Four years ago, The Amity Affliction released Youngbloods. It was a landmark sophomore effort for the band, and one that marked them as a dominant force in Australian heavy music. They played a headline tour at 800-cap venues around the country and put on some highly memorable performances.
Now, in 2014, Let The Ocean Take Me has taken the band to unprecedented heights. Every single aspect of their live show has been elevated; from production and polish to set-length, and of course, audience participation.
The sweaty club shows that saw Amity rise through the hardcore ranks are now relics of the past; as to see the band perform today requires sharing the moment with 5000 others. However, the energy that was so prevalent four years ago has done little to diminish with the increase in scope.
From the recent converts that have been lapping up Triple J’s airplay of ‘Born To Die’ and ‘Pittsburgh’, to the young diehards that were lining up in the early hours of the morning, everyone in the room was 100% keen to party with the Brisbane quintet at the biggest headline show of their career.
The Amity Affliction kindly brought with them four support acts, giving fans some serious value for money. Melbourne’s Deez Nuts were first to take the stage, and while their ambitious blend of hardcore and hip-hop looks a little weird on paper, it’s hard to deny it’s formidability in a live setting. By the time Architect’s frontman Sam Carter entered to join the band for ‘Band Of Brothers’, the steadily growing audience was well warmed up.
The venue was nearing capacity early as Long Island’s Stray From The Path brought minimal banter and maximum attitude with a punishing set of heavy hitters. Atlantan sextet Issues then made their Melbourne debut with a well-received tirade of pop-punk laced metalcore. However, the dual-fronted band were notably more impressive in their heavier moments, and there was a marked dip in punter enthusiasm with their softer stuff.
It was then time for Architects, who we last saw on our shores in 2012, supporting Amity on their Chasing Ghosts album tour. The UK outfit are monsters of the stage, and made it easy to forget that they weren’t in fact the night’s headliners.
While longtime fans lusted unresolvedly for a taste of breakthrough album Hollow Crown, the new thrashers from Lost Forever//Lost Together were absolutely pulverising in a live setting. ‘The Devil Is Near’ evoked a sizeable wall of death, while ‘Broken Cross’ was met with an anger fuelled scream-along.
People huddled closer to the stage during the minutes prior to the headliners’ set, but were thrown in all directions when moshpits erupted for the headliner’s song ‘Pittsburgh.’ Amity aren’t the sort of band that try to reinvent themselves with each new album, and they simply give their fans what they want. For this reason, everything off Let The Ocean Take Me was met with a huge upsurge from the audience. ‘Death’s Hand’ was particularly chaotic, as 5000 voices met frontman Joel Birch’s to scream “Hey Death, Get Fucked!”
A trio of Youngbloods songs followed ‘Death’s Hand’, and it was evident that there was still plenty of love for ‘Anchors’, ‘I Hate Hartley’ and the album’s title track. The boomy acoustics of Festival Hall did unfortunately diminish the sound quality on the night, which was particularly true in their heavier numbers, where individual elements of the music became a little muddied.
However, Birch’s screams and Ahren Stringer’s soaring cleans cut through the wall of sound consistently, especially on big melodic numbers like ‘R.I.P. Bon.’ Radio friendly thrasher ‘The Weigh Down’ was lapped up eagerly by fans, with an immense circle pit firing up in the middle of the room. ‘Never Alone’ came with a slight dip in energy, but a breather was well needed before the mega-anthemic ‘Open Letter’ saw out the pre-encore set with a mammoth sing-along.
The band returned and backed their efforts on Let The Ocean Take Me to close a colossal night of heavy music. The keyboard-laden intro to pop-mosher ‘Don’t Lean On Me’ was met with rowdy excitement and provided a real test for Festival Hall’s floorboards. As usual, the band left on a highly positive note, and a chilling rendition of ‘Give It All’ proved an excellent closer.
The Amity Affliction have come a long way in their ten years of existence, effectively doubling in size with each studio album. Their sold-out show at Festival Hall is a testament to the band’s music and undying effort to put Australian hardcore on the map. This show was their biggest to date, and despite a few sound-related imperfections, this show was also their most radiant, unrelenting, and exciting yet.
Setlist:
Pittsburgh
Greens Avenue
Lost & Fading
Chasing Ghosts
Death’s Hand
Anchors
I Hate Hartley
Youngbloods
R.I.P. Bon
The Weigh Down
FML
Never Alone
Open Letter
Encore:
Don’t Lean On Me
Give It All
Check out the full gallery from the show here.
