Live Review: Void of Vision Bring Mayhem to Adelaide on ‘The Final Tour’ – Spotlight Report
‘This feeling creeps inside your bones, I’m holding onto hope that soon you’ll know; that if I’m gone you’ll keep my soul, and the most beautiful things are what I’ll leave behind…’
Some goodbyes are harder than others. Try as we might, the reconciliation is difficult; nothing will erase what you had, and even if necessary or so the next opportunity can reveal itself, the grief of change can be overwhelming.
Try to see beyond it – be grateful for any final chances to savour and say thank you, for our memories are what will be left when time together comes to its close. “This is not the end, it’s just another beginning”, of what remains to be seen, but VOID OF VISION now let those words hold you in this moment and in our farewell, to one of Australia’s most inspired musical groups.
The infinite creative energy of Ryo Kinoshita is remarkable to witness. KNOSIS his brainchild and outward expression of internalised conflicts, the fervent quartet’s “very first time” to the City of Churches is straight from Hell and set to Fenui (rot). Pendulously swinging between ‘replication, duplication’, emotive dedications are crushingly matched by a cover of Machine Head’s Davidian. Fitting for a night celebrating life and age, Sei-Sai’s cataclysmic exploration of ‘human nature’ is the last of the opening set.
UNITYTX has “two more nights in Australia” and plans on going out in style. Fronted by the formidable Shaolin G, they get this ROC SH!T going blending street attitudes, brutal growls and breakdowns. A group with no interest in Playing Favourites or being “an average metal band”, Unity practice the Power they preach. Rocketing without reprieve, or Burnout between brutality and bravado, they play every song with authenticity; “For the ladies”, DIAMOND DIEZ swagger afronts seconds later a World of Malice, and closes with calls for violence whilst embracing crowdsurfers spilling from the pit.
Continuing the contrasting nature of this evening’s players, GIDEON epitomises the cunning of Void of Vision in choosing their accompanists for the final tour. Dressed in trademarked continental cowboy style, the sheer wall of sound they emit defies convention, as they Push It Back; every expectation challenging the audience to look beyond merely what the eye can see. With MORE PAIN. MORE POWER, they proceed to ‘break everything around me’ and Take Off.
Too Much Is Never Enough, as the Alabamian frontman Daniel McCartney professes he cares not for age nor experience, it’s time to wake up from our SLEEP, Bite Down and recognise; we’re here for purpose. Cursed to say goodbye, Locked Out of Heaven after tonight, it’s not the time to lament No Love/No One; this is just the start for all those who have come before and Void will live forever, because of all the Beautiful Things they’ll leave behind.
Jack Bergin’s sole silhouette stands a man caged. Head bowed and adorned, “for one last time” Adelaide audiences stare into Oblivion at this indescribable entity. As the enigmatic frontman sings acapella, he is joined by his band of brothers to begin their bittersweet journey down the memory lane of Void of Vision’s past twelve years. A Nightmare to say goodbye, it was a dream to have joined them.
“This whole room needs to turn into a moshpit!” commands Bergin, leading by example as he leaps up-and-down, side-to-side of stage. The Gov’s swarming dancefloor follows suit and churns, while shades of red turn Adelaide’s venue into our own BERGHAIN; Blood For Blood burning with passion Into the Dark. Void’s Neurotic vocalist shares his mic stand and repeats ‘I am like everyone else’. He is not, but perhaps there’s intimation toward a common feeling in bidding farewell – joy and pure HELL, HELL, HELL.
Gamma Knife cuts like a razor and DOMINATRIX seduces. Angel of Darkness embraces us, crying while dancing to this “serious bop”, crumbling under the Decay that, like 2024’s Year of the Rat, our time with Void of Vision has passed. These memories are destined to become but another Sunrise of the mind, a Ghost In the Machine; worshipping hands fanning Midnight Sweat, drummer George Murphy performs a solo upon his ALTAR “for all THE LONELY PEOPLE one more time.”
In an incredibly emotive display, before the encore track, Bergin takes another moment to address the crowd, the “people in this room right now. That didn’t just happen, it’s because you came and saw us, supported us all these years. Promise me, you’ll keep doing that for others, because you’re and it’s beautiful.” His words question ‘how the fuck you could ever love a mess like me’, yet he just epitomised our answer.
So, while “today we happily conclude that time has come to a fulfilling end”, grieve not how Empty you feel as Jack takes that final bow. Rather, remember that “love (for) the process and not the success” and that “most importantly, authentically, as a person, not a persona”, VOID OF VISION gave us everything they had, and it was more beautiful than we could have ever dreamed.
