Reviewed on Tuesday February 24
No-one’s saying the only reason Emily’s Army are playing Soundwave is because the drummer’s dad, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, headlined last year… but we are thinking it. It’s harder to argue their inclusion on grounds of musical capabilities – it’s essentially a cycle of watered-down Buzzcocks riffs set to a sub-5 Seconds Of Summer aesthetic. The phrase ‘bubblegum pop’ was coined on account of its correlation of music being a fleeting moment of flavour. Emily’s Army are more Snapchat pop – you look at it once, laugh to yourself and then never think of it again.
Twin Atlantic are used to the high life in their native land, topping massive festivals and selling out national tours. They’re building from the ground up here, which means two things. The first is that their arena-sized pandering – the “make some noise”, the arm waving, et al. – is largely unwarranted. The second is that their bloated recent material has the air taken out of it in such a small environment, falling significantly flat. If anything, their performance was a humbling experience – you might be a big deal elsewhere, but in Australia you’re as good as your last hit.
A downgrade of venue was certainly needed following Fall Out Boy’s poorly attended Entertainment Centre date on their previous tour. An oversold Roundhouse, however, wasn’t ideal. Still, fans dutifully played the cards they were dealt – besides, it’s always interesting to see a bigger band take their huge show and scale it down to a club setting.
Fall Out Boy thrive in this environment. Even the poppier, over-processed tracks from their post-comeback records have substantial bite to them, particularly ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ and bombastic set opener ‘The Phoenix’. They still kick it old-school, too – ‘Sixteen Candles’ and ‘I Slept with Someone In Fall Out Boy’ both hit as hard as they did back in the day, as did the welcome return of ‘Grand Theft Autumn’. Patrick Stump, formerly the introvert and reluctant frontman, now arguably prowls about the stage even more than perennial preener Pete Wentz. There’s more confidence and energy within Camp FOB than ever before.
