Some days you mark something off the “bucket list” and other days you kick that bucket down the road.
After attending and photographing the epic Parkway Drive London, Wembley Arena show in October I thought things could not get any better. Glad to be wrong as I not only got to shoot the final show of the European tour and also the last show of 2025 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden. I also got full access to shoot the entire show from the pit.
Oh, and I got to meet the band and the amazing crew and production staff running the entire gig. Suffice to say after a good old chat with the guys, the Aussie term “true blue bloody legends” more than fits. They even signed some of my prints from the London gig, so to say this night was a highlight of the year is an understatement.
And to add a cherry on a very calorie heavy cake I got to walk with the band through the crowd to the stage. The production was a slightly scaled down version of the one that we saw at the likes of Wembley but no less potent. Carrion and my all-time fav, Prey kicked us off and with the full stage revealed it was time for Glitch and the first dose of the pyro spectacle that would singe my eyeballs all night. During Cemetery Bloom we were treated to an amazing kinetic interpretive dancing around lead singer Winston McCall. During Wishing Wells rain fell from the ceiling and it all finished up in a maelstrom of water and fire. Very elemental.
Another highlight of the night was Idols & Anchors. As agreed with Winston before the show I followed him from the stage out into the crowd. With security in front, Winston in the middle and me in the rear, we pushed our way to the center of the crowd. As Winston stood on the platform already brought out by the crew, I fought to keep position as the crowd surged inwards. As Guitarist Jeff Ling kicked off the song on stage Winston whipped up the crowd into a massive circle pit. Challenging to get a photo but so much fun and the connection Winston and the band have with their fans is phenomenal.
Chronos brough out the string trio and Darker Still brought a moment of calm before we went into Bottom Feeder the last song before the encore, and what a hell of an encore. With dancers throwing Molotov cocktails and Ben Gordan rotating 360 degrees we went into Crushed and the fiery hellscape that accompanied it with a raising fire spewing platform centered in a stage that resembled the 7th level of Hell.
As the band came to the front of the stage the crowd started singing the riff of Wild Eyes. The band kicked in and that was that. The last song of 2025 and a massive year for Parkway Drive. As young, old and everyone in between filed out into the night it is clear that this band has reached a level of popularity and impact that is very rare for this genre of music. Right now, the band has a break until the Australian Summer festivals.
What’s next for them? No idea, but I will be there every step of the way.
Setlist
Carrion
Prey
Glitch
Sacred
Vice Grip
Horizons
Cemetery Bloom
The Void
Wishing Wells
Gimme a D / Anasasis (Xenophontis) / Mutiny / It’s Hard to Speak Without a Tongue / Smoke ‘Em If Ya Got ‘Em / Romance Is Dead
Idols and Anchors
Chronos
Darker Still
Bottom Feeder
Drum Solo
Crushed
Wild Eyes
