Opening tonight’s Soundwave ‘Sidewave’ was Emarosa, hailing from Lexington, Kentucky. I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about this band; while I didn’t come out a converted fan, I do admit to being impressed. The sextet had an aggressive stage performance that bought their rock songs to life, as well as one hell a fervent frontman, Jonny Craig, boasting an amazing voice and an ego to match. It was a little disappointing to see their enthusiasm become lost in the crowd, with only the immediate dozen or so on the floor making the effort to jump around. One over-zealous punter decided to yell out some taunts, and Craig flippantly told them to man up and come up to the stage, and unsurprisingly his request wasn’t taken up by the smart-arse hiding in the crowd.

Next up was the act I was particularly excited for, the hardcore band all the way from Brighton, England; Architects (pictured below). Being the heaviest band on the line-up, they were somewhat under-appreciated by the crowd and though they seemed to attract a lot of watchers, the audience just stared at the hectic outburst on stage. They threw their wall of sound across the audience with as much bravado as they could, with frontman Sam Carter trying his hardest to incite the riot they truly warrant, but no dice. Carter wore a look of frustration on his face for the course of their short set. One thing is for sure though; they make a good amount of racket for five skinny, white English boys! I’m not sure where all their anger comes from, but their performance was bold and exciting. The only thing they lacked was an appreciative crowd.

Coming out clad in black and with some terrible eye-liner work was Escape the Fate, and their darkened pop punk songs. Playing up to the ‘bad boy’ stereotype a little too much, they were lots of fun, though they teetered close to crossing that novelty, Mötley Crüe cover-band line. In between tracks, the lead vocalist talked to the crowd, showing off his ego as he went and complaining of a head ache and how the audience didn’t get into the two opening acts. One thing that didn’t sit completely well with me was his request to find a lady willing to show Jonny Craig their ‘tits’ as he so politely said. Terrible ‘rock star’ clichés aside, they were enjoyable when not taken as seriously as they appear to take themselves. A particular standout though was there sex-infused pop song ‘Situations’, taking me right back to being 16 again, as well as a new track ‘Bad Blood’; sounding a little heavier than the older tracks. Aside from the whole 5 of them trying to emulate either Tommy Lee or Slash, you couldn’t really fault them as musicians. It was a theatrical performance and they played their boisterous pop songs with an audacity not many bands as young as them can get away with.

SETLISTS

EMAROSA:
Set it off like a Napalm
Clocks,
*new*,
Heads or Tails,
*new*,
Past should stay Dead.
 
ARCHITECTS:
In Elegance
We're All Alone
Numbers Count for Nothing
Dethroned
Borrowed Time
Early Grave
Hollow Crown
Follow the Water
 
ESCAPE THE FATE:
The Flood
There's No Sympathy for the Dead
You are so Beautiful
Something
Ashley
Reverse this Curse
Not Good Enough for the Truth in Cliché
Bad Blood
10 Miles Wide
Situations
This War Is Ours