Review: HED PE - Live in Brisbane

9 Feb

Fuck What You Heard, It's A Unified Front.

Sunday 9th February 2024

Written by: Tom Wilson and Rashid AlKamraikhi
Photos by: Rashid AlKamraikhi

There was a fresh face on stage with HAMMERS in fill-in drummer Fabio, drafted due to their usual tub thumper, Ryan, haven given himself the night off to get stoned and watch the show (according to vocalist Fish). Speaking of all things stone, lead guitarist, Stoney busted out some amazing backing vocals, especially on their latest single, ‘Fucked Around And Found Out’. Not to be outdone, Fish jumped into the crowd with his glowing green condenser microphone in hand, and we all headbanged around him in unison.

Pictured: *Leigh ‘Fish’ Dowling* - HAMMERS

There was a massive contrast in sound between the traditional rock show amplification of HAMMERS, to the digital, futuristic world of HEARTLINE's crushing metalcore. Their vocalist's mesh shirt/pink trackie-daks combo might have been questionable, but the impressive range of his vocals certainly were not. We all love a band that engages with the crowd but the constant rallying cries to the pit verged on annoying. That said it, worked for them, and movement continually escalated in the pit throughout their set. It wasn’t all rave-metal-futurism for HEARTLINE though, as they busted out a storming PRIMER 55 cover to show that they had some old-school soul. The pit erupted, and they left victorious.

HED PE opened with the ominously titled ‘No Way Out’ which immediately got the crowd all riled up. They continued pumping the aggression with ‘Rat Race’ and ‘Peer Pressure’ before Jared asked if we wanted to hear some ‘old school HED PE’ and kicked into ‘Killing Time’. The ‘Broke’ banger got the crowd involved by starting the first of many sing-alongs for the night. They continued with ‘Blackout’ and prominent cuts from several of their other albums before dedicating ‘Raise Hell’ to Jareds neighbor back home, and pissing him off with loud music.

Pictured : *Nathan ‘Honolulu’ Javier* - HED P.E.

‘Bartender’ was another HED PE classic that had the crowd singing along to every word as it worked its way into an extended jam, before bringing us all back into the fold with it’s giant hook and reprise at the end. It was also around this point of the night that Jared transformed into Jahred and bought in the reggae grooves, including a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Get Up, Stand Up’. The good vibes heightened when they paused to take a shot of Jäegermeister to toast to their guitarist, Honolulu’s birthday, with huge smiles crossing their faces when they realised we had all begun singing Happy Birthday for him.

Pictured : *Kurt ‘Kid Bass’ Blankenship* - HED P.E.

Jared aka Jahred aka MCUD had The Triffid held in the palms of his sweaty hands for the entirety of what was the last night of the Australian leg of their tour. “I have no other skills” he had told us earlier in the night, and, that like some rock and roll terminator, this is all he knows how to do. Fortunately for all of us, he's damn good at it!