It’s a surreal experience knowing something is going to be the last time.
A year after the announcement of Alexisonfire’s split came the news of their final global trot, a 10th Anniversary Farewell Tour.
Reaching across four continents in just twenty-four days, the tour stopped by Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, offering local fans one last opportunity to see them live.
“I think it’s important to get proper closure on 10 years and share it with our fans. After this we can leave Alexis in our rear view and remember it fondly, not as something we had to escape,” George Pettit, the band’s vocalist commented after the tour’s announcement.
Accordingly a lot of expectation had built around the show.
Appropriately the night opened with Melbourne hardcore act House vs Hurricane, who consider Alexisonfire to be one of their musical influences, so they were a well paired compliment as the opener.
Also as an indication of the field of influence Alexis have spawned as a result of their career and a look to the future of the genre.
House vs Hurricane have a steady following in their own right and have been active on the Australian hardcore scene for the past six-year they have been playing together as a band.
There was a lot of anticipation buzzing across the entirely sold out venue by the time the headliners took the stage. In a nice turn of events the hype hadn’t tainted their performance in the slightest.
Their set on the night reflected a retrospective of their four-album career, a solid two hours of acknowledging songs from each of their records, with hits from Crisis and Old Crows/Young Cardinals featuring most heavily.
It was a good balance between their old and new without sounding like a generic ‘Best Of’ set.
At the beginning of the show, Petitt again made their intentions clear, “I don’t want you people feeling sad,” he said. “This is a fucking celebration.”
“Young Cardinals” opened the night, before “Boiled Frogs” really showcased the talents of the entire band by making use of the fantastic contrast of the three distinctive voices available to them.
Dallas Green’s clear and strong singing contrasted against Pettit’s screamed vocals, again set against the deeper sounds of Wade MacNeil.
“Rough Hands” was another highlight of the evening, with lights flashing across the venue as fans took the opportunity to get their phones our and record the song’s slower beginning in the momentary absence of a mosh or a circle pit.
“Old Crows” really got the floor moving and Petitt ripped through the first of the many shirts that would find themselves destroyed at his hands during the rest of the night. The biggest circle pit of the evening took off at the beginning of “We Are the Sound”, a fantastic anthem.
The encore was again a good mix between their albums, starting with “The Northerner” and working backwards to “This Could Be Anywhere In The World”, arguably their biggest hit, and reaching even further back to their Watch Out days to finish with “Happiness By the Kilowatt.”
The band returned to the stage for a final bow, and despite really wanting to be able to see them again, it was a real privilege to catch them one last time.
Check out the photo gallery of Alexisonfire’s farewell show at Hordern Pavilion here.
