 Tonight
is a cold one in Birmingham, as winter is setting
in and the nights are getting darker and the days
are getting shorter, but fear not, as tonight
we have Australian metalcore outfit; Parkway Drive
here and hopefully they’ll have brought
the warmth with them.
First up we have support from New York brawlers
Emmure who get pits opening up all around the
venue. They play tracks Solar Flare Homicide and
Protoman which gets frontman Frankie Palmeri going
as he strides back and forth across the stage,
as he rasps out his vocals as he gives the crowd
a rather haunting stare. I Thought You Met Telly
and Turned Me Into Casper tears the crowd a new
one just before a technical error cuts out the
venue’s lights. The band  still
continue the song with no lights at full volume,
at the end of the song they explain that it’s
not planned and ask the audience to light up the
stage with their mobile phone lights, which works
rather well and the band continues without batting
an eyelid. The band continues to perform Demons
With Ryu and Crossover Attack in an atmospheric
highlighted glow from the front row. With the
lighting eventually restored Dogs Get Put Down
and Children Of Cybertron continue to get the
crowd warmed up, before the band finish with When
Keeping It Real Goes Wrong which brings the hectic
set to a great end.
 The
venue is recovering from the support, and by now
is heaving full of people ready to rock, in all
states off dress, with Hawaiian shirts and half
naked people it’s clear this is a young
crowd and there security are having a few issues
keeping everyone safe before the band come on
stage, but eventually things get smoother, and
as they say there’s a clam before the storm
that is…
Parkway Drive, wonder onto the stage to be greeted
with huge cheers and screams. It’s clear
from the off that security are again going to
have their work cut out for themselves as tonnes
of bodies crowd surf to the front, even during
opening track Sparks, from their  latest
album Atlas. Singer Winston McCall smiles his
way through the entire set, like a cheshire cat
he seems completely in his element and his vocals
show this, with their perfect levels off chaos
and smooth rolled into one. They may be jetlagged
but this doesn’t come across as the band
sound amazing, with big hits from the drums, thrashing
ferocity from the guitars and rupturing bass lines,
this band encaptivates there audience from the
start. They play a great set with songs from all
4 albums including Dark Days from Atlas, Deliver
Me from Deep Blue, Boneyards from Horizons and
Romance Is Dead from Killing With A Smile. It’s
clear that even though this bands 4 albums cover
7 years and that most of this crowd would have
been too young to know them from the start, they
know all the words and scream along to every song
giving a great atmosphere.
 The
band aren’t really to chatty but at one
point, McCall asks the crowd weather they’d
like an old song, Gimme A D or a new song Swing,
the crowd chooses the newer song which is either
a nod of the cap to the new album being awesome,
or maybe the crowd don’t like the older
stuff all too much, either way the song tears
the crowd apart with pits breaking out everywhere
and the chaos covers the room, it’s a great
sight to see. Even McCall is surprised at how
much the fans love this song, as he clearly thought
the crowd where going to choose Gimme A D.
 Parkway
Drive end there set with Blue And The Grey which
leaves the crowd wanting more, as the band leaves
the stage, but fear not after a moment they come
back on and melt peoples faces off by playing
Home Is For The Heartless and Carrion. During
Carrion McCall shouts “No! That’s
how you’re gonna end it? That’s as
loud as you can be?” And starts the song
again making the crowd be louder than they have
been all night, and that is loud!
The night comes to an end and the crowd can be
happy in the fact Parkway Drive have come half
way across the world for this gig, and it was
worth it. They played their hearts out, they moved
about the stage in a frenzy with McCall spending
allot of time in the crowd than on stage. It was
crazy, raucous fun that the world of metalcore
brings, it might never sell out arenas but tonight
its got one step closer.
Emmure 3.5/5
Parkway Drive 4/5
Review By James Daly
Photos By Matt Higgs
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