13 August 2022 – Eatons Hill Hotel Outdoors – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
As the sun rose on August 14th, 2022, so did the heavy chance of rain for the first ever date for outdoor music festival Monolith. But the rain didn’t dampen what was expected to be an insane line up of some of the best progressive rock and metal ever produced on Australian shores. From headliner heavyweights Karnivool and Cog, to instrumental acts Plini and sleepmakeswaves, to newer acts like Yomi Ship and Reliqa, and wild card act Ocean Grove, this was a day every rocker and metal head in Brisbane wouldn’t soon forget.
First out for the day were instrumental art rockers Yomi Ship. These were one of the few bands on the line up I wasn’t too familiar with. But the set was packed with beautiful progressive lite shoegazey tunes that you couldn’t help but bop your head to. Adding in the fact it was raining, it felt like what I imagine being in one of those lo-fi videos on Youtube would be like, in real life. Even the members of Yomi Ship themselves looked transported within the music, and most of their instrumentation looked and sounded so effortless, while also being technically impressive. Definitely a wonderful band to open proceedings for the day.
Next up were the self proclaimed Alt-Proggers Reliqa. Again, this is a band I wasn’t super familiar with, but I had heard the name because they were initially announced for the Uncaged Festival back in April, but were unfortunately dropped from the line up. While I don’t know much about them personally, they were a band I’d heard a bit of talk about going into this festival, which is impressive, considering who else was alongside them on the bill. At about the halfway point in the set, the venue really started to pack out and get more busy, which Reliqa then upped the intensity of the live show. They even delivered the back half of the set with all new material, some of which had never been heard before, including tracks scheduled to release on their upcoming EP. All in all, a very enjoyable set.
Act three onto the Monolith stage, were probably one of my most anticipated bands, sleepmakeswaves. And it clearly must have been something the heavens wanted too, because between sets, the clouds parted, and the sun hit the lawn area of Eatons Hill, waiting for SMW to hit the stage. Now, I’m big into the instrumental alt-metal/prog scene. I’ve seen quite a few bands like them live. But at the same time, I feel like I’ve not seen any band like them live. Their energy was absolutely infectious. Before I’d even realized what had happened, their 40 minutes were over. Which is something, sometimes, I find incredibly hard to believe when it comes to live bands. Sometimes you find yourself checking the time to see how long a band has left on their set. Not once did I do that with these guys. The crowd was also SUPER hot for SMW. They closed out their set with a quick acknowledgement of country, before they blasted into finale epic ‘Pyramids’. sleepmakeswaves are an amazing band. And somehow, they were even better live.
Hitting the halfway point of the day (which definitely did not feel like the halfway point of the day) is arguably one of Australia’s best guitar players around, Plini. Plini barely spoke, and just riffed non stop for 40 minutes, only stopping at the halfway point of the set to introduce the “band of dickheads” that are his touring band, and to tell us he was going to annoy us with more technical goodness for another 20 minutes. Words cannot describe just how good this dude is. He makes playing guitar look like a true art form. And with how absolutely breathtaking the songs are, you’d be surprised at the level of complexity Plini plays at, while making it look simple. Another live act I would highly recommend seeing live if you get a chance.
Now, when the initial line up for Monolith came out, Ocean Grove felt like the stand out wild card band on the tour. With the alt/prog vibe of the rest of the bands, Ocean Grove are more of a heavier, nu-metally band that did not feel like they fit the bill. However, they were EXACTLY the palate cleanser the festival needed. The moment these guys walked out onto the stage, the crowd energy felt like it hit a gigantic reset button, and that the previous almost 4 hours of music hadn’t happened, and the energy went through the roof. The set was heavy with songs from their critically acclaimed 2020 release, Flip Phone Fantasy, which dropped literally right before Covid shut the world down. This was their sixth show in over 2 years, so a lot of these songs were fresh for the live crowds, and you could tell the crowd wanted these songs as well. We also got some songs from the newer album, Up in the Air Forever, but it was just the singles. Would have loved to hear a bit of variety in the set, as we got nothing from Rhapsody Tapes. But it didn’t matter what they played. Everyone was into it.
Minutes before 7pm, the intro track for legendary prog rockers Cog filled our ears to rapturous cheerings and applause. The set was full of classic Cog bangers. After opening the set up with ‘Bitter Pills’, we got awesome live renditions of ‘Anarchy OK’ and ‘What If’, both including extended jammy outros that just freaking ruled. Lead singer Flynn Gower jumped on the mic and started talking about how it’s been 17 years since they’d toured with Karnivool, and that they were so excited to be touring again with their friends, which brought a beautiful wholesome moment to the show, which was wonderful to see. For me, the rest of the set took a bit of a dip. We got one of their newer songs, called ‘The Middle’, and their famed cover for ‘Open Up’ by Leftfield. But until the closing song, the set felt like the first real lull of the day. Not sure if it was my energy levels going down because it had already been a long day, or I stopped vibing with Cog’s set, I honestly don’t know. But the crowd was definitely into it. ‘Bird of Feather’ closed out the show, which is probably one of my favourite Aussie rock songs ever. I could not help but sing along with Gower, and even imitate his big chest heavy vocals he’s known for. As Cog took their bow, the crowd was screaming for more.
As the clock struck 8:20pm, Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ BOOMED through the Eatons Hill outdoor arena, with the crowd singing along as loud as possible. Then, seamlessly, the final notes of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ morphed into the Karnivool opening track, and the crowd went absolutely nuts. The Perth progressive gods walked out on stage and absolutely blew apart the venue with a ground shaking rendition of ‘Fear of the Sky’ to open the set. Then we just got hit after hit after hit. ‘Goliath’ and ‘Simple Boy’ encouraged huge sing alongs from the crowd, and we were even treated to an unreleased song called ‘Animation’. I’ve seen Karnivool about half a dozen times, but I’d never seen this track live, despite it being in the live rotation since at least 2016. It’s a very beautiful track that feels very far away from the Asymmetry sound, and more back to something like Sound Awake, which I loved.
A delayed version of the ‘Set Fire to the Hive’ intro started, as the crowd erupted into squeals of joy. I’ll tell you what though. This song live is so impressive. I thought initially when this song dropped over a decade ago that the part of the song where it sounds like bees buzzing was incredible, and every time I hear that part live, it still impresses me they can pull it off. After some quick hits from Asymmetry, including ‘The Refusal’ and ‘We Are’ (the best songs on my least favourite album), the audience (and myself especially) get treated to a run of incredible songs I could only dream of in a row. ‘Roquefort’ (my personal favourite Vool song) just hits different live. Ian Kennys vocals on this song live feel like warm butter in my ears, and I’m all here for it. Then the crowd exploded again for the final songs of the main set, ‘Themata’ and ‘New Day’.
After a long delay, Karnivool come out again and teased at least one more song, which was the newest song officially released, ‘All It Takes’. First time hearing this song live, and I tell you what, it’s quickly becoming a favourite. Live, it takes a whole new dimension. After the song finished, Vool weren’t leaving. And there were about 5 or so minutes left on the set time, so I figured something else could be coming. But I was not prepared to hear what was their final song, ‘Fade’. I’d never seen any song performed live off the 2001 EP before. That was the release that got me into this 20+ year obsession with Karnivool. And to have it be the final song of the night, completed me as a Vooligan.
