Words – Clare
Photos – Mitch
Tuesday night we followed the coastline down to the Pier Bandroom in Frankston for the epic Killswitch Engage sideshow while they’re here hitting every major Australian arena with Iron Maiden on The Future Past Tour. Joining them was the newly returned Melbourne metalcore band Feed Her to the Sharks who recently reformed playing their first show in 8 years at Stay Gold. We don’t usually find ourselves in Frankston but after a decent drive, here we were, entering the UFO shaped band room that had all the nostalgic and dirty charm of a 90’s Amusement park Gravitron machine.
To my surprise, the venue filled quickly and to capacity before the support act even began but when Feed Her to the Sharks entered the smoke-filled stage they received a hearty applause which continued as they immediately launched into Heart of Stone. This dynamic 5 piece dominated the stage and got the mosh pit jumping with their next track Burn the Traitor. ‘It’s been a while but we’re here now, and you’re here now, so let’s make some memories’ dedicating the track Memory of You to the crowd. A circle pit erupted for Extinction and the next track, dedicated to Killswitch, got the Frankston crowd chanting ‘FUCK MELBOURNE, FUCK MELBOURNE’ from the fourth track on their album Savage Seas released in 2013. A wall of death capped off Buried Alive and the band finished strong with Let Go.
Deafening cheers boomed through the venue as Killswitch Engage graced the stage and without delay kicked it right off with My Curse as the packed house sang along in unison. After continuing with Rise Inside, This Fire and Reckoning, Killswitch vocalist Jesse Leach addressed the Frankston fans as ‘stabby mutha fuckers’ referring to themselves as ‘bogans’ and exclaimed that when it came to big arena shows that he’d actually rather be ‘here right now’ quipping ‘I would take the Iron Maiden paycheck but take this energy right here’ and he wasn’t wrong. The rest of the night was a sheer onslaught of anthem after anthem performed with infectious energy from every member of the band that was happily returned with unwavering ardour from the patrons. The crowd surfing, jumping and sing-alongs never ceased.
Also from their 2006 album As Daylight Dies, they played the tracks The Arms of Sorrow and This Is Absolution while from their most recent album Atonement, they performed The Signal Fire, Unleashed and Crownless King which spurred a political statement from Jessie against politicians that convinced us we have no control ‘We need to take the power back. Power to the fucking people!….. Also, drink beer, listen to metal and have fucking fun’. The band gave a shout-out to their guest support Feed Her to the Sharks after In Due Time and continued with A Bid Farewell and Beyond the Flames from the 2013 album release Disarm the Descent.
‘Hear me loud and clear. I fucking love coming to Australia’ shouted Jessie as he dedicated the next song Hate by Design to former vocalist Howard Jones ‘we love that mutha fucker’ which he performed with so much passion it left him with a huge smile plastered across his face which expressed such a pure unadulterated joy. Although fun was had by all it could be argued that Jessie had the most fun of all, continuously belting out the vocals atop the shoulders of fans in the mosh pit, ‘Nights like tonight remind me why we do this shit’.
Rose of Sharyn and the title track from 2004’s album The End of Heartache were supremely epic which set us up to end on an extremely high note with My Last Serenade from the definitive 2002 album Alive Or Just Breathing (with a little 2 step action from Jessie). But of course the night would not be truly complete without the universally beloved cover of Holy Diver which was respectfully dedicated to Iron Maiden and performed in honour of Dio’s memory. Memorable nights like these are created by phenomenal bands and equally phenomenal fans, so thanks to all you sick mutha fuckers.
Thanks to The Pierbandroom crew for having us and a special thanks to Marrick Media for arranging media access.
EVERYDAY METAL – SUPPORT LOCAL HEAVY METAL
