Let’s get one thing out of the way: I’m not your usual metalhead. I don’t wear black all the time, my tats are not of skulls and thorns, and you won’t see exclusively heavy acts on my playlists these days.

But anything and everything derived from rock, punk, and metal was the soundtrack to my formative years as a music fan. So I know a sick heavy band when I hear it.

Parkway Drive proved me right (again) at their gig in Poland this year. They also proved beyond doubt that they’re one of the most influential metalcore groups of the last two decades.

ART 249 OF “AM I EVER GONNA SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN?” A RANDOM COLLECTION OF UNKNOWINGLY OBVIOUS FACTS ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC SCENE

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During my time in Oz, I knew of Parkway Drive.

I lived in Melbourne back then, and even though it’s one of the most vibrant and diverse scenes in Australia, most of the outfits repping the heavier side of things are from elsewhere in the country. Consequently, I never got to see the Byron Bay natives live on their home turf.

The first time I did stumble across their mind-blowing set was not planned at all, either.

The band played a 2 AM slot (well past bedtime for middle-aged punters) at the largest free festival in Europe, Pol’And’Rock, in 2019. I was ready to call it a day when a mate I was with convinced me to give their show a go. And man, was I stoked I stayed to witness that metalcore mayhem.

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The Aussies slayed that night. Their interaction with fans, the stage set-up, and the way they structured their setlist drew in a massive crowd. On a side note, bassist Jia O’Connor had broken his leg just before that show, but he pulled through the gig playing in a wheelchair. That tells you heaps about the band, too.

Long story short, I was hooked on Parkway Drive’s vibe from that gig, so I started digging deeper into their story. Because, aside from the music itself, the journey sets this metalcore band apart in the heavy music scene, especially the one made in Oz.

From their humble beginnings in 2003, rehearsing in the only venue welcoming noisy outfits in Byron Bay back in the day (which, by the way, is a pretty laid-back and esoteric surfer town in New South Wales), to linking up with another sick Aussie metal band I Killed The Prom Queen, and signing up to the iconic Epitaph Records, only three years had passed in between.

From 2006 onwards, the band has kept on building their fanbase at home and overseas with well-received releases, regular touring, and more music industry collabs. The members’ relentless drive to do something bigger and better in the heavy music scene culminated in headlining shows at the biggest metal gatherings in the world. The band summed up that incredible journey in their docos, Parkway Drive: The DVD and Viva The Underdogs.

If that wasn’t enough, in June this year, Parkway Drive performed a very special gig at the Sydney Opera House, solidifying its heavyweight reputation in Australia, too. And it has definitely been a hard yakka back at home, as Aussies would put it. You’ll hear it from any heavy band from the Land Down Under – the country’s population is just not big enough to embrace all the local talent, especially in this particular genre. So trust me – very few heavy acts get to that level of national recognition in the band’s lifespan.

Plus, the group demonstrated its out-of-the-box thinking yet again, employing a symphonic orchestra and First Nations performers to accompany it onstage at the iconic Sydney venue. They’ll be releasing a movie from that project as well, so keep an eye on their socials for the release announcements.

And that brings me to November 10, 2025, in Łódź, Poland. If seeing Parkway Drive live six years ago was a coincidence, this was very much a planned occasion.

It was actually my brother Matt who messaged me about the band’s 20 Year Anniversary Tour on the Old Continent. Since I live abroad, we’re not in touch as often as I’d like, but one thing we do have in common is that we dig heavy music. So, seeing the Aussies in my home country was, in a sense, a bro-sis reunion. Cheers, Parkway Drive, for making it happen.

The day of the gig was your usual November in Poland: rain, skies heaving with clouds, and everything around you a different shade of grey. (Vocalist Winston McCall would later call Łódź “the mistiest city ever.”) But that “gloom and doom” somehow perfectly matched our heavy metal sibling trip.

We live 2.5 hrs away from Łódź. The drive was crap due to the weather, but we made it to the city in time to see the support acts. I was psyched ’cause the whole line-up was like Christmas come early. Two other heavy acts from Oz I’m familiar with, The Amity Affliction and Thy Art Is Murder, were set to take the stage before Parkway Drive.

And then, we burst a f*cking tyre entering the parking lot. Needless to say, we were both pissed off. It was late in the afternoon, and the following day was Poland’s Independence Day, so no tyre repair shops were open or willing to pick up the phone. Not an ideal mindset for a gig, but we decided to deal with that later. Disappointingly, that also meant we’d missed the first support act. (And that’s the second time for me. So, The Amity Affliction, you lads gotta return to Europe soon.)

But once the headliners entered the room (literally, Parkway Drive walked to the stage through the crowd, high-fiving punters), it was a full-on headbanging bonanza.

I doubt the band realised it right away (language difference), but the moment they appeared, the crowd started chanting in the local tongue, “Get that f*cking sh*t going”. That is actually a good thing. It’s considered a friendly way to encourage an act to start playing amongst the heavy music community in Poland.

