With another year almost behind us I must reflect on one of the best highlights for 2014 when The Frankston Mechanics Hall was subject to a solid workout. September 18 saw what I’d consider one of the biggest shows to hit there this year. Brotality bought over American wonders, The Ghost Inside, The most mental British band I’ve witnessed, Bury Tomorrow, internationally celebrated Australians, I Killed The Prom Queen, In Hearts Wake and Hellions, all supported by the “backbone” of our local scene Ocean Grove. There was a room full of emotion, sweaty fans and a few cheeky rule breakers, which definitely made it a night to remember. But if you missed it, here’s the run-down of the spectacular that was The Rise Of Brotality.
The show kicked off with our local boys Ocean Grove who without fail has some insane stage presence. Opening with their track Backbone which still is one of my favourites, the performance was already incredibly energetic, moving into their second song Enigma, OG opened the mosh and managed to get a reasonable amount of the crowd animated. Being a fast up tempo song, Enigma definitely was getting the reaction it deserved; with a few mic grabs here and there it was almost like the crowd were doing guest vocals. Just another solid performance from these guys.
Making the most of the intimate venue Hellions were happily in amongst the crowd, which was clearly very exciting, they had a circle crew who were happy to join in on the lyrics helping them out. The intimacy that Hellions created was making the venue feel a lot less like strangers gathered for a show, but bringing together the idea of “The Scene” it felt like family, no one was scared and people were happy to mosh and sing, people screamed out lyrics regardless of their singing skill and I think that’s what really made me like Hellions performance because they were happy to get everyone involved.
I’ll admit, I didn’t really know much about Bury Tomorrow, this was their first time in Australia and I’m telling you now- they were not disappointed with it at all- they broke down peoples personal barriers and got a circle pit that was almost like a whirl pool, it just kept dragging more and more people into it which was great to see. The highlight of Bury Tomorrow’s performance was definitely the fact that they got so many people involved, if you haven’t already check them out, they’re insane live and have some incredible stage presence.
At the moment In Hearts Wake is huge! They are defiantly one of my favourites- my first show of this year was on their Earthwalker tour and I was keen to see if they still managed to receive the same crowd reaction, and I was not disappointed. I myself don’t usually get involved in screaming the lyrics but as soon as they got Divine going I was up there with everyone else screaming it out, it felt so good not singing alone in my bed room but being in amongst it, if you keep to yourself a lot at these shows, you’ve got to get involved. In Hearts Wake were a strong performance of the night they got through their message of environmentalism and re-enforced that feeling of community.
Pulling out the big guns The Ghost Inside hit the stage with an absolutely legendary performance; my favourite thing about their performance was the emotion that they put into it. During White Light there was definitely a heavy feeling in the room, mostly because of the story this song conveys. There was so many emotionally driven people in the room which was probably the reason behind the huge mosh which got so many people up and moving, something that I love seeing. The Ghost Inside definitely gave it their all and lived up to their name.
Closing up the show was I Killed The Prom Queen who despite a loss of crowd still got so many people to throw down and used the electricity that had already been built up for them to the best of their ability. Crowd involvement again was not a problem; people who were around me were singing the lyrics or mouthing along to them. The sense of community as strong with this one.
So there’s one of my many 2014 highlights and The Rise Of Brotality tour ladies and gentlemen. An explosive display of community, energy and crowd involvement which makes me proud to be part of this local scene, shout out to UNFD for hooking me up with this opportunity, check out the bands on their label and partner labels for some sick jams.
MILLI RANSOM