Metalcore giants Parkway Drive explode at Wembley Showcase

The current Parkway Drive tour has been garnering huge praise over the past weeks and I was excited to see what the hype was about. The last time I saw the band play was at Alexandra Palace nearly three years ago to the day and their show was spectacular then. Coming along for the ride were fellow Australian countrymen Amity Affliction and Thy Art is Murder.

 

The stage setup teased what was to come with an unorthodox layout with a square island having been placed in front but separate of the main stage.

First up were Australian post-hardcore band Amity Affliction. The four piece, hailing from Queensland, took to the stage and from the off started to get the audience involved. During the first track “Pittsburgh” the band called for the crowd to clap along, and this was the start of what would become extremely energetic crowd participation through the course of the evening. After the first song came to a close Joel Birch addresses the early comers to the show with “How the fuck are we doing out there tonight” before launching into second track “Like Love”.  Throughout the set, the band made use of the powerful lighting rig at their disposal with flashing monochrome colours starting with red. With this being a Parkway Drive gig there was always going to be circle pits involved but Amity Affliction were clearly keen to set the mood and called for the first pit of the night and later called for the crowd to get “off your feet”. Throughout the interactions the attendees obliged providing energy at the start of the night clearly warming the performance on display. The bands’ contrasting vocal stylings being key to drawing people in. Overall a great start to the event.

 

Second to the stage were Sydney based Deathcore band Thy Art is Murder. Like their predecessors on the stage the group made effective use of stage lighting introducing additional vertical light bards around the stage to add a more dramatic effect. The PA system played Vengaboys song the Vengabus as an entrance them, which had the crowd singing from the start. Even a year ago I would have thought this a weird choice, but the Vengaboys had been hugely popular at Download festival earlier in the year.  The band that are clearly proud of their Deathcore routes continued to build the atmosphere through crowd surfers, mosh pits and getting the crowd to jump. The double pedal work from drummer Jesse Beahler’s was so powerful that it was shaking the back of the seats. As the set was heading to it’s climax singer Tyler Miller calls for the audience “give it everything you’ve got” before jumping off some staging and clicking his heels in midair. The band received rapturous applause as the stage light turned on and then band exited to the left.

 

And then came the main event. Having seen the band previously I know they show. The first time I saw the band they had a rotating drum cage at Download, and since then I have seen them have a procession to enter the stage at Wacken and full-on pyro’s at Ally Pally. To say I was early anticipating this set was an understatement.

 

The video screens on the side of the stage lit up and started to play a montage of the band doing extreme sports, rehearsing recording and touring. As the video drew to a close the crowd cheers and the band emerged from a side door at the back of the standing area and processed through the crowd to the square staging at the front of the main stage while the crowd chanted the bands name.

 

The drum kit then emerged from within the square stage and all 5 members joined the stage as Jeff Ling starts the distinctive intro to “Carrion” before Winston McCall’s crushing vocals and the rest of the band join in. The square stage was small but the band owned it moving around giving those at the front of the audience an unparallel look at all members of the band. The 5 piece then moved into fan favourite “Prey” bathed in a spotlight and again maneuvering around the space not much bigger than a pub stage. Despite the lack of stage lighting and props the band’s pure musical mastery had the crowd enthralled. Then it happened. The curtain covering the main stage dropped revealing an industrial longing set incorporating the bands famous drum cage. A bridge walkway descended, and the band scattered to fill the newly revealed stage the perform “Glitch”.

 

As the lyric “Let me the Fuck Out” rang out the pyros blasted out across the stage. I thought these pyros were impressive by little did I know of what was yet to come. The energy from the crowd was palpable and the pits, crowd surface and shear level of movement continued to build through tracks “Sacred” and “Vice Grip” with Winston commenting “Thank you, so much energy, that’s one of the biggest that songs ever had”.

 

The evening then started to take a turn with Winston issuing a disclaimer “This is going to be heavy”. The group then play “Boneyards” and are joined on stage by Joe and Andy From Amity Affliction and Thy Art is Murder who emerged from the raising platform.

 

At the end of the song Winston speaks to the crows saying that all this was never meant to happen. He reminisces about how they first played to 10-15 people in the UK. He is clearly proud of the full Australian line up before stating “Let’s keep this shit rolling”.

 

In the middle of the song, the bridge starts lifting with Jeff on it for his solo and sparks start emanating from the bottom of the bridge to a huge from the crowd.

Massive cheer

The stage theatrics take a different turn as the stage is plunged into darkness as the backing music starts and washes at the back start to flash. People in cloaks emerge from the platform on square section and start dancing for cemetery bloom.

 

During Wishing wells a waterfall appears above Winston and rains down on him from ceiling of the venue. What was to follow can only be described as carnage. The band pieced together a 10-minute medley of their heaviest riffs from their early days and had the whole crowd moshing. Winston refused to miss out and joined in the pits under spotlight. He attempts to crowd surf back to the stage before being dropped by the people underneath him before recovering and finishing his surf back to the stage.

 

For those fan’s that are familiar with the band’s live performances, there is often a section where they are joined by backing string instruments. In true Parkway Drive fashion these musicians descended on the bridge for Chronos.

 

Following the high energy mayhem, the band elected to go more emotion in their rendition of Darker Still as all the audience took out their flashlights and lit up Wembley accompanied by the acoustic guitar on stage.

 

Next up was Bottom Feeder before the band proceeded to what I believe is the most epic performance of a song I have ever seen. I knew that the pyro show for Crushed would be a wonder to behold from the band’s prior performances but not even that prepared me for what I was about to see. Talking to fellow journalists the pyro display could take on the mighty Rammstein. A hooded figure ascended above the drum cage and a fire torch was dropped that lit the drum cage and the floor of the stage. The cage started to rotate and diagonal jets of flame shot out from the industrial from of the set by the pinnacle was when Winton was lifted into the air on the bridge and flames burst out from the bottom.  What a spectacle.

 

The band closed the set with Wild Eyes finishing how they started on the square stage.

 

Parkway Drive have cemented themselves in my eyes as a festival headliner with stage theatrics to rival the best ever seen. I left the venue wanting more and cant wait to see them again.