Confirmed Act 3:The Get Up Kids

After what was 5 or so years of rather good success and the influence they put on other pop-punk and emo bands to the day – even such as superstars Fall Out Boy and pulled-out act of Soundwave 2010, My Chemical Romance, and their further stint with more meaningful and productive pop-punk group, The New Amsterdams, they will be sure to bring out a lot of ranging songs and the setlist will be hard to predict. Obviously, fans love their breakthrough record – Something To Write Home About, but of course the other records will be cover, seeing their 10 year absence has brought tears to many fans.

1.Holiday
2.I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel
3.The One You Want
4.Coming Clean
5.Overdue
6.Woodson
7.Your Petty Pretty Little Things
8.No Love
9.Off The Wagon
10.Valentine
11.Red Letter Day
12.Campfire Kansas
13.Holy Roman
14.Mass Pike
15.Action & Action
16.Walking On A Wire
17.Long Goodnight
18.Don't Hate Me
19.I'll Catch You
20.Ten Minutes

Preview to Soundwave Festival 2010 – Sydney

Well T-minus 8 days to Soundwave Festival 2010, the premier punk, rock, metal and emo showcase of the best acts from Australia and around the world. We've all seen the timetable and after months of speculation and changes I bring you the bands that I will be attending. Some that I wish I could attend and setlists of them, well at least hopeful setlists!

Soundwave Timetable

AFI - Crash Love

Eighteen years into their career, AFI have made their first rock album. No fancy genre terms, no elctronics or maudlin' 'emo' lyricism, just hard-hitting, blood-rushing, guitar heavy rock. Frontman, the Morrisey-aping Dave Havok, is a vocal force with less screaming and greater alto depthh. The instrumentation has mutated since 2006's Decemberunderground; compressed drums squeeze out of End Transmission, matched with guitarist Jade Puget's complex yet irresistible riffs. Unimpressive lyrics of "the broken radio was playing suicide" aside, it's near pop perfection, only exceeded by Too Shy To Scream, which has an intro frighteningly similar to Adam & The Ants' Goody Two Shoes, being a clapalong rhythmfest with chugging guitars. Veronica Sawyer is a 90s inspired love letter paired to music made for driving around town with a broken heart.

Lyrically Havok has embraced a greater outward outlook as there's less introspection and louder speak of the world at large. Medicate is slick, catchy and polished for a shiny pop rock gleam, skimming the surface of finding solace in numbness, whether it is literal substance abuse or otherwise. I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here is a comtemptuous dig at celebrity with "So lose your past/ I'm sure you'll find it's in the way all the time". Sacrilege touches on the death of religion in a dogmatic age, only to have its raging flow stiffed by the perfunctory balladeering of Darling, I Want To Destroy You.

Crash Love will surely cause a ruckus among the dedicated with cries of "SELL-OUT" or "Punk is Dead", but AFI have transitioned from punk to goth and now to rock seamlessly with appealing results.

8/10

The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About

So, this is a pretty good record I must say and after purchasing the 10th anniversary CD/DVD with a live performance of the entire album, this will be a good band to check out if you are attending Soundwave Festival 2010, pending the timetable annoucement (I know there's gonna be at least one clash because the lineup is so AMAZZZIINNG!!).

Opening with Holiday, it sets a punk-inspired alternative rock album with some easily identifiable pop-punk sounds. The vocals give their genre away, and some pop-punk rhythms help us rock out to the track. And gee... wouldn't we all like to be on a holiday right now?

Here, come out the alternative rock of TGUK with Action & Action with a pop-punk riff mixed with a synth and keyboards. This style follows with several tracks, Red Letter Day, the uptempo Ten Minutes and I'm a Loner Dottie, a Rebel...

Evidently, we see the influence that TGUK have on many modern bands, and following on from the gothic rock and metal scene in the 80s, they form the backbone of the second wave of Emo, as cited by pop-Emo group - Fall Out Boy.

But of course, any great album needs to have contrast and change, to make those singles and iconic songs on the record stand out. We are introduced to this lower tempo indie rock through Valentine and even more so with Out of Reach with its soothing acoustic guitar, which is very well recorded with the emphasised bass notes and slides.

The lyrics throughout the album, make it a very enjoyable and meaningful album, shown in Out of Reach - "Out of sight. Out of mind. Out of reach... Start over..." Even in the high tempo punk inspired Ten Minutes, "It's like I've fallen in love, while I just fall apart." lyrics have a strong role in the song.

Beautifully, the album's end starts with a cover of The Cure's Close To Me, which I would almost listen to instead of the original, except that they are missing one key factor - Robert Smith's vocals. Finally, Something To Write Home About ends with a maginificent outing track. It begins with its beautiful piano arpeggios and faint electric guitar. Lyrics clearly want to be heard, and the assurance given that I'll Catch You means that we'll always have Something To Write Home About.

7.5/10

Next, I'm feeling towards AFI's new record Crash Love.

Soundwave 2010 - Sydney

Nuff Said – One of the greatest lineups to come to Oz in my memory.

http://www.soundwavefestival.com/lineup