27 September 2024 – The Tivoli, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Richard Boltron
On their third trek to Australia in as many years, and off the back of their latest record, Self Hell, British metalcore band While She Sleeps made their triumphant return to Australia, with a sold out show at The Tivoli on Friday Night. We were there to catch the show, as well as take in such phenomenal bands supporting this massive tour, like Stick To Your Guns, Ocean Sleeper, and Boundaries.
Connecticut based metalcore act Boundaries kicked off the night’s insane run of music, with a set that really pushed more into a hardcore scene vibe. It’s no secret that the energy at a metalcore show pales to the frenetic energy you see at your traditional hardcore gig. But the energy for Boundaries felt like I was at a hardcore show. The set opened with ‘A Pale Light Lingers’, as lead singer Matt McDougal said, they had flown halfway around the world and they wanted movement. Movement is what they got, as everyone banged their heads to ‘Darkness Shared’, and ‘My Body Is a Cage’. McDougal quickly acknowledged this show as their debut Australian show, and dedicated ‘Is Survived By’ to everyone that knew who they were in the building.
Boundaries – Tivoli – photos by Richard Boltron
‘Realize and Rebuild’ got the crowd super crazy, as crowd surfing overload began. Props have to go out to the security at the show. There was some pretty gnarly shit that happened all night, and this was the most coordinated security pit I’ve seen in a very long time. ‘Turning Hate Into Rage’ was up next, which is a really sick song, before a small break was taken to have McDougal talk to the crowd again. After a shout out to Ocean Sleeper, who were up next, McDougal asked how many people in the room knew of the band. The room exploded, as the band seemed surprised Australia even knew who they were. More crowd surfing encouragement came, as McDougal counted out the final three songs, which were ‘Get Out’, ‘I’d Rather Not Say’, and set closer, ‘Easily Erased’. McDougal shouted out the final song as a dedication to Alpha Wolf, who weren’t even on the show. A solid setlist. A solid live performance. A perfect Australian welcome and debut. Can’t ask for anything more.
Ocean Sleeper was up next. The venue energy was already at around 9.5/10. Ocean Sleeper broke the dial. There were small audio issues during the opener, ‘You Kill the Good In Me’. After the issues were fixed though, the rest of the set was nothing but bangers. The performance of ‘Forever Sinking’ however, will definitely be the most memorable and talked about song of the night, as right on the breakdown, guitarist Ionei Heckenberg’s guitar went flying into the drum kit, which put a temporary hold on the show. After fixing the technical issues, the song restarted as the band laughed off the incident. Singer Karl Spiessl also mentioned he wanted to see the videos because he missed what happened, laughing off the entire thing.
Ocean Sleeper – Tivoli – photos by Richard Boltron
The rest of the set was insane. ‘Heaven’ was up next, which Spiessl mentioned seeing all the tattoos of the single art making the band happy. The band also introduced a new song, which I think is called ‘Maybe Death Is All I Need’, which will be dropping on their new EP on October 18th. The song is solid, and heavy, and has me amped for the EP release. Spiessl teased another heavy one, as ‘Your Love I’ll Never Need’ started. ‘Light In My Dark’ had the crowd moving hands through the air and bouncing along, before the coolest moment of the night happened, as during ‘King of Nothing’, Matt McDougal came back out to assist on vocals. Ocean Sleeper gave a final shout out to the bands on the bill, as the set closed out with ‘Never The One’.
California hardcore band Stick to Your Guns were out next, walking out to ‘Tequila’ by The Champs, which had the room laughing and going nuts. After a quick what’s up Brissy from lead singer Jesse Barnett, they launched immediately into ‘Nobody’, which had the crowd quickly moshing and sending crowd surfers over the barrier. More circle put encouragement came for the song ‘What Goes Around’, before Stick to Your Guns introduced a new song, called ‘Invisible Rain’. The set was light on crowdwork, and was just a slam fest for 50 minutes, as STYG moved through some of their biggest hits. ‘Such Pain’ was dedicated to While She Sleeps, for bringing them back to Australia for another go around.