That “warm welcome” was coincidentally reciprocated by the band. They opened with “Carrion”, a track that the frontman would later jokingly label as one of their first “smash hits” or “OG classics”, along with other songs from the Horizons LP.

In all fairness, I had the impression that Parkway Drive were slightly reserved at the beginning. The first time they set foot in Łódź was 20 years ago in a small club, after all. But the fans showed them their rocking out skills with the first few tracks already, including during “Prey” and “Glitch”. So once the band grasped the crowd’s vibe, Winston let out a spontaneous “F*cking hell”, and the band turned the heat up a notch.

I don’t mean to fan out, but the 2-hour setlist would easily satisfy any heavy metal fan. The Aussies played songs from across their whole repertoire, including the newest release, “Sacred”. All their bangers were there, from “Vice Grip” to “Glitch”. They also took punters all the way back, smashing a hectic medley of tracks from their album Killing With A Smile. That’s because they “collectively couldn’t settle on which track to choose from it.”

The Byron Bay natives are known for close interactions with their fans. But the audience lost it completely when the vocalist appeared in the middle of the arena to start a mosh pit himself, belting out “Idols And Anchors.” While he was crowdsurfing his way back, for a minute, it looked like fans didn’t really want to “return” him to the rest of the band. So he indicated the right direction – “to the stage” – where he was obligingly carried in the end.

So it might sound like a rhetorical question, but I’ll pose it anyway: In the world of barriers separating fans from artists by a few metres and security guarding musicians at every step, how many acts do you still know that take that risk to give audiences a proper rock’n’roll experience? That’s what Parkway Drive are all about.

The band also had some production surprises up their sleeves. Pyro and other special effects synced to highlight a particular part of a song are nothing new in their shows. But I didn’t necessarily expect to see backup dancers or Winston “singing in the rain” during “Wishing Wells.”

Matt, who plays guitar and knows much more about that side of things, thought that recreating live the string instruments’ interaction with Jeff Ling’s lead guitar during “Chronos” was fire. Since we still tend to associate violins and cellos with orchestras and symphonies, seeing their modern, electric version at a heavy metal gig, complementing a dope guitar solo, is pretty legit.

Rhythm guitarist Luke Kilpatrick also had his moment during the acoustic intro to “Darker Still.” And there was even a tambourine involved in that part of the set, which was a clear sign that we were slowly getting to the end.

And then came my personal highlight – Ben Gordon’s drum solo.

Say what you want, but playing upside down as a drummer is definitely not a walk in the park (pun well intended). Funnily, my sibling didn’t think that was necessary because “Ben is an awesome drummer anyway” (I mean, he mentored Thor himself, aka Chris Hemsworth, to drum for Ed Sheeran in just eight weeks). But I love me some pure entertainment once in a while.

Ben’s drumming mastery kicked off the encore, which was followed by “Crushed”. And again, my bro picked up on a small yet impressive deet. Towards the end of the song (which is one of Matt’s faves), the frontman was lifted on a platform, as if to be worshipped, symbolically. That impression was further enhanced by the heavy guitar riff in the track – another one of the band’s lit production elements.

When it was time for the last track, we all knew it would be “Wild Eyes”. Every diehard Parkway Drive fan can sing that tune, so Jeff intonated the melody on his guitar, leading a wholesome band-audience sing-along.

Parkway Drive were visibly moved, taking it all in. And then, their Łodź gig was done and dusted.

While we were leaving the arena, I heard my brother say something that rarely comes out of his mouth. You see, Matt is a pretty demanding spectator. So for him to say that it was one of the dopest heavy metal shows (and we saw a fair few when we were younger) is the equivalent of a 5-star review in Rolling Stone. I totally second his opinion. WHAT. A. SICK. GIG.

Before their stop in Łódź, the frontman spoke to a local podcast, Pełna Kulturka, about the current tour, prior visits to Poland and new music. And it looks like the Aussies have a few rowdy memories from their time in the central European country. So fingers crossed they will be back live with the new material in the near future, knowing that their fanbase here is strong.

And on that note, Parkway Drive, I have a personal request.

As an independent blogger, I get it – I can’t really compete with established music publications. But please give the girl a shot at an interview next time you’re in Europe. In Winston’s own words, that would be “some epic sh*t.” 

_{All images by Silly McWiggles & Matt}

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Parkway Drive, 20 Year Anniversary European Tour

Łódź, Poland, Atlas Arena

Monday, 10 November 2025

Setlist:

1. Carrion
2. Prey
3. Glitch
4. Sacred
5. Vice Grip
6. Horizons
7. Cemetery Bloom
8. The Void
9. Wishing Wells
10. Medley: Gimme AD / Anasasis (Xenophontis) / Mutiny / It’s So Hard To Speak Without A Tongue / Smoke ‘Em If Ya Got ‘Em / Romance Is Dead
11. Idols and Anchors
12. Chronos
13. Darker Still
14. Bottom Feeder

Encore:

1. Drum Solo
2. Crushed
3. Wild Eyes

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