Pics & Review IVAN SOURIYAVONG

Arriving ten minutes before the doors opened a line of dedicated fans were already waiting. This line stretched from the bottom of the Factory Theatre stairs to the box office. From supporting acts over the last few years to now playing their biggest headlining show ever, this is a massive milestone for Polaris. Having previously seen the band crush their supporting role for In Hearts Wake last year at the Enmore Theatre, my expectations were quite high. Upon entering the venue, the first thing I noticed was the abnormal barrier setup to separate the over 18s area with the general ages. I feel like this wasted a lot of the standing space for the audience.

Lining up along the front barrier there were already dedicated fans eagerly waiting. Walking onto stage Darwin based Tapestry started off the soon to be rowdy night. Warming up the crowd, you could tell that the band were definitely enjoying themselves on stage. Vocalist Tom Devine-Harrison set the bar up high with his amazing crowd interaction, from letting enthusiastic fans mic grab, to performing in the midst of the crowd. Not to my surprise, the band crushed it with their exceptional musical talent, stage presence and crowd interaction. Definitely, check out Tapestry’s recent album Ghost Of Me (2018) because they have a bright future ahead of them.

Next up is Adelaide five piece Ambleside who with heavy DIY roots and punk hardcore elements filled up half of the front section of the room. Before smashing into ‘Forgive Me’ from the Shape Me EP (2016) vocalist Daniel Stevens commanded the crowd into a whirling circle pit. The heavy riff of the guitars, blast beats of the drums and screaming vocals energised the crowd even further. The audience happily and enthusiastically joined in circling the floor with many tripping over on the steps, however helping each other up. If I didn’t have my camera I would have definitely joined in on the chaos. ‘Wash Away’ the rowdiest song of the set and also the crowd favourite had much of the audience screaming along, mic grabbing and finger pointing along to “Bottle up the pain let it rain and wash away”. I would say that if you were a part of the audience and had never listened to Ambleside then you would have been converted to a fan instantly.

The venue is now nearly jammed packed with punters and now it’s time for The Plot in You to grace the stage. All is dark except for the dimly lit stage, there is a subtle and but ever growing drum beat. Vocalist Landon Tewers gracefully walks onto the stage wearing sunglasses and opens the set with the lyrics to ‘Rigged’ from the DISPOSE (2018) album. Soon after the rest of The Plot in You emerge from the darkness and begin hyping up the audience with their onstage energy. As the performance progresses it drops into a heavy beat and vocalist Landon Tewers demonstrates his phenomenal vocal range. Despite doing both the clean and harsh vocals, Landon somehow manages to excel in both which is absolutely mental.

The most memorable moment for me would definitely have to be during ‘Time Changes Everything’ from the Happiness in Self Destruction (2016) album when the lights were dimmed and Landon asks for phones and lighters to be raised up. The combination of the audience singing along warm heartedly word by word to “Cause I never felt so alive, No I never felt so alive”, the mood set by the lighters and the melodies of the song made it surreal. Taking things up a notch the band belted out ‘Fiction Religion’ from the Could You Watch Your Children Burn (2013) album, which would be the rowdiest and heavy song of their set. As you can predict the crowd went wild where push pits and moshing entailed. If I had to compare their live performances to recorded tracks, you wouldn’t be able to easily tell difference. Each member did an exceptional job performing on stage and involving the audience. Overall The Plot In You exceeded my expectations I will definitely be going to more of their upcoming shows.

Finally, it was time for the long-awaited Sydney based Polaris to take the stage, looking back at the crowd to no surprise the entire venue was filled to the brim with punters. Considering the entire Mortal Coil tour sold out this was to be expected. The stage lights were dimmed and the crowd cheered excitedly as the members of Polaris gradually emerged from behind the curtains. ‘Lucid’ was the first song to start off the rowdy set which in my opinion was an excellent choice. Especially with the drumming of Daniel Furnari in the introduction, which signalled to the already excited crowd that it was the start of the chaotically entertaining performance. As soon as vocalist Jamie Hails screams pierced through the speakers the punters go into a frenzy.

During ‘The Slow Decay’ surges of punters started crowd surfing which at first the security team had issues keeping up with, however, additional assistance arrived to catch the fellow punters. To give you an idea of how energetic the audience were, while taking photos in the photo pit I had a crowd surfer launch off the barrier and nearly land on stage crushing my camera.

As the recognisable guitar riff of ‘The Remedy’ is played by guitarist Rick Schneider this will be one of the rowdiest songs into the night. The audience finger point and scream alongside Jamie Hails incredible screaming vocals “Heavy hangs the air, heavy lies the beating heart” which I could have easily mistaken for the recorded track. While Jamie is performing it is noticeable that he is blown away by the reception the band is receiving and can’t help smiling. The addition of backing vocalist/bassist Jake Steinhauser vocals provided an excellent contrast to the vocals. Seamlessly shredding along to each song in extreme confidence and not to my surprise, Ryan Siew is hitting every note with precision.

Now I feel like the usual encore routine is pretty corny but it’s nice to hear the crowd chanting in unison for the band to play some more songs. ‘Regress’ being the crowd favourite of the night would end up being the rowdiest with Jamie standing on the barriers with the crowd in hand singing in unison.

Overall the show tonight has blown away my expectations and Polaris somehow went above and beyond what I had expected. The additional backlighting and on stage fans blowing into guitarists and bassists already swaying hair also added that extra touch to the performance. The time and energy they have dedicated to improving their art is very noticeable and they deserve all the success. If you somehow don’t have your tickets to one of their shows this tour, then you are really missing out!