On the sunniest of Friday evenings, as most people are leaving work to get a drink in the sun or heading to the beach for the first swim of the season, a crowd in black t-shirts and denim jeans descend on The Drive next to Adelaide Oval.
Everyone's here (15 November) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Amity Affliction's landmark album, 'Let The Ocean Take Me'. It's one of the biggest bills of the year with Ice Nine Kills, We Came As Romans and Heavensgate warming up the audience."I know it's f...ing hot as sh.t but I need a little bit of energy from you," says Heavensgate frontman Nazareth Tharratt. Chugging riffs and heavy breakdowns, Heavensgate are doing everything right and sound amazing. Tremblings of a moshpit are forming as people are still pouring into the venue.
Heavensgate's intensity and relentlessness is contagious and by the end of the set, most of the crowd is at least head-banging along. As soon as it started their – too short – 20-minute set ended.
Heavensgate (at Brisbane concert 8 November, 2024) - image © Clea-marie Thorne
As the sun sets, We Came As Romans take the stage and slam straight into 'Darkbloom' and then 'Doublespeak' ignites the first proper moshpit of the evening. Songs from 2022 album 'Darkbloom' and 2017's 'Cold Like War' comprise most of the set.
Vocalist Dave Stephens urges everyone to put their phones down and to live more in the moment, easily segueing into 'Lost In The Moment'. It's great advice as everyone seems to be much more engaged in the songs that follow.
Dave mentions how it's great to finally be out of the studio, and that they'll have some new music soon. The set ends with 'Black Hole' and 'Daggers'. With the latter, the crowd screams back along with Dave singing "no where to run, no where to hide, there's no escaping the wrath in my eyes," before colliding in a wall of death.
We Came As Romans (at Brisbane concert 8 November, 2024) - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Five years ago Ice Nine Kills made their Australian debut performing at Good Things Festival. Since then, the band has exploded and gained a cult following. Ominous music and fog fills the arena. The lights go out and an eerie voice introduces the crowd to tonight's proceedings.
Ice Nine Kills take the stage and go straight into 'Rainy Day' – you'd be forgiven for thinking this is a co-headliner with the way this crowd is responding.
For those unfamiliar, Ice Nine Kill's combine theatre and heavy metal to pay homage to their favourite horror films. Cannibalism, chainsaw decapitations, a baby thrown across the stage like an American football, and a sun-shaped mascot wielding an axe are just some of the onstage theatrics that accompany songs mostly from their latest album, 'Welcome To Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2'.
The whole stage show is accompanied by bespoke video footage and voiceovers, which fills the gaps in-between songs and forms a consistent narrative tying everything together.
Highlights include an upbeat, ska-inspired cover of 'I'm Walking On Sunshine'. This includes an outro of ska anthem, 'Sell Out' a tip of the hat to Reel Big Fish, the collaborators on the studio version of this cover.
'Hip To Be Scared' – which pays homage to 'American Psycho' – sees vocalist Spencer Charnas come out in full Patrick Bateman attire and concludes with a reenactment of the famous 'Hey Paul' murder scene.
Ice Nine Kills (at Brisbane concert 8 November, 2024) - image © Clea-marie Thorne
'A Work Of Art' features an appearance from Art The Clown from the 'Terrifier' franchise – who is also the feature of the official and mind-blowing music video for the song that plays behind them.
Ice Nine Kills end with 'Welcome To Horrorwood' and leave everyone demanding more. They've once again proven why they're arguably the most entertaining live band of the last decade. From the audience's response, it's easy to see a headline tour is well overdue.
Even at their own show that's a tough set to follow, but that's what everyone's here for, to celebrate ten years of 'Let The Ocean Take Me' with The Amity Affliction.
Sure, knees are a bit weaker, babysitters are getting texts between songs, and there's probably not as much moshing compared to 2014, but this crowd is lapping it up and screaming every word back. That's the beauty of the full album performances, the crowd can learn the set list in advance, although it seems like most of the people here never stopped listening to this album.
The band have gone all out with fire cannons shooting into the sky, spark rain showering the stage and streamers firing into the bleachers. It's the anniversary celebration the band deserve
From the perfection of this live performance, you wouldn't guess there had been any turbulence in The Amity Affliction camp. Although bassist and vocalist Ahren Stringer missed a few shows on their North American tour – and will be taking annual leave from the band in 2025 – there's no evidence of ring rust.
It's The Amity Affliction at their best performing their most iconic album. Songs like 'Pittsburgh', 'Don't Lean On Me' and 'The Weigh Down' – that appear at the start of the album – see the biggest sing-alongs of the night happening at the beginning of the set.
The Amity Affliction (at Brisbane concert 8 November, 2024) - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Once the album is complete, the band returns to the stage to perform an encore of fan favourites from their discography including 'I See Dead People', 'Drag The Lake' and 'All My Friends Are Dead'. Before ending with a final encore of 'It's Hell Down Here' and 'Soak Me In Bleach'. It's an emotional and nostalgic performance as photographs from the band's history flash across the screen.
Tonight was an Amity Affliction fan's dream. If the band decided to celebrate this album again in another ten years I'm sure The Drive would be just as packed after the performance they delivered tonight.
