Parkway Drive Lights Up New York City On Monsters Of Oz Tour 2023

Parkway Drive is celebrating 20 years of brilliance on a massive tour of North America titled “Monsters Of Oz”. The lineup consists entirely of Australian metal bands, with The Amity Affliction, Northlane and Make Them Suffer along for the thrilling ride.

The Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center in midtown Manhattan is just steps from other famed New York City landmarks such as Madison Square Garden, Penn Station and the Empire State Building. This is one of the more beautiful venues you will find for a concert, with a massive floor area surrounded by multiple levels of balcony seating. The loudest sound of the night was actually the band and crowd singing the a capella intro to “Wild Eyes” as the final encore of the evening.

On September 17, 2023, a passionate crowd of metal fans was fully prepared for a long Sunday evening of singing, screaming, bouncing, moshing and crowd surfing. Many fans had been waiting with great anticipation, after the opening night of the tour was cancelled, along with the rest of the disastrous Blue Ridge Rock Festival. Nobody was disappointed, as each act delivered and made a strong connection.

Winston McCall, Jeff Ling, Luke Kilpatrick, Ben Gordon and Jia O’Connor are a powerhouse force on record, and somehow even more powerful when performing live. The energy in the room was palpable, shared between fans and band, traded back and forth, and continually elevated into a symphony of emotion and catharsis.

It is so encouraging to see artists who still believe in the full spectacle of rock and roll. Despite being indoors, there was no shortage of pyrotechnics. This is the first time that Parkway Drive has had the opportunity to bring a full production headline performance to North America, and it had better not be the last. Lights, fire, strobes, smoke and a rotating drum kit (on fire!) were all part of the entertainment.

With a full headlining set at last, hardcore fans were able to experience the majesty of 14 killer songs from “Darker Still”, “Reverence”, “Ire”, “Deep Blue”, “Horizons” and “Atlas”. The only problem is that PWD has so many incredible tunes, they could have played for another hour and still not covered them all.