Rise Against

Unable to go to the Foo Fighters concert at the beginning of the year, 2015 was off to a disappointing start for my partner and I when it came to seeing Rise Against. This only continued to worsen throughout the year as we headed Stateside for a month in July, where RA had a number of tour dates across the country and absolutely none of them lined up with our travel plans - we even had plans in Chicago which were FOUR DAYS after they had a hometown gig . Heartbreaking!

So when word dropped that they were doing their own headline show Down Under in December, the only option was to go! For the last 3 months I've been listening to them flat out in anticipation of Wednesday December 2. My partner had seen these guys once before at a festival, but this was to be the popping of my RA cherry and oh my, was it fantastic! The energy and the devotion from the band, atmosphere and the love from the crowd, it was such a stellar night!

The first half of the night took me back to the days of hitting local warehouse punk gigs in the suburbs before the lights and dazzle came in to full effect in the second half of the show. Opening with recent tracks, it was a trip through memory lane for long time fans who got a solid sampler of some of the best punk rock anthems of the last 15 years. The look of sheer awe on my partner's face as the final beats of Prayer of the Refugee rang out was a stand still moment in a room full of so much energy.

A unique and chilling rendition of Redgum's I Was Only 19 kicked off a truly incredible encore as Tim stood solo on the stage, a song choice capitalising on the values and genuine nature of both the band and the fans that filled the room. The fans chorused along to an Australian treasure and goosebumps continued to prickle across the room as Tim moved in to a tale of an old porch swing, before the room swayed and reflected on the words of Swing Life Away.

The rest of the band crashed back out the night was completed with high energy, fast beats, and loud screams of whoa-oh as Rise Against closed the night with Dancing For Rain and Saviour.

The overall atmosphere of the room summarised the band's performance spectacularly, the room having been alive with the promise and delivery of an incredible show by the boys from Chicago.

My only criticism - and no fault of the boys - is that of Margaret Court. With the demise of many of Melbourne's incredible live music venues, more and more shows have taken place in arenas, stadiums, halls, and now Margaret Court. Not the first time in recent months, I have found the sound quality to be disappointing, the riffs muffled, and vocals drowned out. I'm still unsure whether I just got 'used' to the quality, of it there was some improvement through the evening, but there is definitely a lot of room for improvement from the venue itself in regard to supporting bands deliver memorable shows.

Read more

Report as inappropriate