Parkway Drive w/ Confession, Word Up! and Lockdown
Over the past 7 years, Parkway Drive has established themselves as the forerunners in the Australian hardcore scene. Not only have their efforts been rewarded in Australia by landing spots at Soundwave, Big Day Out and Taste of Chaos music festivals alongside bands such as Underoath, Senses Fail, Deftones and Saosin, but they've also supported Hatebreed, Chimaira and Shadows Fall....among many others. Due to this impressive track record, Parkway Drive has been internationally recognized and rewarded by playing on the US Warped Tour in 2007 and also at 2009's Download Festival.
Friday 29th January 2010 saw Parkway Drive pass through Sutherland on the Sick Summer Tour. Opening the show was hometown band Lockdown who came on stage to huge applause. Lockdown's 8 song set was more of an extended soundcheck which also gave the crowd time to warm up and warm up they did. As soon as Lockdown took to the stage the pit opened and you could tell this was going to be a great show!
Up next was another band from Byron Bay, the birthplace 
of Parkway Drive. Word Up! have been greatly received on the Sick Summer Tour with impressive performances all up the East Coast, and they didn't disappoint at the Sutherland Entertainment Center. Word Up! played a very strong 10 songs in a fast 20 minute set. Lead by a very energetic vocalist in Oli Ayo, who spent a majority of the set in the crowd handing out mic grabs to a lucky few in the front row, these guys are definitely a band to keep an eye on. Word Up! will be along for the entirety of the Sick Summer Tour and will also be joining forces with 50 Lions and The Dead Ends on the 18th of February for a single show in Byron Bay.
It was clear that a vast majority of the crowd weren't just there for Parkway Drive, the eruption from the sold out crowd which roared through the auditorium as the lights dimmed was evidence enough that Melbourne based band Confession were by no means there to look pretty. While only playing 9 songs in a 30 minute set, Confession blew the roof off the venue with their heavy riffs, powerful vocals and a drummer who's feet really shouldn't have been able to move as fast as they did. Confession's bassist provided the only clean backing vocals of night and did so with a calmness about him which is rarely evident at most hardcore concerts. Both of Confession's guitarists were brilliant and interacted flawlessly together while swapping heavy melodies between them. Confession ensured that the crowd was not only sweaty and tired by the time Parkway hit the stage, but add a little blood in there as well and the scene was set for the headliners to take over.
9:55pm and the lights once again dimmed, the background music faded and the crowd again 
trembled with anticipation. Parkway Drive opened with the ever-explosive 'Boneyards'. Boneyards previewed on Triple J on August 15th 2007 and has been a concert staple for every show since. With a catalogue of ear splitting classics, Parkway Drive's 15 song set only got better as the night went on. The backbone of the setlist was the same as previous shows, with tracks such as Boneyards, the massively popular sing along Carrion, Smoke Em If You Got Em, Gimme a D, Dead Mans Chest, Blackout, Idols and Anchors, Mutiny and Pandora.
As the lights faded and the 5 boys from Byron left the stage, there was only one thing everyone on the floor wanted....an encore. And with the crunching Romance is Dead not having shown its head yet, we knew what was in store for us. And nobody was disappointed with the 2 song encore which included the inevitable afore mentioned Romance Is Dead, during which security were forced to fight both the crowd and the band as the stage was invaded by a few eager fans looking for their 3 seconds of fame. Parkway ended the show with a bang, and a disappearing bassist who insisted on joining the mosh pit, only to return to the stage a minute later.
It is without doubt that Parkway Drive are Australia's leading hardcore band and with an ever growing fanbase joining the faithful legions of current fans around the country, it didn't come as a surprise when vocalist Winston McCall announced that this will be the last Australian tour from these guys for a while as they will be leaving the country to record a new album in the US as well as touring Europe and the UK through April and May before returning to the US for the start of the Warped Tour in August. Its quite clear that this band won't stop until they conquer all corners of the globe, and 2010 is proving to be yet another step towards this dream.
