GalleryDitch This MagazineSeptember 10, 2023gallery, live, melbourne, Louie Mosscrop, rod laver arena, Destroy All Lines, Polaris, Kublai Khan TX, Currents, August Burns Red

Polaris + August Burns Red + Kublai Khan + Currents @ Margaret Court Arena 09-09-23

GalleryDitch This MagazineSeptember 10, 2023gallery, live, melbourne, Louie Mosscrop, rod laver arena, Destroy All Lines, Polaris, Kublai Khan TX, Currents, August Burns Red

photos & Words: Louie Mosscrop @louiemosscropphotography

The Fatalism Tour, night two, Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, with over 4,000 tickets sold we were in for a treat.

A tour that is set to be one of the heaviest, hardest, and most emotional tours of 2023 for the heavy music scene with three international supports for Sydney grown Polaris.

Up first we had Currents, this tour being their 2nd visit to our shores and along with opening for the Fatalism tour they’re also running headline shows of their own for the dedicated.

They began with signature brutal growls and powerful screams, matched with some tidy clean vocals, all from Brian Wille.

Christian Pulgarin on bass was nonstop, jumping, running, and being present across the stage.

Their set was a solid opener and deserving of the praise the crowd gave, having the entire floor hands up and swaying for the closing number.

Kublai Khan TX were up next. If you’ve ever seen Kublai Khan play live, you expect hard hitting set, and that’s exactly what it was.

From Matt Honeycutts’ signature barks, his presence is impossible to miss on stage.

He took time to thank Polaris, and in doing so thanked everyone for their time, but made it clear

“this is our time… and we didn’t come here to fuck spiders…”

August Burns Red continue to be a powerhouse, a staple, and a heavy hitting band, that has been around since 2003.

Jakes Luhrs powerful scream and massive stage presence combined with the ferocious guitar work of JB Brubaker and Brent Rambler, precision bass from Dustin Davidson and his headless bass, it was always going to be a set to remember. With Matt Greiner sitting this tour out due to a new baby, Adam Gray stepped in and was laying down insanely heavy hitting drums.

Jake made most of every opportunity to do a little dance with his mic hanging by their signature red cable.

They then played Paramount, from the 2020 album Guardians, and with it a call for a circle pit. The crowd was not going to let Jake down, and with that said, security earned their wage with the constant bodies being pulled over the rails, each one just running straight back in to do it again.

Before finishing their set off with White Wash from with 2009 album Constellations, Jake calls for everyone to get down on the floor. A quick glance around the arena and every single member of the crowd is knelt or sitting, then in one movement they erupted, launching into the air and into another insane pit, and with that August Burns Red finished their set.

I’ve seen Polaris play a fair few times, although some may say I was late to the party, first discovering them in 2018.

From that first set, many years ago, I was a fan and I have followed their journey since. With the recent events that have surrounded the band I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew it was going huge, emotional and something unforgettable.

The arena submersed into darkness, a flare lit side of stage and held up high. Jamie Hails walks up to the mic lit by the flare and opens with “I’m staring through the static…”. Harbinger from their latest album release Fatalism is a sober, solemn and heartfelt start to the night. Then in true Polaris fashion, an eardrum splitting bang, smoke, and fire from the canons up front. It was go time.

With the 4,000 plus crowd transfixed on Jamie, the rest of the band had gotten into position, erupting and finishing Harbinger and into Nightmare.

Jamie’s stage presence has only grown over the years. He utilises the entire stage, and this set up was no joke, with platforms and a multi-level set up, he used it all and could be seen connecting with everyone he could.

Whoever’s idea it was to put Dan Furnari’s drum kit in an elevated position, thank you. Dan threw down solid, heavy hitting and thunderous beats which everyone was able to witness.

Rick Scheider was seldom in one spot, moving from his platform up front, to up behind Dan, he used the whole stage to his advantage. His smile broke out many times through the night, and as always showed off his tight and solid guitar work accompanied by his Mayones Guitars.

Jake Steinhauser compliments Jamies scream with his unique clean vocals and heavy bass lines. As Polaris has evolved Jake has gone from strength to strength, solidifying Polaris’ place in the heavy music community and scene. As with Rick, Jake utilised the stage to his advantage, often being front and centre.

Jamie took the time to share that this was the biggest show of their lives. Hearing the emotion in his voice, you could hear how much these shows mean to him, the band and everyone who has been on their journey with them.

“Open this pit up, as big as you can, bigger, bigger, bigger… lets get the biggest fucking circle pit this venue has ever seen!”

They break into Landmine, from their 2020 album The Death of Me, and the pyro kicks off. I had heard rumours, that this show was the biggest pyro set up of the tour. After seeing and feeling the flames – I believe it.

With Jesse Crofts joining the band on stage this tour, his performance and dedication to Polaris is something I can only imagine would make Ryan proud.

“We lost our fucking brother. We lost our boy.”

Jamie addresses the crowd, the pain is heard through his voice. The emotions in the room could be felt, with chants of Ryan, Ryan, Ryan heard throughout. He goes on to remember Ryan Siew. You could feel the emotion and power in his words, especially when he thanked everyone in the room for holding them up over the last few months.

“This next song is for Ryan this next song is for you.” Jamie calls for everyone to “shine your phones in the air, to make this room so fucking bright that Ryan can see us from wherever the bloody hell he is.”

“This is for you brother this one’s called Martyr”. The room stayed lit by the 4,000 plus lights which remained held high for the entirety of the song.

At the completion of Inhumane, they exit stage. Not a word.

The room goes black, the distinct first few notes of Pray For Rain echo throughout. Jamie comes back on stage, donning what looks to be one of Ryans hats, a tribute, a piece of their fallen brother on stage for their final two songs of the Melbourne set. The Remedy followed and it is safe to say there was not a still body to be seen in the arena.

All I can say is this is, and will be the best set of 2023. For Polaris, this is just the beginning.