It’s not often I go out on a school night these days but when The Plot In You, Erra and Deadlights come to town, Thursday night somehow becomes the beginning of the weekend! It had been far too long since I had last seen any of these bands play live, so with much excitement, I headed into the city.

With the crowd starting to build, the sound of Brisbane’s Deadlights echoed through Lion Art’s Factory. Having not had the opportunity to see this band live since the release of their latest album The Uncanny Valley the opening notes of Schedule 1 are literally, excuse the pun, music to my ears. This band holds a special place in my heart, stumbling across their amazing album Mesma back in 2017 was a major factor in starting my love for metalcore. The set list included a selection of songs from the new album like The King of Nowhere, Contact and Echo Chamber along with favourites Invisible Hands and Bathed In Venom. Vocalist Dylan Davidson addressed the crowd pointing out that we all had one job – to feed off each other and create some energy. Punters took this advice on board and ensured that energy was high for the remainder of the evening.

There are no two ways about it, ERRA are a class act and after a five year wait Adelaide was more than ready for them. The hammering intro of drums kicked us into Gungrave and set the scene for what was a wild ride. ERRA have a magical way of pulling you in and holding you there until they are ready to release you. While JT Cavey’s powerful vocal range took us on a frenetic journey, Jesse Cash’s melodic vocals gathered us in for brief moments of respite before we were catapulted back into the vortex. Gifting us with a varied selection of their catalogue, with songs like Scorpion Hymn, Eye of God, Drift, Snowblood, Breach and my personal favourite Skyline – Erra could do no wrong.

Releasing Swan Song since visiting our shores last you can feel the crowd’s anticipation to witness live some of the songs off this superb album. A lone Landon Towers appears on stage, the crowd erupts as Landon emotionally gives us the first lines of Face Me while being joined on stage by the rest of the band. Prowling the stage while delivering Fall Again, Enemy and Paradigm, Landon encourages the sea of fans to “show me some shit”. Adelaide obliged as the band broke into past hits including NOT JUST BREATHING, THE ONE YOU LOVED, RIGGED, Time Changes Everything and Take Me Away with the crowd helping vocally. Bodies were lifted above the crowd of swirling moshers who couldn’t seem to get enough. For a heavy band Plot deliver every song with such raw emotion that sometimes it’s hard to decide whether you need to mosh or cry. And then just like that the night was over. Fans slowly made their way from the venue emotionally and physically spent, but with the biggest smiles. Damn it's good to have not only live music back but to see international acts touring again.