The Moments That Defined Soundwave 2014

4 March 2014 | 4:26 pm | Staff Writer

We wrap-up some of SW14's best moments

GWAR

Satirical thrash metallers Gwar provided one of the more widespread talked about moments of SW14, with their 'killing' of Prime Minister Tony Abbott stunt not going down well with everyone after their Brisbane and Sydney performances. Part of the band's sets included the 'decapitating' of an Abbott effigy, which gained the ire of Australians For Constitutional Monarchy, who called the act a “gross abuse of hospitality.”

Gwar's frontman Oderus Urungus didn't seem fazed by the reaction, offering this defence:

"We were just playing our show in Brisbane and this guy with giant ears wanders out onstage and tells us to go back to Antarctica, so naturally I removed his head from his shoulders."

Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

Needless to say, Gwar continued 'decapitating' throughout the rest of the tour and probably won themselves a stack of new fans in the process...

'Headless' Abbott in Melbourne. Pic by Jay Hynes.

GREEN DAY

Chances are anyone enjoying a quiet beer at Sydney pub the Captain Cook Hotel on Thursday 20 February around 10.30pm won't be forgetting that night in a hurry. Soundwave headliners and veteran rock band Green Day showed up and put on an impromptu set that featured a bunch of their classics.

Fans in and around the area could hardly believe their luck, including The Music's Lachlan Marks, who said, “At 10.40pm I was in my underpants working on spreadsheets. By 11pm I'd picked up two friends, parked illegally and run back to the pub.”

Photographer for The Music, Cole Bennetts also found himself in the midst of the action and managed to get some great snaps - despite the fog created from all the sweat.

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong at the Captain Cook. Pic by Cole Bennetts.

The band also impressed at each of their three-hour long headlining festival sets. Mark Hebblewhite of The Music Sydney said, "The band sounded great, Billie Joe Armstrong didn't miss a note and nostalgia reigned supreme. People will be talking about this set for a long time to come."

ALICE IN CHAINS

One of the festival's biggest names this year proved exactly why they are still firing a couple of decades after they first formed. Alice In Chains' line-up might be a lot different to that of their original but they delivered stellar sets at each of the Soundwave legs by all reports.

The band an undeniable impression on The Music Melbourne team who were on ground during the event:

"Alice In Chains open with the grinding classic We Die Young and it quickly becomes apparent this is not a band of mere mortals but rather musical gods incapable of making mistakes or singing out of key."

Alice In Chains. Pic by Jay Hynes.

"Fronted by one of the greatest new voices in rock, William DuVall brilliantly fills the massive shoes of Layne Staley, his voice even sounding eerily similar at times."

GARETH WILLIAMS

It's not everyday a poet finds themselves on the bill for one of the biggest festivals in the country but this is the exact position Perth's the Heavy Metal Poet - real name Gareth Williams - found him in just days before SW14 kicked off in the WA capital.

Gareth Williams. Pic by Kathryn Sprigg.

After Swedish rockers Hardcore Superstar pulled out of the festival, Williams did what most wouldn't even dare to do - he tweeted AJ Maddah asking if he could perform on the bill.

“It was a snap decision; I was running on pure instinct, if that's the right word,” told theMusic.com.au of his ballsy tweet. Clearly it paid off though. Not long after, Williams had become the latest addition to the SW bill, with Maddah giving the father-of-two the chance to perform a dramatic reading of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1797-98 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to kick-off the event.

“I took a screenshot of the tweets and texted my girlfriend with the news that I'd been booked. It was, and still is, so surreal. I feel like I'm in the middle a rock'n'roll Salvador Dali painting,” Williams said of his gig.