Void Of Vision - Gig Review & Photo Gallery 20th February @ Northcote Theatre Melb VIC

Void Of Vision - The Final Tour
Northcote Theatre, Melbourne VIC
February 20, 2025
Supports: Gideon, UnityTX and Knosis

As each member of Void of Vision prepares to close this chapter of their lives, and step into the next, they have blessed fans around the country with the bittersweet opportunity to say goodbye to the iconic Australian metalcore act by singing along, and moshing to their favourite VoV tracks in an intimate setting one final time.

I arrived at the venue to find a lengthy line stretching around the side of the venue. As I joined at the end of the queue, I was surprised at how quickly it moved along, and within minutes, I was already inside finding a good spot within the venue to watch Japan’s Knosis begin the night's festivities. As the four band members took to the stage and broke out into their opening track sporting identical Knosis baseball tees, which quite possibly could have been a nod of respect to Void of Vision, as they consistently did this exact thing early in their career, the strong afternoon sun peered through the venue's windows and illuminated the entire venue, creating fierce competition for the venues stage lighting rig. Despite never having played in Melbourne previously, the crowd gave their nod of approval to the quartet in the form of rowdy moshing while vocalist Ryo Kinoshita darted from left of the stage, to the right, then back again with such ferocious intensity that it made it difficult to direct my attention elsewhere. Before wrapping up their twenty-five minute long set with a cover of Machine Head’s ‘Davidian’, Kinoshita took one final chance to leave a lasting impression on Australia’s music and arts capital by jumping off stage and performing the final track of the set amongst the punters in the middle of the mosh pit. My connection with this act has only just begun to fuse, however, I don’t think that calling myself a lifelong fan is out of the question.

As the clock struck 8:00pm, it was then time for UnityTX to dazzle the Melbourne crowd for the first time ever with their Texan charm and their artistic prowess. By this time, the sun had begun to set and the stage's lighting equipment began to take effect, complimenting the performance tenfold. With the group's fusion of hip-hop and metalcore washing over the crowd like a sonic tidal wave, copious amounts of two-steps, and other mosh pit moves took place. UnityTX’s unique style was brought to life by vocalist Jay Webster, who initially was wearing a baseball cap, with his hood up, covering a lot of his face, as he maintained a lively and zestful demeanour by repeatedly kicked the air and danced on stage, while simultaneously, and effortlessly switching back and forth between various vocal techniques such as rapping, clean singing and unclean screaming. Without too much differentiation between songs, this group’s distinctive sound begs to be stretched in different directions, while staying true to what the styles that group's reputation has been built on. All in all, this group was an incredibly entertaining act to watch perform, in both a visual and auditory sense and I for one will most likely watch them perform when they eventually make it back down under.

As the large music hall began to reach capacity, the heaviest band on the lineup graced us with their presence. Alabamian act Gideon, fronted by Daniel McWhorter who was wearing his staple Akubra, didn’t waste a moment before breaking out into their hit single ‘No One/No Love’, which could be felt from every point in the room as vibrations from the instrumentals reverberated throughout the room. Only moments into the group's performance, Wall of Sound co-editor Ricky Aarons leans towards me and says “This band is very under-rated”. I agreed, before continuing to watch the performance as they belted through fan-favourites such as ‘Take Me’, ‘Bite Down’, and ‘MORE POWER. MORE PAIN'. McWhorter, who sounds distinguishingly similar to Jonathan Vigil from The Ghost Inside evidently puts his soul into his work and his intense passion is simply one aspect that separates this band from the rest. This level of intensity was matched by Knosis vocalist Ryo Kinoshita, who joined the group on stage to flawlessly perform guest vocals on ‘Cursed’. As the group's thirty-five minutes came to an end, the Gideon walked off stage to the song ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ playing throughout the speakers, which was overwhelmingly fitting for the moment. I first saw the band perform in 2018, when they toured Australia with Polaris, then again at Aftershock Festival, Sacramento, US in 2023 and I would not hesitate to see them a fourth time.

