There is something about a metal show that just brings out that intense excitement in a crowd that is hard to come by in any other genre. The energy on Friday night was palpable. Some of the most intense crowd surfing took place during the opener’s set!
It was a stacked lineup of 4 bands – Windwaker (a band I was not familiar with until that day) opened the show with gusto despite a pretty sparse crowd at the beginning – their 30-minute set got the die-hards moving, and I can say that I immediately went and downloaded all their songs on Spotify. A Metalcore band out of Australia, the quintet is comprised of drummer Chris Lilic, DJ Connor Robins, Bassist Indey Salvestro, Guitarist Jesse Crofts, and Singer Liam Guinane.
Next up we had Thornhill – the second of three Australian metal offerings on this ticket. Of the 5 or so people I spoke with outside the show between sets, the most likely answer to, “Who are you here to see?” was actually Thornhill. So, you can understand that when I say that the energy of this show picked up early and intensely once Thornhill hit the stage. I have been lucky enough to see this band a few times in the past, so I knew what to expect of their almost swan-core style. Thornhill is made up of Jacob Charlton on Vocals, Ethan McCann on Guitar, Ben Maida on Drums, and Nick Sjorgren on Bass. From my vantage point of the photo pit or the back of the venue, they held the attention of the crowd, and the people pouring out between sets were soaked in sweat already from their time in the mosh pit.
Invent Animate. I have no words. My apologies to Northlane in advance, but IA stole my heart that night. They were another band I was not particularly familiar with before this evening. I think I had a few songs littered into my playlists, so far as I knew the name, but I was not prepared for this band to rock my world on stage. One of the most animated stage presences – immediately – I was utterly drawn to Marcus’ energy. It did not take much convincing to get the crowd truly rolling. They’d been well warmed up by Windwaker and Thornhill but Invent Animate took the concept of crowd warming to a whole new level. I have very rarely seen the amount of participation for an opening act as I saw for this group. There may have been more crowdsurfers during their set than during the main event! The only American band on the lineup, Invent Animate is Marcus Vik on Vocals, Keaton Goldwire on Lead Guitar, Caleb Sherraden on Bass, Trey Celaya on Guitar, and Brody Taylor Smith on Drums.
Northlane came on next and made it nearly impossible to not have the energy to keep going. Hands up, everyone. The main event was well worth the wait! The headliners, of Australia, are comprised of Jon Deiley (Lead Guitar), Josh Smith (Rhythm Guitar), Nic Pettersen (Drums), and Marcus Bridge (Vocals) – yes, another Marcus! Northlane is known for their experimentalism with their music and the metal genre in general, they have been classified as a number of different styles over the years, however, one thing is for certain, their changing style works well for them, and they put on a show which seamlessly pulled the differing sounds of their albums together – while still managing to put their newest release, “Mirror’s Edge”, in the spotlight.
Overall, this was a fabulous night of intense, sweaty, metal energy. Everyone left utterly spent, having lost 5 lbs of water weight, smiling, and looking forward to the next one!
See photos from the show below!
