Arriving in the city
around 5pm, we decided to hit up a few bars to pregame before the big
night. We arrived just as RX Bandits were finishing up. I’ve
never really been a big fan, the only thing I knew about them is that
two of the members are part of the supergroup The Sound of Animals
Fighting and since they weren’t playing, it didn’t tickle my
fancy; instead I decided to keep drinking.  

Up next was Motion
City Soundtrack who I’d seen quite enough and decided to enjoy
them upstairs with a cold beer. There’s no denying how awesome Front
man Justin Pierre’s hair is, sporting that mad scientist look we all
love so much, he started the set with Disappear, and mainly spun tracks from their newest album My Dinosaur Life.
Although their set was short, it was quite enjoyable and I knew the
16 year old me would have loved it even more as they closed with
Everything Is Alright. 

Glassjaw
were the soundtrack band to my high school years and although they haven’t
released anything since 2002, I was extremely excited to finally see
them. From the first riffs of Everything You Ever Wanted To Know
About Silence travelled through the speakers I was taken down memory
lane and reminiscing about all the good times throughout high school (weird,  huh?). To be honest, I prayed that they would play Everything You
Ever Wanted To Know About Silence
from start to finish but that’s wishful thinking. They did however
play a new song called All Junkies Go
To Heaven which in all sincerity was boring as batshit. I wanted
so badly to like this show but I just couldn’t. Their sound was too
thin; only one guitarist plus the absence of rawness and vulnerability
in Daryl Palumbo’s voice - which made the band so great - was really disappointing.
Having waited years to see this band for only 25 minutes, it was a damn
shame and left hundreds of people frustrated. 

The crowd had built
up quite nicely for Sunny Day Real Estate, a band that influenced
perhaps 80% of this year's Soundwave line-up, and nearly every other
band in existence. I felt my life would be one step closer in being
fulfilled, and it was. They opened up with Seven
and literally blew my mind, and despite the decade long split, they haven’t
lost their signature sound. Continuing with In Circles
and Nine - a song which they haven’t played since ’93 - I was
just overwhelmed with happiness. All the way through their set I had
the biggest smile on my face and I felt happy for the first time in
a long time. Going home that night my jaw was severely sore, but fucking
worth it.  

I for one could not
have been happier with My Chemical Romance dropping out and being replaced
with Jimmy Eat World. The only reason Jimmy Eat World
played a sideshow was because of Sunny Day Real Estate. They specifically
requested to be put on the same bill otherwise they wouldn’t play,
and who could blame them? The floor was packed, Jimmy Eat World launched
into A Praise Chorus and thus began the mosh. Their set consisted
of a good balance from all their CD’s including a beautiful performance
of Goodbye Sky Harbour from their record Clarity. It was
crowd favourite Sweetness that was the highlight of the night
with the crowd singing ‘whoa oh oh oh oh oh’ along with Adkins.