| Soundwave Festival 2011 - THE BLACKOUT and MAYDAY PARADE |
| Written by Sarah Mudgway |
| Sunday, 20 March 2011 23:57 |
 Exhausted from twelve hours of heat, dust and music, I found myself at the Stage 5 area for the remainder of the day. My initial plan of collapsing on the ground while watching Welsh band THE BLACKOUT do their thing lasted one song before the band's infectious energy dragged me off my feet. Having not heard much from the band before, I was impressed with the way they interacted with their audience and was reminded of an older-era Lost Prophets, in terms of musical style. Running through songs such as ‘Ambition Is Critical’, ‘Children Of The Night’ and ending with ‘I’m a Riot? You’re A Fucking Riot’, the dual vocals from Sean Smith and Gavin Butler worked well and the banter between audience and band provided some comic relief – most notably when the band acknowledged that the crowd forming for Mayday Parade was considerably larger than their own. One thing is for sure - I was definitely not prepared for how popular MAYDAY PARADE have become in the last year or so. For a band which receives little to no airplay at least here in New Zealand, to see their stage packed out with fans of all ages (and gender... to my surprise it wasn’t just a female overload) was refreshing and unexpected. Running through a ‘best of’ set-list in which every song appeared to be a crowd favourite, my personal highlight was their performance of ‘Three Cheers For Five Years’. Singer Derek Sanders had the girls swooning, and any falter in his voice was overpowered by the audience’s loud participation. As the final band of my Soundwave day, Mayday Parade didn’t quite live up to the standards set by some of the other stellar acts I had witnessed over the day, however I think it would have taken something exceptional to pull me out of my exhausted state. Overall, Soundwave 2011 was everything you could ask for of a music festival. Being able to see a huge number of your favourite bands all in the same day is not something that has been possible for many Australians or New Zealanders in the past, and for giving us that experience once a year... dearest Soundwave, I truly am grateful. |
