice to have a bit of room to move and the Tiv wasn’t as much of a swampy, sweaty mess as usual. And while Anastacia has told us she’s not mad, just disappointed and punished us by grounding us (I know, I know, the lockdown isn’t because of the gig, but I am taking artistic liberties), it was totally worth it. I am not making light of the situation, I understand how serious the outbreak and virus are, but it was nice to have one night of almost normality and forget about how shit the last year has been.

Setlist

Crisis
Worldwide Suicide
Timebomb
Survival (The Chariot)
Ark (on tape)
Passage
Breakaway
Husk (Acoustic)
Waterborne (Acoustic)
Gaia
Earthwalker
Refuge
Son Of A Witch
Hellbringer (Featuring Dylan Gillies-Parsons of Gravemind)

Gig Review by Cait Mac @cait_2tone
Photo Gallery by Charlyn Cameron. Insta: @chuck_stuff
Please Credit & Tag Wall of Sound and Charlyn Cameron if you repost photos on social media.

Drown This City

Gravemind

Thornhill

In Hearts Wake