Stick To Your Guns – Tivoli – photos by Richard Boltron
After ‘Married to the Noise’, Barnett talked about the song ‘The Suspend’, being dedicated to his mother, plus all the women of Australia. The song is a beautiful, heavy one, both in sound, and in message. Barnett got back to talking to the crowd about how they only come out normally once every three years. But being back for the second time in a year, because of WSS was so cool because of how much they love the country. Barnett introduced their newest song, ‘Severed Forever’, which was released the day of the show, off their upcoming record Keep Planting Flowers. The show closed out with a huge sing along for ‘Amber’, before ‘Against Them All’ put a full stop on a great set.
As the clock struck 10:05pm, the lights went down as the hype for the return of While She Sleeps started up. The band opened the set with ‘RAINBOWS’, with multi color lights to fit the mood, in what was a super beautiful visual. ‘Sleep Society’ was up next, and as lead singer Lawrence “Loz” Taylor was on the barrier singing with the crowd, he was high-fiving crowd surfers as they dumped into the photo pit. The band was only two songs in, and Loz seemed to already be having a ball of fun. Rhythm guitarist Mat Welsh encouraged jumping to ‘YOU ARE ALL YOU NEED’, before bass player Aaran McKenzie got the crowd hyped for ‘ANTISOCIAL’. ‘THE GUILTY PARTY’ and ‘SELF HELL’ were other songs that went off as part of this part of the show.
While She Sleeps – Tivoli – photos by Richard Boltron
Loz then spoke for a bit about his brains being scrambled from the long travel, but making it to Australia and getting on stage and seeing the chaos makes the arduous journey worth it. Loz asked for Brisbane to spin the room as they played a throwback track, ‘Brainwashed’, which we discovered after the song, WSS hadn’t played that in a number of years. Loz faked passing out on stage from exhaustion, which was all played for a bit. The band asked for phone lights so Brisbane could “Turn this place into a Parkway Drive show”. ‘Four Walls’ was up next, which is one of my favorite songs and always fun to see live. Loz gave a shout out to Boundaries and Ocean Sleeper, and spoke about how it was cool to showcase different bands from different genres from different parts of the world, and that it was cool they could bring them all together.
As the guitar riff of ‘You Are We’ started, Loz got back on the barricade and asked the crowd to sing the opening lyric, as the song popped off. This is another favorite of mine, so hearing the entire venue sing along to the entire song made me very happy. ‘FAKERS PLAGUE’ and ‘ENLIGHTENMENT(?)’ played next which was sick. A lot of the set was from the SLEEP SOCIETY record, which is an album when it dropped I fully didn’t get into. But seeing a few of the songs from this record live, it’s making me go back to re-listen and appreciate just how good that record is.
While She Sleeps – Tivoli – photos by Richard Boltron
Loz spoke again how times are a bit tough and it’s cool that everyone in the room spent their cash to come see them, and that despite there being some incredible shows being put on, Brisbane took time out to spend a night with them. Very cool, beautiful, human moment that show just how awesomely humble this band is. Loz asked who went to the Parkway shows, which the entire venue screamed. Lead guitarist Sean Long did a small portion of ‘Wild Eyes’, and that is all the encouragement Brisbane needed to keep the singalong to that riff going. Even I got in on it, while the band were kinda like “oh no what have we done”.
Loz then introduced ‘Silence Speaks’, which drew a massive response from the crowd. Loz ended up crowd walking to the middle of the venue, and even threw the mic to someone on the balcony that finished the end of the song, which blew Loz away. Loz crowd surfed back to stage, and lost his in-ears during the surf back. After they got found, Loz did a shoey, and then belted into ‘TO THE FLOWERS’. Before closing the set out with ‘SYSTEMATIC’, Loz mentioned that it’s not lost on the band how much Australia loves them, and that they don’t take this shit for granted. And judging from the reception to this show, Australia loves them all the same.
