Hi-Fi Bar, Sydney
Saturday July 13, 2013 :
Hardcore is an institution, and the line up of 2013 looked set to hold up this long running Sydney tradition. This year boasted the impressive international headliners, Youth of Today.
With a certain watered down, post-hardcore act playing a sold out show literally across the road, it was hard to not think of ourselves as the retiree club overlooking the local high school. That awkward thought was quickly forgotten and left outside when Higher Power blasted onto stage, for what I was told, was their first show. A superstar lineup of sorts (50 Lions, Her Nightmare, Shoot to Kill), Higher Power delivered a tight set of tough metallic hardcore.
Next up was Boneless, another newer band. Their lineup included a couple of familiar faces from older Sydney bands. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy showing Sydney they still had it, with a Uniform Choice cover thrown in for good measure.
The trend of “ex members of…” continued when Vigilante hit the stage, yet again proving that the hardcore scene is far from dead. Playing a mix of demo material and tracks from the new record, Quality of Life, with plenty of energy stirring some crowd slamming.
Next Melbourne’s Warbrain churned out a thundering set of slower Hip Hop influenced, tough as nails hardcore. Playing songs from their much-hyped recent release on Resist Records, these thugs had the more masculine crowd members fight dancing up a storm, ‘tough-guy hardcore’ done WELL!
Sydney’s Toe to Toe comfortably took to the stage, as they have done in this town for decades. A set of older material had every beer swilling hardcore veteran in the room shuffling to the front yelling every word. When will Toeys slow down? Never I hope.
Finally it was time for Youth of Today. The reformation of old bands does not always go down well. With some diehard fans worrying that their youthful image of these bands may be ruined. YOT took that notion and obliterated it, smashing through a list of classic song titles. Singer Ray Cappo is an enigmatic character keeping the positive ‘youth crew’ vibe alive, with inspirational words in between songs and flawless vocals. To top off the night a 7 Seconds cover had every old salt and young punk, arm in arm singing along. Hardcore lives people.
Reviewer: Daniel Coy
Photographer: Joel Attenborough
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0bpchIyMkI