Review: The Amity Affliction @ The Bridgeway Hotel 21/03/26
The Amity Affliction’s regional tour wraps up with a high-octane evening of metalcore madness at The Bridgeway Hotel, with support from In Hearts Wake, RedHook and Heartline.
Words & Images Thomas Jackson
The Amity Affliction w/In Hearts Wake, RedHook & heartline @ The Bridgeway Hotel 21/03/26
Tonight is the final stop of The Amity Affliction’s regional tour at The Bridgeway Hotel in Pooraka. It's a trek to get to this regional location, with a whopping 20-minute drive from the Adelaide CBD! Is Adelaide regional compared to the rest of Australia, or are they classifying Pooraka as regional? Regardless, the South Australian fans are thrilled to have The Amity Affliction headline in such an intimate venue. Especially considering the last time fans would have seen them was at the massive 10th anniversary celebrations of Let The Ocean Take Me at The Drive.
This tour is the first time Australian fans can witness new vocalist and bassist Jonny Reeves performing live. It's also a chance to hear new songs from their upcoming album, House of Cards.
Before we get to that, Adelaide’s alt-metal four-piece Heartline open the show. They're spinning and kicking their way round the stage, doing everything they can to wake up the 7:30pm crowd. It's hard to pin down Heartline into a box as they soar through electronic pop and nu metal breakdowns. It's songs like ‘Dead Batteries’ that truly connect with its earworm chorus and neck-breaking speed.
“If you want to trade a t-shirt for a jerry can of diesel, we could do with that,” vocalist Luke Taylor jokes. In this economy, you’d need two shirts minimum.
“This is every singer's worst nightmare,” RedHook vocalist Emmy Mack says, surprisingly coolly. RedHook’s laptop that essentially runs the show has encountered an unknown error and - for lack of a technical term - shat itself during the first song. Drummer Alex Powys and guitarist Craig Wilkinson are scrambling to fix it behind the scenes while Mack adlibs to the crowd.
Thinking on her feet, she gets a bit of crowd participation going as she gives an audience member the mic to lead a sing-along. We get a rendition of ‘Sweet Caroline’ and ‘Wonderwall’ before Mack gets the thumbs up and all systems are go. It’s a masterclass in adapting on the fly and keeping the crowd entertained.
To make up for the lack of time, RedHook blasts through their set, with songs like ‘Dead Walk’ and ‘Kamikaze’ standing out. Their short time on stage ends with ‘Bad Decisions’, which gets everyone in the crowd singing along to the anthemic chorus.
READ MORE: Review: Better Lovers @ Lion Arts Factory 30/01/26
In Hearts Wake storm the stage with the Kaliyuga album opener ‘Crisis’ and ‘Worldwide Suicide’, accompanied by blinding lights, silhouetting the band. Vocalist Jake Taylor highlights how this is the last of 21 shows on this regional tour, so Adelaide is seeing the best show of the tour.
They deliver with Mack from RedHook joining them on stage for ‘Earthwalker’ and Taylor jumping into the crowd to be surrounded by the biggest circle pit of the night for ‘The Flood’. Most of the set’s songs come from 2020’s Kaliyuga and 2024’s Incarnation. It’s a reminder that although they’ve been around since 2012, they’re currently in their most exciting chapter yet.
The Amity Affliction isn’t the same band that fans saw at The Drive for the 10th anniversary tour in late 2024. This tour has been a warm-up for fans to experience the new version of The Amity Affliction with Reeves on bass and vocals after long-standing clean singer Ahren Stringer left the band.
They open with the unreleased song ‘Kickboxer’. It’s a bold statement, but fans seem to be interested and engaging with the new music from the upcoming album House of Cards. Other new songs include ‘Heaven Sent’, ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Bleed’, as well as the standalone single featuring Reeves on vocals, ‘All That I Remember’. In a live setting, these new songs feel gargantuan, especially on songs like ‘Bleed’ that lean to the hardcore, screamier side of The Amity Affliction.
The set moves into more familiar territory with ‘Drag The Lake’ and ‘It’s Hell Down Here’. Reeves is becoming an old hand with the number of times he’s played these songs, and he shines on vocals. It would be hard to tell the difference between Ahren and Reeves when blindfolded while listening to them live. It honours the songs that fans grew up with and love while still acknowledging that the band is in a new era.
As the set reaches the tail end, ‘Open Letter’, ‘All Fucked Up’ and ‘Soak Me in Bleach’ begin to close the show. The band leaves and returns for one encore – ‘Pittsburgh’. Birch thanks the crowd as the band end their regional tour, with the vocalist sharing “we’ll see you next year”, presumably as part of the House of Cards headline tour.
It’s a reassuring performance from The Amity Affliction, calming the nerves of fans who have been with them from the start. They confidently made a statement to prove that they’re as good as ever. If the preview of these new songs is anything to go by, they may even be better than ever.
Want more pics of the gig? Check out our full photo gallery here.
