Review: Soundwave Brisbane 2013

I wasn't planning on writing about Soundwave 2013, but I was asked for a review. So, here it is!

Puscifer sidewave
My Soundwave experience started with the Puscifer sidewave on Friday night. Puscifer is one of Maynard James Keenan's 'other' bands (in addition to those somewhat popular acts Tool and A Perfect Circle). I don't want to give a blow-by-blow account of this show, except to say that if you ever have the opportunity to see Puscifer, GO. The entire band is incredible. Maynard casually wanders around the stage pouring glasses of wine for his band mates, and the short videos about fictional characters Major Douche, Billy D Berger, Hildy Berger and Peter Merkin are rather amusing. Mr C was kind enough to agree to line up outside the venue an hour early, so we managed to score a prime viewing position on the balcony. My only regret is not standing right at the front on the barrier, but some of Maynard's fans can be a little unpredictable and I didn't want to take the risk (we were, after all, passed over with metal detectors before entering the Tivoli).

Early to mid afternoon
On Saturday I met my sister and her husband for an early lunch before heading to the RNA for round two. We arrived at around 12.30, so we had time to check out the merchandise and watch about half of Anthrax on the main stage. I didn't up buying any merchandise, because there only seemed to be women's shirts for Blink 182, Metallica and Linkin Park. The small A Perfect Circle 'unisex' shirt was simply a small men's shirt. This annoyed me greatly. I like to support touring bands by purchasing merchandise, and removing that option for women just reinforces the notion that heavy music should be reserved to testosterone-fuelled guys.

We then made our way to the shade of the grandstand and stayed there for much of the afternoon (as it was HOT). I wanted to see Tomahawk, and Mike Patton didn't disappoint (and why would he?). After that, we saw  Bullet for My Valentine, Kyuss Lives and Stone Sour. I'm not a huge fan of any of these bands, but Kyuss were pretty impressive (even without the wonderful Josh Homme). I then left my companions to go off in search of food and a toilet without an epic line, before sitting in the outdoor concrete stands to watch Slayer (who were also impressive, albeit in daylight).

A Perfect Circle
The main reason I'd bought a ticket to Soundwave was to see A Perfect Circle (who were on after Slayer). I'd seen them back in 2003 or 2004 at the Convention Centre, and had walked away bitterly disappointed. Warning: if you see a Convention Centre show that is entirely general admission, the sound will be terrible, due to the reverberation from the seating that has been pulled up into the ceiling. In 2013, I was anything but disappointed. I managed to score a perfect view from just outside the D barrier at the front, and Maynard's voice was absolutely flawless (as was Billy's). The set list has copped a bit of criticism online ('they didn't play "Judith"', 'they played too many covers', 'they didn't play the best version of that song I like'), but I loved it. Anyone who's followed Maynard's career should know full well that you're never going to get a greatest hits set from him (and one of their releases was an album of mostly covers). I thought there were enough 'popular' songs played to appease everyone, and I get the impression that the complainers went along just so they could say they didn't like it. Maynard was also far more animated than I expected, joking after 'The outsider' that 'I'm angry about my mortgage'. (Presumably the subtext is that he's in a fortunate position and has no real cause for complaint; the same, I think, can be said of those of us who can afford $200 to go to a music festival.)

Garbage
After this, I made my way to the prearranged meeting spot to meet my companions and head over to see Garbage. I couldn't find them after ten minutes, and I didn't really feel like hanging around watching Linkin Park waiting. I sent a text message, headed over the the Garbage stage and hoped for the best. (Thankfully we found each other a short time later.) Just like for A Perfect Circle, we got a great spot outside the D barrier on the side of stage. Shirley Manson is still as captivating as she was almost twenty years ago. She was a huge inspiration in my teenage years, and during Garbage's set I realised that she still is. She's a strong, confident woman, and there aren't nearly enough of those fronting rock bands (or managing companies or whatever they choose to do with their lives). If little girls can take even a little inspiration from Shirley they'll probably be ok. Aside from the set finishing fifteen minutes early (I'm not sure if they started earlier than scheduled), I loved every second I spent with Garbage.

Metallica
My sister and I headed back over to the main stage to wait for her husband (who had disappeared to see another band). Most of the Linkin Park cleared off to see Blink 182, so we found a pretty good vantage point in front of the right-hand stage. I've never been a massive Metallica fan, but they were, as expected, very impressive. The sound was flawless, they had massive screens so everyone could see, and they had flames and explosions. We enjoyed about an hour and fifteen minutes of their set before we popped over to the other stage and see if the Offspring sounded any good. They didn't. So, my sister and I once again left her husband and went back to Metallica. Unfortunately, by this stage the Blink 182 crowd had migrated back to the main stage, and there wasn't enough room for everyone to fit back into the arena. We watched a for a bit longer from the top of the stairs, and the three of us left just before the encore to avoid the crowd crush on the way out.

