The Word Alive - Gig Review & Photo Gallery 30th January @ Stay Gold, Melb VIC

The Word Alive
Stay Gold, Melbourne VIC
January 30, 2024
Supports: Tapestry and Heartline

After a successful run of shows across Australia supporting Anberlin, Arizona based metalcore 4 piece The Word Alive played their first ever headline show in Australia, at the always fun venue in Brunswick that is Stay Gold, with support from Heartline and Tapestry.

Hailing from good old RAdelaide, Heartline got the festivities going on a balmy Tuesday night. Although the crowd was only just starting to build, the boys have such a great energy whilst on stage that it was hard not to move as they began. It’s the second time I’ve seen Heartline and I think this time was just a little better. It might be because Stay Gold is such a small and cosy venue, but the guys put their all into their performance and it was great to see the crowd feeding off their energy and returning it. It was also exciting to see the multitalented Mr David De La Hoz of Belle Haven join the band onstage for a little bit of guest vocals. I’ve now seen Heartline play support slots twice, and I hope to see the boys headlining their own show soon because they definitely have the talent and the energy to lead their own show!

Crowd sufficiently warmed, next to take to the stage was Tapestry. Originally from Darwin and now hailing from Melbourne, these guys just had a presence that demanded attention from the moment they hit the stage, to the moment they left it. Hot off the release of their album The Pain You Desire, The Love You Deserve in 2023, this five piece has been grinding hard for the last few months. Tuesday night seemed to be their night as they were on fire! You can tell that they were the local heroes on the lineup as there was a large majority of the crowd who were singing along to every song, a reaction that seemed to rev the boys up more during their set. Tapestry are another band that are going to be one to watch and I’m sure it won’t be long at all until they’re headlining their own shows, especially with what seemed to be a very dedicated following! I thoroughly enjoyed their set, and their album has been in regular rotation since the show, and they gained a new fan after their fantastic set.

The best thing about Stay Gold is that it doesn’t have a barrier at the front of the stage, meaning fans can get up close and personal with the bands. After an agonizingly long 9 year wait, and being a huge fan, being able to be that close to The Word Alive was very emotional. I never thought that I would get to see TWA live, let alone be less than 3 feet away from frontman Telle Smith, guitarists Zack Hansen and Jose DelRio, and drummer Daniel J Nelson while they played. The guys performed songs off all seven of their albums, including a few from their 2023 release Hard Reset, their super popular cover of ‘Heartless‘ from Volume 3 of Punk Goes Pop, and League Of Legends track ‘Rise‘ that Telle featured on.

It was a 75 minute set and there was barely a moment where the crowd wasn’t singing, rocking out, or just enjoying the good vibes. I think the band were a little surprised at just how hard we were going, especially when Telle took a moment to tell us he was getting a little bit emotional. Those emotions were shared by the majority of the crowd, and there were a few tears on my face and the faces of those around me during ‘No Way Out‘, a powerful ballad from 2020’s Monomania, and I personally had some strong feels during ‘Lighthouse‘, from 2014’s REAL. The Word Alive have always been a producer of songs with emotional or powerful messages to them, especially on the track ‘Life Cycles‘ from the band’s 2012 album of the same name. Hearing a crowd full of people singing the lyrics ‘I’d rather die for what I believe, than live a life without meaning’, was amazing and so very moving. Closing out their set with ‘Heartless‘ was a fun way to end it, and you could tell just from the looks on Telle, Zack, Jose and Daniel’s faces how much it meant to them to have a crowd so far away from home singing along and having a great time!

HUGE thanks to Destroy All Lines for bringing The Word Alive out, and to the band themselves for putting on such an incredibly fun and amazing show. Hopefully it’s not 9 years before TWA make their way back to our shores, play some more headlining shows and rock out with their Aussie fans.

Review by Kelsey Trevan @Kelsey_139

Photo Gallery by Jade Vassiaras Insta: @a.snapshot.of
Please credit Wall of Sound and Jade Vassiaras if you repost photos.

Heartline

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‍Tapestry

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‍The Word Alive

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