Words – @baxtar_k
Photos – @djsedick
What a night! Sunday night brought such an amazing celebration for Hed(pe)’s 25th anniversary of their album Broke to Melbourne as part of their ‘Still Broke Tour’ of Australia and New Zealand.
This was my first time going to Max Watts, and my god, was it amazing. The lights! The Sounds! Such a spectacular venue, and I was so glad to experience it for the first time with such amazing bands playing.
Starting the night were Verona Lights, a local band with international stage presence.
With more people trickling in by the second, singer Brendan Davine made it his goal to get everyone warmed up and ready for Nonpoint and (hed)PE.
Opening the show with Samsara from the Minos album, making for a strong starting presence as Davine began jumping around the stage and weaving around his bandmates, all while talking to the audience and seeming to have a blast on stage.
With a huge set mostly pulling songs from their outstanding Adrestia album, as well as banging out their new single Machina. They definitely succeeded in getting me amped up for the rest of the night.
Crashing onto the stage next was Nonpoint. Playing a setlist pulled from multiple albums, mainly To The Pain, Statement and X (All albums that have now been added to my playlist). Seeing these guys live showed how much love and passion they have for their music, as they were obviously having a great time, and after almost 3 decades onstage, it still felt fresh and vibrant.
By this time, the crowd had doubled in size. And they brought the energy! With the whole band jumping around the stage, headbanging with dreads flying everywhere, they really brought chaos and earthquakes to Max Watts.
Throughout their set, they made sure they were engaging with the audience, getting them clapping, raising their fists in the air and chanting along with them! Their energy and the crazy lighting really pumped the crowd up for (hed)PE.
At last (hed)PE takes the stage
Creeping on with Jesus of Nazareth, the crowd erupted, building up the anticipation for the rest of the set. With flashing lights, the mosh pit began to thrash, hands were in the air, and Jared Gomes’ big movements on stage brought even more energy to what Verona Lights and Nonpoint had been amping up already.
While making their way through their landmark album, Jared got the crowd chanting and singing along with them for the whole night, even jamming out on his melodica for The Meadow while the crowd took over the role of singing. Towards the end of the night, they brought out a cake to celebrate guitarist Nathan Javiers’ birthday. The crowd sang, but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough cake to go around.
Finally closing out the show with one of their most popular songs, ‘Bartender’ and sneaking in the fan favourite track ‘Renegade’ from their album ‘New World Orphans’, you could see how much fun the crowd was having singing along to their classic hits and thrashing around.
As the crowds funnelled up the stairs and out of the building, everyone was ecstatic, talking about how amazing the night was and further cementing how much music brings people together.
Massive thank you to Verona Lights, Nonpoint and (hed)PE for such an amazing show and a big thanks to October Presents and the team at Max Watts for having us along.
You legends all rock.
