Rise Against

Unable to go to the Foo Fighters concert at the beginning of the year, 2015 was off to a disappointing start for my partner and I when it came to seeing Rise Against. This only continued to worsen throughout the year as we headed Stateside for a month in July, where RA had a number of tour dates across the country and absolutely none of them lined up with our travel plans - we even had plans in Chicago which were FOUR DAYS after they had a hometown gig . Heartbreaking!

So when word dropped that they were doing their own headline show Down Under in December, the only option was to go! For the last 3 months I've been listening to them flat out in anticipation of Wednesday December 2. My partner had seen these guys once before at a festival, but this was to be the popping of my RA cherry and oh my, was it fantastic! The energy and the devotion from the band, atmosphere and the love from the crowd, it was such a stellar night!

The first half of the night took me back to the days of hitting local warehouse punk gigs in the suburbs before the lights and dazzle came in to full effect in the second half of the show. Opening with recent tracks, it was a trip through memory lane for long time fans who got a solid sampler of some of the best punk rock anthems of the last 15 years. The look of sheer awe on my partner's face as the final beats of Prayer of the Refugee rang out was a stand still moment in a room full of so much energy.

A unique and chilling rendition of Redgum's I Was Only 19 kicked off a truly incredible encore as Tim stood solo on the stage, a song choice capitalising on the values and genuine nature of both the band and the fans that filled the room. The fans chorused along to an Australian treasure and goosebumps continued to prickle across the room as Tim moved in to a tale of an old porch swing, before the room swayed and reflected on the words of Swing Life Away.

The rest of the band crashed back out the night was completed with high energy, fast beats, and loud screams of whoa-oh as Rise Against closed the night with Dancing For Rain and Saviour.

The overall atmosphere of the room summarised the band's performance spectacularly, the room having been alive with the promise and delivery of an incredible show by the boys from Chicago.

My only criticism - and no fault of the boys - is that of Margaret Court. With the demise of many of Melbourne's incredible live music venues, more and more shows have taken place in arenas, stadiums, halls, and now Margaret Court. Not the first time in recent months, I have found the sound quality to be disappointing, the riffs muffled, and vocals drowned out. I'm still unsure whether I just got 'used' to the quality, of it there was some improvement through the evening, but there is definitely a lot of room for improvement from the venue itself in regard to supporting bands deliver memorable shows.

I was lucky enough to see rock band Rise Against live at Rock am Ring in 2010. They were loud, heavy, and fun.

They instantly launched into the hardest song that they could find and did not let up for anything until the end of the set. They did not build up, they did not wait, they just played hard, jamming, fast, fun music for everyone that was there to rock. The crowd loved it and cheered and head banged to their intense, hard music as hard as they could. It was an excellent experience.

Everyone loved the music and the band's intense nature, refusing to let up or to slow down. They kept going and going, getting louder and harder until it was impossible to get any louder or any harder. The audience really loved them and so did I. They actively engaged with us and made it a fun, engaging show to be a part of.

They refused to be outdone and rocked as hard as humanly possible, while we the audience tried our best to keep up. It was an amazing show and I highly recommend any one that is interested see a Rise Against show as soon as they can.

They completely messed up the sound mix for the first third of the show. To try and compensate for this, the singer had to try and sing harder and just ended up stuffing up the songs instead.

Luckily once the acoustic set started about a third of the way into the concert they fixed the mix and the rest of the concert was awesome.

I hope next time they play this doesn't happen. To quote one of my friends, he described the first part of the concert as 'terrible' and I would have to agree.

I was hoping they'd sing A Gentlemen's Coup or From Heads Unworthy but it didn't sound like they did, though if they did play it in the first third of the concert, I'm not sure I would have noticed as it really was that terrible you couldn't hear anything.

As usual, Rise Against were a great live act with excellent stage presence. However, they were let down by horrible sound. I'm not sure whether the sound technician was deaf, or had ear plugs AND ear muffs on, because the sound was far too loud. Vocals were drowned out and distorted, let alone the guitar tracks being just full of noise. Even the acoustic songs they played were completely trashed by distortion. If I was Rise Against, I would be terribly angry at their promoter/sound technician.
Anyway, the show itself was great. Tim had a great command of the audience, and stirred a positive buzz. Its hard to say much else about the show when the sound was so screwed - considering the music is mainly what you go to a gig for!

Being the last show on the national tour, by the time the boys hit Brisbane Tim’s voice was shot. We initially thought it was the sound system but sadly no. Despite this he busted his arse belting out a great mix of new and old.
The drumming , usually the glue of the Band was off tempo and tired with the usual frenetic double beats replaced by a more subdued almost offbeat rhythm.
Lead guitar lacked usual punch and often found himself mid stage nowhere near a mic when it was his turn to vocally support Tim requiring a quick sprint into position. Stayed for the acoustic set which showcased Tim wonderfully then off to the Ship Inn to lament an off night for a usually brilliant act

Such a fun night!
Nearly got caught in the mosh pit TWICE, bearing in mind I'm 5'2 and don't have a death wish we moved the heck away from there but the whole atmosphere was so amusing and bubbly. Even Tim (lead singer) said that he likes how this crowd can even crowd surf to their slow acoustic songs :D

The band was fantastic! The opening acts were so much better than I anticipated. The fans were hilarious and kind, the really tall guys would let us in front, two guys who didn't even know eachother wound up climbing on eachother's backs - if you're looking for a concert with great fans, atmosphere and music, go to a Rise Against concert you will not be disappointed!

First gig I've ever walked out on during the headliner. Being used to metal shows, where all the metalheads look out for eachother & mosh in the centre but leave the rest alone, this is not like that. I was in the 3rd from front row, when the band came on the front 7 rows became a crunch of people all pushing the people at the front into the fence, you had no choice but to be squashed into a pulp of people & couldn't see anything but bodies even when 6ft tall right at the front. Worst experience I've ever had at a concert, having been to 3 heavy metal concerts the same week. Stay further back or don't go atall, my experience really put me off & wasted my money.

Rise against was phenomenal live. This was the first concert I've gone to, where I left feeling completely satisfied. I didn't need anything else for the rest of the night. I had a smile on my face for the entire show. And it was so clear the band was happy to be there. There was one time where he paused his song when the words "all because of you" we're sang. He said something to the tone of "we are here, all because of you. Come on repeat it" and the entire venue was singing "all because of you." It was pretty magical. Great concert, one of the best I've seen in a while.

This was a first time Rise Against gig for me. I have been in Prague for 10 months and needed to get a Rock fix. Rise Against delivered.

The support acts were forgettable other than the novelty of Japanese band wearing wolf heads.

If you like your mainstream/skater punk hybrid with a tinge of politicism then Rise Against are for you. The sound is loud, the vocals in tune and the band are tight. They played with passion and energy and certainly made for an enjoyable night.

A very fun and exciting show. Saw them in The Fillmore Silver Spring and given how small the venue was, it was very packed and hot, but the energy was insanely high and was a great show the entire time.

The other two bands that played, letlive. and Killswitch Engage, made the night for me. I did not expect much of from those two groups, but the exceeded expectations and were very high energy as well.

Also, my favorite song was played early in the set which made me ecstatic.