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Thornhill // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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THORNHILL
+ Dayseeker + Gravemind + Banks Arcade
@ 170Russell, Melbourne,
15th July 2022
(Live Review)

Review and photos by Michael Gow (Alchemi Glow Photography)

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Thornhill // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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After the past few years with live music at a standstill the night is upon us where Thornhill took the stage at the iconic 170 Russell. There is an air of anticipation in the room as the crowd fills the room when opening act Banks Arcade took to the stage. Thornhill has been waiting for this moment after many years of postponed and cancelled gigs to finally be able to take the stage.

This night is part of Thornhill’s Heroine tour and Melbourne is the 3rd last stop on this tour. In the lead up to this night Jacob became ill and couldn’t perform at both the Canberra and Hobart nights but the band still performed as an instrumental band. However, Jacob was able to perform in front of hometown crowd at 170 Russell in Melbourne. The crowd have been waiting for this night and Melbourne brought its A game to what will surely be a fantastic gig.  Melbourne along with Newcastle, Adelaide and Perth have all been sold out on this tour which shows Thornhill are gaining traction with their style of music and winning over more and more fans. These guys have a bright future ahead of them.

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Banks Arcade // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Banks Arcade // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Starting off the night Banks Arcade, who call themselves a Heavy Metal Boy Band on their Instagram page, originally came from New Zealand before moving to Melbourne. The band took to the stage at 8pm and they certainly don’t disappoint with their stage presence as the drummer comes out dressed in a Mexican wrestling mask while topless with paint splashed across his chest.  The mood is set. The band played their latest single and other songs from their debut album Future Lovers, which comes out on July 29. The energy in the room feels amazing as the night really starts to take off. Banks Arcade wind the crowd up when they play ‘Sick’ from their EP Fever Dreams. Crowd participation was already strong considering the night had only started. During their set sing Joshua O’Donnell asked the crowd to open the pit up and the crowd happily obliged. This started the night off well and as their set was ending, they played their single ‘Smile’ as their final song before making way for Gravemind to take the stage.

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Gravemind // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Gravemind // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Following on from Banks Arcade are heavy metal band Gravemind who I’ve seen once before the line-up changed. They took to the stage at 8:45pm with amazing energy and from the beginning of their set the singer’s vocals were on point. The energy in the room feels electric as the night motors along. More crowd started to appear during their set and now the room was at full capacity. Gravemind pump the crowd up with songs like ‘Phantom Pain’ as the anticipation builds for when Thornhill will take the stage. During Gravemind’s set the singer asked the crowd to spin then said “Are you ready Melbourne” then went into one of their fast-paced tracks. The crowd were now more energised than ever, and it was time for international support Dayseeker to take the stage.

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Dayseeker // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Dayseeker // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Following on from Gravemind are international band Dayseeker who are in Australia for their first tour from Los Angeles, California.  They take to the stage and starts off with the song ‘The Colour Black’ to get the crowd moving. They play many tracks off their 2019 album Sleeptalk which further lifts the energy in the room it feels like people can’t wait for Thornhill who aren’t too far away. Not that Dayseeker are disappointing. Far from it, as they play song after song and the crowd are at full speed now with people crowd surfing, singing and moshing to the music. When Dayseeker performed ‘Crooked Soul’, Singer Rory Rodriguez did something that turned out really cool. He asked the lighting guy to turn all the lights down and then got the crowd to hold up their phones and turn their torches on giving the night a new feel as the mood became more intimate. The performance of ‘Crooked Soul’ continued. The band continued and went on to play more songs including their latest single ‘Neon Grave’. During the set there was a lot of moshing happening in the centre of the pit and the singer asked them “Is everyone alright” to which that part of the crowd yelled back “Yes”. One of their songs played on the night, ‘Drunk’, was dedicated to the singer’s father who had passed away. When their set was over it almost felt like they were the headliner going by the crowd’s reaction and participation throughout. Hopefully they come back to Australian shores to do a headline tour as I think they’ll get plenty of people fronting up to see them.

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Thornhill // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Thornhill // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Thornhill finally takes the stage at 10:30 with cheers and celebration from the crowd especially since Jacob was ill for the past 2 nights of the tour (which turned the band into an Instrumental band for those gigs). The stage was setup with the drums off to one side with 2 platforms were next to them.  The band members stood on top of these platforms to play, and Jacob was in the centre at the back lit up from behind while in darkness which gave a cool effect to their set. The Thornhill guys had dreams of playing at 170 Russell for quite some time and tonight was when the dream became a reality. As I’d seen at Full Tilt, Thornhill now dress to impress coming out in a variety of outfits accustomed to their music for this tour. The set started off with instrumental track ‘Something Terrible Came with the Rain’ followed by their song ‘The Hellfire Club’ off their new album Heroine to get their night off to a great start. They continued with songs off both their latest album Heroine and their debut album ‘The Dark Pool ‘. Throughout the night lead singer Jacob interacted with the audience with things such as “We need your voices Melbourne” and “I want to see this room off the ground – jump , jump” which led into them playing ‘Lily & the Moon’ off ‘The Dark Pool’ album. Jacob came down to the crowd to get up close and personal to sing to the audience. There was some banter during the set by Jacob saying that Banks Arcade’s singer Joshua was ripped, and Jacob took his shirt off leaving only a singlet on top. During the night occasionally foam would jet out from side of stage giving the effect of snow. Their stage setup this tour has stepped it up a level with random lighting and sound effects along with the foam machine.

During their set we were greeted by the sound effect of thunder as well as the lighting effect of lightning. Very cool. The next song up was ‘Arkangel’ off Heroine, Then the sound of a telephone rang out over the speakers for the crowd to then see an old dial telephone on stage where Jacob answered it and sang the song ‘Valentine’. Thornhill really brought their A game this tour between how they dressed to the lighting and effects and even just how the stage was setup. Jacob said to their crowd “I’ve seen you jump but I want to see you dance” before going into the song ‘Casanova’. Then as the night was slowly ending Jacob sent a shoutout to the audience “Make some noise for the reason we are here and that is you” then he gave a shoutout to the support bands on the night. The snow effect started again where they went into the track where do we go when we die, and you could get the feeling the night was almost over where they then ended the night with title track Heroine off their latest album of the same name. The night had now ended and there were cheers and claps from the crowd as Thornhill thanked them and the lights went down. Next stop Adelaide.

After they’ve completed their Heroine album tour, they are off to the US in July/August with Erra then their own tour to tour there for their international fans then when they come back to Aussie shores, they are going to share the stage with Caligula’s Horse on The Butterfly Effects National Tour.

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Thornhill // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Thornhill // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Thornhill // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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Thornhill // Photo – Alchemi Glow Photography

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AMNPLIFY – DB