Live Review: Funeral For A Friend + Bayside + Dopamine

Friday September 14^th 2007 @ Billboards, Melbourne – 18+ 

With Funeral For A Friend (UK), Bayside (USA) and Dopamine (UK). 

Apathy seemed to be in the air as a tired and somewhat disinterested crowd made their way into Billboards. Sure, people were happy to be at a show on a Friday night and they were ready for a good time, but the usual levels of excitement just weren’t there. 

Welsh newcomers Dopamine got the evening off to great start. While they are something of an unknown entity here in Australia, the crowd responded really well to their energy and obvious enthusiasm. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve seen an opening band generate such a great reaction from a crowd all year.  

Although their music isn’t anything ground breaking, main-man Neil Starr has a great set of pipes on him. His almost husky vocals give Dopamine an edge (at least in the singing department) over many of their peers and his passionate delivery made him enjoyable to watch. I’m looking forward to picking up their record! 

Bayside have been long overdue for an Australian tour and the roar from the crowd when the New York foursome walked on stage confirmed just how many people had been  waiting for this moment. 

Playing a set mainly comprised of material from “The Walking Wounded”, Bayside had complete control of the crowd from the opening song right through until the final chords had rung out. To see an overage crowd actually moshing and dancing at a show is refreshing. Who knows, maybe people are starting to remember that music is actually fun!?  

After plenty of sing-a-longs and some onstage humour (Victory Records bands must really hate their label, they all seem to encourage downloading) Bayside were done. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait another 4 years for a return trip! 

Prior to “Tales Don’t Tell Themselves” (their most recent release) I wasn’t a fan of Funeral For A Friend. They had some good riffs and Matt (FFAF vocalist) can sing but the poor attempts at screaming and breakdowns were a musical turn off. However, armed with a new record which contains some of the biggest choruses of 2007 I was looking forward to seeing FFAF in the flesh.

Kicking things off with “Into Oblivion” was a welcome choice as it is one of the standout tracks of Tales… While the mix wasn’t amazing the songs still sounded huge. One thing which stood out from the get-go was Funeral’s lack of onstage energy. After Bayside’s performance something special was going to be needed to warrant their headline spot but FFAF were a bit flat tonight. 

They played all the right songs – fan favourites Rookie Of The Year and Juneau had a massive response from the crowd – and said all the right things to the crowd, but overall the set was seemed very plain. Matt mentioned a couple of time’s that he wasn’t feeling the best so maybe that had something to do with it but I think it’s safe to say the evening belonged to Bayside.