Live Review / The Airbourne juggernaut crashes The Waterfront, Norwich

May 31, 2022

On 27 May 2022, the Australian party machine known as Airbourne rocked up to the Adrian Flux Waterfront in Norwich to play their Boneshaker World Tour 2022 show to the sold-out crowd. And boy, did they deliver!

Airbourne – The Waterfront, Norwich – 27 May 2022

Words and Photography: Lawrence Potter

Unfortunately, we heard straight away that the support act, Gorilla Riot, had to cancel at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. This was a shame as I had heard a sample of their music before leaving, and I was eager to hear them perform, but that’s the way it sometimes goes. So hopefully, I’ll be able to catch them next time around.

This meant we were left with no support, so the tension was rising, and around 8 pm, Airbourne’s team started prepping the stage for showtime.

This may seem like a minor thing for a lot of people, but I must say it was a nice change to see a full backline of amps and cabs on the stage. The majority of bands I see live use direct to pa amp modellers these days.

Don’t get me wrong. I totally understand, as those old valve amps and 4x12s must be horrible to lug around. So, in that sense, it certainly is the way of the future but seeing this old school setup definitely takes you back.

Around 8:30 the lights went dark, and Airbourne entered to absolute roar from the crowd. The guys went full force in the aptly named, Ready To Rock, and the show had well and truly kicked off.

I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Airbourne perform close up, but damn, I was blown away by the energy they brought to this show. I do remember briefly seeing a glimpse of them at the Sonisphere Festival in 2009, in which the frontman, Joel O’Keefe, was climbing up the stage.

I don’t think there’s anything these guys won’t do put on an absolute belter of a show, and this one proved no different. Midway through, Joel jumped on one of the crew’s shoulders and proceeded to move through the crowd playing the guitar. How’s that for fan interaction?

Among some of the other moments we got was, at one point, O’Keefe poured a whole bottle of Jack Daniels and coke and shared it around the crowd.

The band were truly on point tonight, and the music was just as memorable as everything else going on. The set consisted of a star-studded lineup of songs that included the wonderfully dynamic Heavy Metal of Back In The Game, Boneshaker, Breaking Outta Hell and Running Wild, to name just a few.