Australian metalcore masters, Parkway Drive deliver powerhouse performance for rabid Louisville fans with Stick to your Guns and Bad Omens.
The last time Louisville fans had the opportunity to see Parkway Drive live was at the 2016 Louder Than Life Festival, so when the band announced their US spring tour dates with a stop in Louisville, tickets became a hot commodity. Parkway Drive is touring in support of their sixth studio album, Reverence released on May 4th featuring the blazing single from the album “Wishing Wells”.
The packed house was definitely charged up before Parkway Drive took the stage as they were all singing the house music as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” blared overhead. It was a fun moment and a definite sign that everyone was ready for the show.
With the entire stage dark, the opening power chords of “Wishing Wells” completely filled the room as the guys took their places on stage. In one quick moment, the lights came up and Parkway Drive rocketed into their first song of the evening and we were off on a great night of music.
Without hesitation Winston McCall (vocals) and bandmates Jeff Ling (guitar), Luke Kilpatrick (guitar), Ben Gordon (drums) and Jia O’Connor (bass) rolled right into “Carrion” and their overpowering hit from from the Ire album “Vice Grip” sending the crowd into a moshing and crowd-surfing frenzy.
It was hard to believe how hard, fast and loud the show already was but Parkway Drive was just getting warmed up as they blew the roof off the venue ripping through “Dedicated”, the latest single from the Reverence album “Prey”, “Boneyards”, “The Void”, and “Absolute Power” in rapid succession. The endless stream of crowd surfers kept coming over the barrier gunning for a chance to fist bump or shake hands with Winston which he gladly did for everyone he could reach.
With just a few songs remaining in their main set and the room literally pulsing with the power and energy oozing from the stage Parkway Drive dropped into “Idols and Anchors” and “Karma” ending with Winston sitting on his riser with a huge smile on his face announcing, “You guys are fucking mental – Thanks for all of the energy.” Parkway Drive close out their main set with the anthem-like “Wild Eyes”, drawing a huge cheer from the crowd capping off a great main set.
With the crowd chanting “Parkway Drive” and “one more song”, the guys came back to the stage for not one but two encore songs starting off with a huge, overpowering performance of “Crushed” which did exactly that! Winston was center stage one last time for the night, sheepishly asking “Can you handle one more? Whatever energy you might have been saving, now is the time to let loose. No holding back” as a monstrous performance of the bass-heavy “Bottom Feeder” had the entire room jumping and thrashing – putting a giant exclamation mark on a completely memorable performance.
Los Angeles based metallers Stick To Your Guns provided the main support for the evening, delivering a powerful, over the top performance of original songs during their 30-minute set. There was no lack of energy on stage as frontman Barnett was an absolute madman, racing from side to side while tearing through their set. Stick To Your Guns is Jesse Barnett – vocals, Chris Rawson and Josh James on guitar, bassist Andrew Rose and George “Schmitty” Schmitz behind the drums.
Opening the show tonite was Los Angeles based alternative rockers, Bad Omens. Touring in support of their self-titled full-length debut for Sumerian Records, Bad Omens deliverd a raging set that was full of energy including their hit “The Worst In Me” getting the evening off to a great start. Bad Omens is Noah Sebastian-Vocals, guitarists Nicholas Ruffilo and Joakim Karlsson, bassists Vincent Riquier and drummer Nick Folio.
