The Soundwave 2014 lineup has been announced. Following the controversies, the speculation, and the leaks, the first round of bands playing the annual hard and heavy music festival is finally here – right on the dot of 1.16pm as Soundwave Festival organisers promised.
The first of two major lineup announcements features 50 bands, including two of the three Soundwave 2014 headliners and as outspoken promoter AJ Maddah already promised, the metal stages are indeed “back with a vengeance next year!”, while there are also “some ska bands” along with an impressive list of punk, metal, ska, hardcore, and more on the Soundwave 2014 lineup.
Headlining the Soundwave 2014 Lineup are American punk veterans Green Day, alongside the mighty Avenged Sevenfold, along with Stone Temple Pilots – with Chester Bennington of Link Park, the classic Alice In Chains, and roping in Megadeth, the only member of metal’s ‘Big Four’ absent from Soundwave 2013.
Other highlights of the Soundwave 2014 lineup include androgynous alt-rockers Placebo, horror rocker Rob Zombie, dubstep nu-metallers KoRn, metal faves Trivium, Rocket From The Crypt, Californian rockers AFI, Georgian metal classicists Baroness, punk favourites Bowling For Soup, and more.
The appearance from bill-toppers Green Day marks the punks first Australian visit since releasing their trilogy of albums in 2012, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!, and the band will be exclusive to Soundwave with “2.5 hr sets” and no sideshows, according to Maddah; the last time the trio toured Australia with their arena spectacular was in December 2010.
Of course there are a few bands on the Soundwave 2014 lineup that patient festival-goers have already known about, with prior leaks of the Soundwave 2014 lineup including ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted’s new titular group, Newsted, British hardcore band Your Demise, Danish act Volbeat.
Maddah had already conceded that it was going to be difficult to top the 10th anniversary lineup of Soundwave 2013, which brought huge attendance numbers from its 70+ strong bill featuring Metallica, Blink 182, Garbage, Linkin Park, The Offspring, Slayer, Anthrax, and many more, but hopefully fans can find plenty of reasons to return to one of Australia’s biggest annual music festival amongst the bands of the Soundwave 2014 lineup.
If not, as Maddah tweeted ahead of today’s announcement, this is just the beginning of the Soundwave 2014 lineup announcements. “Alright folks, we’re getting ready for the 1st of our 2 announcements. This will have [50] bands, including 2 of our 3 headline artists,” Maddah posted on twitter before adding: “Second announcement as it stands now, will have 20 bands if I can manage not to book any more!”
Presumably including the handful of acts for the newly introduced Japanese metal stage, the inclusion of “seminal Aus ska band” The Porkers, and self-described “Psychedelic Reggae Ska Doom Metal Punk Rock From Hell” outfit The Bennies (for the Melbourne leg of the festival).
Tickets for Soundwave Festival 2014 go on sale Thursday 9th September at 9am throuh soundwavefestival.com and oztix.com.au and are expected to be “$160 + GST + BF. So around $180 to $185 I reckon,” according to Maddah.
Soundwave 2014 Lineup
Green Day
Avenged Sevenfold
Stone Temple Pilots (with Chester Bennington)
Megadeth
Alice In Chains
Rob Zombie
Megadeth
Placebo
AFI
KoRn
Alterbridge
Trivium
Down
DevilDriver
Newsted
Biffy Clyro
Rocket From The Crypt
Asking Alexandria
Clutch
Alkaline Trio
Baroness
Five Finger Death Punch
August Burns Red
Testament
Living Color
Letlive
Motionless In White
Gwar
Black Dahlia Murder
MushroomHead
Finch
Pulled Apart By Horses
Ill Nino
Nancy Vandal
Bowling For Soup
Trash Talk
Skindred
Volbeat
Amon Amarth
Terror
Whitechapel
TesseracT
The Story So Far
Hardcore Superstar
10 Years
Walking Papers
Our Last Night
Coliseum
Your Demise
Heaven’s Basement
Real Friends
+ more to be announced.
Soundwave 2014 Dates & Tickets
Tickets on sale Thrusday 9th September at 9am
via: soundwavefestival.com, oztix.com.au & other outlets
Saturday 22nd February – Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds
Sunday 23rd February – Sydney, Olympic Park
Friday 28th February – Melbourne, Flemington Racecourse
Saturday 1st March – Adelaide, Bonython Park
Monday 3rd March – Perth, Claremont Showgrounds
