The best laid plans of mice, men, and now apparently music reviewers often go awry. Although I had planned to catch Pennsylvanian rockers CKY and French metal act Gojira, traffic snarls and the sheer crowd size of Soundwave 2012 prevent me from doing so. Well, I end up catching about ten seconds of Gojira after a short sprint; I won’t lie, it was a pretty fantastic ten seconds.

Arriving at Billboards roughly 5 minutes after doors opened it amazed me to see a giant line stretching far around the block and even into the next alley. It seemed that everyone was keen to arrive early to catch Norwegian act Kvelertak.

Heath Carney captured the sodden Soundwave Festival at the RNA Showgrounds!

We return with the next batch of our favourite albums of 2011...

Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See

"Arctic Monkeys can do no wrong. Seriously. Even with a slightly more chilled out album than previous ones, it still rocks my socks." - Karina Carroll

With just two months before Soundwave 2012 kicks off, the killer sidewaves have been announced and they don't disappoint. Marilyn Manson, Mastadon, Lamb Of God, Machine Head, Lostprophets and Enter Shikari.

MARILYN MANSON with COAL CHAMBER, WEDNESDAY 13 and MOTIONLESS IN WHITE

FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY
BRISBANE, EATON HILL HOTEL – Licensed A/A
www.oztix.com.au 136 100

WEDNESDAY 29 FEBRUARY

Reaching an epic twenty weeks at the ARIA Album Chart pinnacle this week is Adele’s ground-breaking album 21, which joins Shania Twain’s 1999 record “Come On Over” as the fourth longest-running chart-topper in ARIA Chart history! Only Brothers In Arms from Dire Straits, Innocent Eyes from Delta Goodrem and Jack Farnham’s Whispering Jack have eclipsed this mammoth achievement since the ARIA Charts began in 1983.

Featuring a few of the cancelled Soundwave Revolution refugees and a slew of metal and rock bands (as well as one well-past-their-prime rap-rock band), the lineup for Soundwave 2012 has dropped and boy, it's a big one.

The summer heat was at full force as thousands of people arrived to the 100th Big Day Out.  

Kisschasy played their sweet pop songs to an energetic crowd with hits such as ‘Face Without a Name’ and ‘Generation Why’.