Finally, the moment that fans had both dreaded and eagerly awaited for had arrived - it was time for Melbourne to say goodbye to their hometown heroes, Void of Vision. Amongst the thick smoke and dimmed lights, a silhouette of vocalist Jack Bergin wearing the headpiece as seen on the cover of their latest album, What I’ll Leave Behind appeared. Motionless with his head tilted downwards, Bergin stood alone on the stage singing ‘Beautiful Things’ before the stage turned dark. Suddenly, the stage became illuminated by the venue’s lighting rig and Bergin, who replaced the headpiece with a baseball cap, was joined by his fellow bandmates. Instantly, the four-piece broke out into ‘Oblivion’, sparking a violent slew of bodies to be tossed around the mosh pit. An extremely animated Bergin utilised every inch of the stage as he moved and danced while performing his vocal duties. With six studio releases to whittle down for a setlist, the band seemingly carried a ‘bangers only’ mentality when selecting their songs. A healthy mix of old and new tracks, including a track from their debut EP, kept the crowd engaged. After only a few songs in, I crossed paths with a concert-goer that I vaguely know after meeting once or twice as we walked to the back of the room, away from the moshpit. As he passed me, he looked me in the eyes and said “Mate, it’s absolute chaos in there”, referring to the mosh. This came as no surprise, and it was backed by the echoing singalongs and the plethora of crowd surfers. I was surprised at how little the band spoke directly to the crowd between songs to reflect on the journey that was, with the hometown crowd. Seemingly, the group wanted to keep the energy high while squeezing in as many songs as they could into their allocated seventy minute long set. Perhaps as the saying goes, ‘less is more’, proved true in this instance.

As the performance rolled on and led into the rendition of ‘Year of the Rat’, Thornhill vocalist Jacob Charlton was seen wielding a microphone as he walked on stage to perform guest vocals. This moment proved to represent mutual respect, musicianship and friendship as the two vocalists bounced off one another, singing in unison before the track ended and the group instantly switched to performing the breakdown of ‘Kill All My Friends’, which was an unexpected, yet delightful touch.

As the end of the set began to creep up on us, after the performance of tracks such as ‘Sunrise’, ‘Ghost In The Machine’, ‘Nightmare’, ‘Angel of Darkness’ and more, each member of the group left the stage and Void of Vision drummer George Pfaendner took his time to shine in the limelight with an awe-inspiring drum solo before being rejoined with his soon to be ex-band mates to perform final tracks ‘ALTAR’ and ‘THE LONELY PEOPLE’. With the set having come to its conclusion, vocalist Bergin took the time to speak one on one with the crowd, beginning with “Melbourne, it all fucking started here, didn't it?”, to which the crowd erupted in cheer. Reflecting on how he led to this very moment, Bergin went on to say “A long time ago my manager at McDonalds asked me whether I would like to join a band with a bunch of dudes that I had never met in my entire life, and I said ‘why the fuck not’. I ended up meeting these wonderful people who are on stage with me right now. I’ve been touring the whole world with them for twelve or so years now and it has been one wild fucking ride.” Emotions were high, both on and off the stage, with many heart shaped hands and copious amounts of “I love you” being screamed from the sold out crowd. In response, the recently turned radio presenter went on to say “None of this would be possible without you, the fans. There’s not a chance in hell any of this would have happened if it wasn’t for your support”.

Although this is scheduled to be the group's final hometown show, Bergin assured us that “this isn’t a sad ending, this is a happy ending” before emphasising the importance of continuing to support local Australian music. On one last note, Bergin teased the crowd with “This is where we would love to leave things. We would love to close this chapter in Melbourne, but we have to go to Fucking Perth. We do not want to end this story in Perth. So, how about we come back after that and do one more show for you guys?” to which the crowd erupted in cheer. Adding to this Bergin continued “One special night, with all of our friends in our favourite city in the world. How does that sound to you?... we’ll think about it”, before erupting into the encore track ‘Empty’.

The emotional ending of this band is something that has touched us all in some way or another. Australia has lost a key player amongst our thriving heavy music scene and to see it happen at a moment in Void of Vision’s career where they are thriving beyond what anyone could have imagined, and on the verge of achieving international stardom, like fellows Parkway Drive, The Amity Affliction and Polaris is almost gut-wrenching. What will Void of Vision leave behind? A legacy that could only be matched by very few, an absence in our beloved heavy music community and a hole in our hearts.

Review by Adam Rice @riceyadam

Photo Gallery by Clinton Hatfield. Insta: @ampd.agency.
Please credit Wall of Sound and Clinton Hatfield if you repost photos.