Soundwave Sydney 2011 what to see....

So the festival that all lovers of metal and punk and hardcore wait for all year in Australia is upon us again! After last year's fiasco, where we were stuck in the car park for 3 hours trying to leave after a day that was in the high thirties with no free water in the back of beyond that is Eastern Creek in Western Sydney (EW) being the adopted North Shore girl that I am I refused point blank to even buy a ticket because I was not crossing the great divide back over to Penrith (or wherever Easter Creek actually is...far far away).

But great news!! Soundwave Sydney is now at Sydney Olympic Stadium so much more convenient, and it has a lay-out that everyone knows because it is the homeland of the Big Day Out festival woohoo double plus! Although, if they have $6 bottles of water like they did at No Sleep Til Sydney festival I may swear off festivals FOREVER. Big Threat. and only after I go to Blues Fest in Byron bay in April. (There are still tickets for the Tuesday to see...wait for it.. Bob Dylan, Tim Finn, Paul Kelly, Grace Jones....!!!)

Anyway, without anymore further ado, here is the cream of the crop in my opinion of the Sydney timetable/line up for Sunday's Soundwave festival... And yes, of course I've included my favourite songs from each band :)

First clash of the day:
2.20-3pm Millencolin on Stage 3                 OR                2.20-3pm Terror on Stage 6 

How do you decide between these two stellar bands? Well it's going to be hard. Millencolin, with their infectious punk show will be the best chance for a sing along all day, and what's not to love about Swedish punk? However, if you really can't decide, there would be the chance to see them play with Pennywise on Monday night at the Roundhouse at UNSW, which I am very very tempted to do! So i guess Terror with their massive massive hardcore sound will win out on the day, particularly because they are playing on a really small stage, so there is likely to be a decent circle pit started, which are hilarious to watch as long as you don't get a kick to the head in the process!!

3 - 3.55pm 
Go and stand in a line and buy some over priced mid-strength beer, (no more than 2 per person) and talk about how awesome Terror/millencolin was...

3.55- 4.25pm     Primus    Stage 2
Well. To be honest for me Primus is a filler. I know, I know, how could I admit that and post it on the internet...  But it will be fun, just for their mad bass playing, and to hear classic songs like 'Winona's big Brown beaver' .... ....

4.30pm- 5.20pm   SLASH!!!  Stage 1
Well as long as he plays Sweet Child o Mine I think we'll all die happy!
Apologies for the quality of this clip, Youtube has some shockers....

5.20-6pm The Amity Affliction  Stage 6
This is going to be HUGE.... They are an awesome Brissy band that have had major airplay on Triple J this year...Here's a link to their song Fruity Lexia... yup. they named their song after a carton of goon you drink when you are 16 at parties and split between 3 of your friends.... *shudder*....now that is hardcore...

 5.40-6.40pm  Slayer  Stage 4
Now the other big decision of the day will be whether to cut the viewing of Amity Affliction short so you can see the entire Slayer set, or only catch 40 minutes of Slayer. Again it's a tough choice... but my vote is on staying for the whole Amity Affliction set, because I have a feeling they will be as tight as Parkway Drive,and when it comes down to it... I'll choose hardcore over metal any day..... Although... SLAYER.... ah. they'll be back! And my favourite song for your hearing pleasure- South of Heaven of course!

6.10-6.55pm   One Day as a Lion   Stage 1
Yes. Dammit another freaking clash. Whoever organises these line-ups is some sort of joker. So after you've seen Slayer, you'll have to RUN across to the other side of Olymic Park to try and squeeze in the end of Zack de la Rocha's successor band to Rage Against the machine. I mean seriously. Who in their right mind would organise a festival timetable this poorly. Ar. As much as I would love to see this whole set, after I would have already cut short Slayer to see the whole Amity Affliction set, i can't justify cutting it even shorter to see Zack play.

6.55-7.55pm     Queens of the Stoneage    Stage 1
Obviously nothing to say here except that they are AWESOME!

8pm- 10pm     Iron Maiden   Stage 1
Oh Yes. Another freaking clash. GAR. Now a true metal fan would stay to see this whole set. And it would probably be on par with Megadeth's show at No Sleep Til Sydney apparently (although I also missed this due to conflicting band scheduling....!).  however. I will be leaving early (after 80 of the 120 minutes....) to go and see my highlight of the day.....

9.20-10pm   PENNYWISE!!!!!  Stage 6
Pennywise Pennywise Pennywise.
Made all the more better for the fact that ZOLI from Ignite is now the lead singer.
Holy Shit.  And if you are really lucky you will get to see them again on monday night in all their glory at the Roundhouse!!! woooohooo... :)

So there you have it. My picks for an awesome day of music. Although, in my experience at Festivals you spend the whole time waiting around for people and don't ever get to see the bands you want to see because you are waiting at the 'meeting place' or stuck in a queue somewhere or drunk or whatever. But one can HOPE that this is the way the day will pan out!!