Live review: A Day To Remember, The Used, You Me At Six

29 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney
Tuesday February 28

There’s a reason why last night’s show was the only sold out Sidewave on the festival tour. Take three alternative-rock bands, all in vastly different stages of their career, and you instantly pool three age demographics in different stages of sweat-drowning.

Although Soundwave-purchased A Day To Remember shirts were the most common choice at Sydney’s UNSW Roundhouse, the sing-alongs with Surrey band You Me At Six almost drowned out 21-year-old frontman Josh Franceschi. Pausing for every ‘bitch’ and ‘shit’ wasn’t the only reminder it was an all-ages event. One sweet young man stopped to text his mum after the heart-wrenching Jaws On The Floor.

The requested crowd surfers for Dilemma started a consistent spilling over the barrier; a constant which later clocked up over 200 bodies for security, according to one guard. Final tracks Bite My Tongue and Underdog sparked the most zest from both the crowd and the brogue-tongued quintet; guitarist Chris Miller flipped his hair like a muppet on speed and his fans mimicked.

After eleven years together, The Used (in matching gold and black Used singlets) weren’t expected to have the same eager relish as the openers. However, four songs in, when Bert McCracken asked his “most hardcore” fan onstage to sing and dance to new track I Come Alive, it was clear their stage presence wasn’t lost with the singer’s drug use. After a kiss on his fan’s lips McCracken’s zealot was placed sidestage while drummer Dan Whitesides threw his first round of sticks into the crowd.

“I know it sounds crazy, but everyone shut their eyes and sit down if you dare,” said McCracken before Lies For The Liars. His vocals waned on this track but guitarists Jeph Howard and Quinn Allman had him covered.

Circle pit and wall of death requests were answered with anarchy as more than one crowd member fought their way out bloodied and smiling. “We don't care how cool you are, we want everyone to feel like they can just be themselves and enjoy fucking rock ‘n’ roll music,” McCracken shouted.

Bringing attention to XYZ Network’s Marketing Director, McCracken prefaced the interlude of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit with “Ben fucking Facey knows this song,” before final track Box Full.

Last time A Day To Remember were in the country frontman Jeremy McKinnon crawled across the crowd inside a giant zorb ball; we may have missed out on his hamster skills this time but after beach balls, toilet-papering, smoke towers and confetti, the crowd had more than forgiven them.

Introducing tracks like Sticks and Bricks as "Chicks with Dicks", McKinnon’s showman skills were awarded with multiple circle pits and shoulder-riding flashers. The band aren’t just a fun, fair-weather act though; one leg amputee seen moshing – with the band’s 2^nd Sucks lyrics ‘the only one in the world I depend on is me’ stretched across his shirt – only ratified the fact their core values are being heard.

Before Better Of This Way the band asked their fans to surf atop crowd surfers, “If there's one thing I know about Australians it's that you know how to fucking surf!”

 

ADTR satiated both genders for final tracks Faith In Me and You Should Have Killed Me When You Had The Chance – the latter generated the most raucous pit of the night. The crowd’s vigour stayed for the two-strong encore as All I Want and The Plot To Bomb The Panhandle rounded off the night, surely leaving each band with the collective thought: “we’ll be back soon.”