Review by Billy Geary
This time of year in Melbourne, there’s only one thing on anyone’s mind in terms of music – Soundwave. This week, Australia’s biggest travelling festival rolled into Melbourne, bringing with it a whole host of sidewaves before the big day on Friday. On Tuesday night at Billboard, it was English stalwarts Enter Shikari, bringing with them Letlive. and Your Demise.
I’m just going to start off by saying American hardcore quintet Letlive. are good. Really f###ing good. Having not seen much of them other than a few Youtube videos prior to the night, they absolutely blew away myself and everyone else in the room with their energy and conviction to their music. Vocalist Jason Butler is an absolute maniac, hurling himself into the crowd within 30 seconds of the start of their set and continuing in the same fashion throughout, all the while screaming and singing to perfection. If anything, the only negative of their set was the mix too often drowning out Butler’s vocals. However, this just gave the punters in the front row the chance to sing and scream along even louder. letlive’s set was an absolute master class in how hardcore punk should be done, combining emotion and energy with perfection.
Continue reading Enter Shikari, Letlive. @ Billboard The Venue, Melbourne – 28th February 2012 | Live Review
What is the collective noun for a group of fuzzed-out guitars? Is it a gaggle? Maybe a cacophony is more apt? Perhaps it could have been a murder, if it weren’t already taken by those pesky crows. I reckon it’s a joy of fuzz, as that’s certainly the feeling you get when confronted with a wail of tricked out pedal-laden guitars, as was the case at 
It’s fair to say that over the years Californian natives 
With 20 years under its belt and a major crisis in confidence, 
There’s a buzz in the air tonight – a full house and the Ball Park Music headlining debut album launch tour tends to give out a special vibe. And it’s been a long, well-worn track to get to this point: singles and free downloads leading to early Triple J recognition, signing to a supportive management company and releasing one of them most anticipated EPs of recent memory, seemingly tour after tour as the perpetual bridesmaids before finally knuckling down to carve out the first full-length offering.
The meteoric rise of Dead Letter Circus in the past 18 months is no secret. Having quickly moved from the small, intimate feel of the Espy to regularly selling out the substantially bigger HiFi Bar and touring the UK and America, its fair to say that DLC are doing all right. Back in Melbourne for yet another jaunt around Australia, this time for their “No Fracking Way” Tour, Brisbane alternative rock darlings Dead Letter Circus were at the top of their game on Wednesday night.
The Evelyn Hotel is one of the best smaller scaled venues in Melbourne, with many a band’s careers having kick started at the pub. Even band’s like Muse have played there before they found stardom. Therefore it was the perfect place for some of the country’s better young rock bands to show their wares to a decent sized crowd.
On Sunday night in Melbourne; Periphery, Tesseract and Twelve Foot Ninja claimed gig of the year. It’s that simple. Upon arriving 20 minutes before the doors opened, in order to get barrier spots, the line to get in was already stretching 75 metres down Swanston St, causing that idea to be promptly dismissed. To put it in perspective, the other shows on this tour were at venues with capacities of 400-500 people and only Sydney managed to sell out.