Overall comments
I'll be honest. I went to Soundwave expecting the worst. Some of the comments I'd seen online from ticket holders were disgusting (a gross understatement), and the sense of entitlement regarding the timetable clashes was ridiculous. After fifteen years of going to music festivals, I accept that timetable clashes are part of the day. These days I usually choose one band over another so I can see a full set, but there's always the option of running between stages and seeing half of each of you're keen. The organisers are not 'ripping you off' by clashing big bands; they are ensuring the safety of the crowd by not having 70 000 people all packed into the one place. And, let's face it: too much choice is better than not enough.

Honestly, I didn't encounter many crowd problems at all. It only takes a few idiots to ruin it for everyone (as we've seen with the flare incident in Sydney), but most of the people I dealt with were polite and largely sober. I was a little terrified walking through the concrete tunnels back to the Metallica stage with the Blink 182 crowd, but everyone was calm and no-one pushed. I do think there probably were too many people in attendance (which may have made leaving the main arena at 10.00 a little bit dangerous), and the safety of these situations relies on the patience of everyone. I've seen a lot of online comments that 'Soundwave is the new Big Day Out'. Clearly the people making those comments haven't been to many Big Day Out festivals. (I have. Lots of them. And I retired five years ago.) Yes, there are tools at Soundwave, but there are tools in Queen Street Mall and McDonald's and the bus and the cinema and the local pool. I would say that 95 per cent of the people I encountered at Soundwave were respectful, and I was pleasantly surprised by this.

The food was pretty crap, but that's nothing new for music festivals. I ended up buying a $5 pie because I figured it would have been nuked hot enough to not contain any living organisms. Apparently the food options were better near the other stages, so perhaps I should have ventured further. We also had the option to bring in small amounts of food from home, so really there's no reason to complain about the food. I can't comment on drink queues, as I don't consume alcohol at gigs. From what I've heard, the wait wasn't too long.

There were plenty of shirt designs to choose from in the merchandise, but the sizing was dodgy (see earlier comment about 'unisex' shirts that were anything but). Girls like metal too!

Finally, toilets. I've been known to 'hold it in' for twelve hours at music festivals because the toilets are so horrible. However, festivals organised by AJ Maddah are different. Toilet queues are rarely more than a few minutes' long (I walked straight in), and there's always toilet paper. I did have to 'hover' due to pee on the seat, but that's no different to visiting the public toilets at Westfield Chermside.

The verdict
On entering Soundwave 2013, I expected that it might be my last. However, I can now say that's not the case. As long as the lineups are fabulous and the event details are so well organised, I'll continue to attend.

Bundaberg floods 2013

Many of you will be aware that I grew up in Bundaberg. While I wasn't born there, I spent my formative years there (between the ages of 8 and18). And, yes, when I turned 18 I moved to Brisbane — not so much because I hated the place, but to go in search of new opportunities. (As far as I'm aware, jobs for book editors and publishers are even rarer in regional centres than they are elsewhere.)

Now, in 2013, Bundaberg is suffering due to the biggest flood in its history, and the second major flood in as many years. There has been a lot of talk in the media about how this is 'nothing new' and that we should just accept the fact that Australia floods. In fact, these types of events are NOT commonplace. Prior to late 2010, Bundaberg had experienced nothing of the sort since the 1970s. Sure, we experienced the occasional cyclone when I was living there, but that's to be expected in a tropical climate. Some people lost their roof, and I remember my friend's trampoline ended up somewhere down the street. I'm not going to bang on about climate change (as I suspect most people who know me also know where I stand with that), except to say that for the people of Bundaberg, floods of this magnitude have never been 'normal' (not to mention tornado after tornado moving slowly down the coastline).

Some in the media have also been referring to Bundaberg as a 'town'. It is, in fact, a city, with around 75 000 residents (and around 100 000 if you count the entire area that now falls under Bundaberg Regional Council). Reports have estimated that as many as 7500 may now be either homeless or with serious damage to their homes. That's TEN PER CENT of the population. In addition, if you take into account the fact that many businesses will have to lay off staff or will simply choose not to reopen, it's a massive number of people affected. Bundaberg was never really been great for employment to begin with, so this disaster will only make matters worse.

The government has set up an appeal to help out the residents, but I suspect it will take many months for the funds to trickle down to where they're needed most. There are, however, local organisations that you can direct your money to now to assist:

• Meals on Wheels (these guys lost a lot, and need help to get back up and running — leave a note in Paypal where you want the funds sent)
• SES (send an email to let them know where you want the funds sent)
• RSPCA (currently there is no specific appeal, but they redirect funds where they're most needed).

If you're in the region and can make donations in person, I've been told by the lovely Wendy that Andy's Place run by the Uniting Church and the Salvation Army's Tom Quinn Centre could also use some help.

I've chosen not to include photos in this post, as I think there are enough of those floating around already.