- Live Reviews
The largest of the academy venues in Manchester hosted the night which is a testament to the overnight (!) success that Future Islands have enjoyed since the release of 'Singles', even though it is their fourth album. Obviously “that” song and performance on Letterman has also had something to do with it.
First up, was Beth Jeans Houghton’s latest incarnation Du Blonde, a fully formed rock band with a harder edge than first outing with the Hooves of Destiny. Looking every bit the late night rock chic, on they came to a barely paying attention audience and launched into If You’re Legal from their (only) album Welcome Back to Milk. After Black Flag and Hunter the audience started to pay attention, and they were being won over by the huge operatic voice emitting from this fragile looking woman. The 30 minute bellowing set was over, and off they went to a standing ovation.
Next up, and unknown to this reviewer were Dope Body, fellow Baltimore residents like Future Islands, and it turns out the lead singers from both bands share an apartment. "He’s my homie” explained Samuel T later in the evening.
This was a full on energetic, classic rock with elements of punk stage performance. The shirts were off most of the band after the first song, as the energy was huge and lead singer Andrew prowling the stage like a born performer. Giant riffs mixed with thunderous drumming mixed with bellowing vocals had me stage front and centre, however they were not to everyone’s taste, especially some who had come just to hear Future Islands synth rock. Andrew confirmed to me after the show that the set consisted of tracks from new album Kunk which I bought, and he hoped to see me at the next show as “we are playing very close to here……..in Glasgow…” Keep an eye on these dudes.
Finally the main attraction took the stage to an almost hysterical reaction, and the first 5 minutes to me summed up their attraction. Instead of ignoring the audience, and launching into their first track, Samuel T Herring took a few minutes to pace the very front edge of the stage and basically have a chat, thanking everyone for coming, looking all around the space as if he was savouring every second of the night, and telling everyone we were in for a great night. It’s called engaging with your fans…..simple yet effective.
Every move, every bonkers dance he did, and everything he then said was cheered to the rafters. Most of 'Singles' was played, including the ubiquitous 'Seasons', which for the first time did not get the biggest cheer of the night, suggesting the fans are appreciative of all their songs equally now.
Samuel was sweating almost as much as we were; he genuinely puts his heart and soul into every performance which again I think the fans appreciate. Unfortunately, the other band members are completely secondary in a live setting; this show is all about Samuel T and his unusual style and his interaction with the crowd. And boy, the crowd loved him back. This is what entertainment is all about, and with three bands on the set, excellent value for money too.
Keith
- Live Reviews
This show is advertised as Haiku Salut - Lamp Show and first sight of the stage confirms this description to be accurate, as connected by a spaghetti of cables, there are laptops, various electronic gizmos, percussion, brass and stringed instruments and approximately 20 living room lamps giving the impression that Arcade Fire are about to perform in the vintage lighting section at B&Q (other DIY/hardware shops are available).
Support comes from a three-piece from Bristol, Jilk, who play instrumentals with lots of looping effects with added violin and trombone. Their final track is a collaborative single 'Periscopes' they released with Haiku Salut earlier this year, the two groups combine for a building, floaty and brass-coated instrumental reminiscent of the long lost Flotation Toy Warning. The announcement at the start of this track will the last spoken word from the stage tonight.
After a short break the main set starts and it's a stunning performance. The three members of Haiku Salut (Louise Croft, Sophie and Gemma Barkerwood from the Derbyshire Dales) perform a set of instrumentals with keyboards, piano accordion, snare and bass drums, acoustic guitars and ukulele, parts of which are cleverly looped to form the repeating backing tracks, which allows the track to build and grow as it progress and more instruments are added. All of the instruments are played live by the three piece, which involves impressive musical talent and on-stage choreography as they continually move across the stage without colliding, or more than one member picking up the same instrument. At one point I counted five individual instruments being played by the musicians.
Adding to the spectacle is the aforementioned lamp show. A fourth member, half hidden in the shadows stage left appears to program the vintage lamps to glow, pulse, flick on and off and fade in time with the sounds generated by the band.
Tracks from their two albums are played, highlights include 'Bleak and Beautiful (All Things)' first track of recently released album 'Etch & Etch Deep' which builds into a lovely accordion and brass passage and would fit perfectly into Yann Tiersen's Amelie soundtrack. The pretty, tinkling piano at the start of 'Foreign Pollen' is looped to allow the big, bulky brass and drums to take over.
Whilst there's no interaction with the audience apart from a collective bow and wave at the end , it's far from a cold performance as the warm, lifting instrumentals are all played with loads of feeling to a totally engrossed audience.
If you're feeling jaded with watching a band plodding through a replication of their latest album, Haiku Salut's performance will lift your spirits as they provide an enchanting alternative and remind you again of the wonderful possibilities of live musical performance.
Alisdair Whyte
- Live Reviews
If anyone asks me who my favourite artist is, I answer Sufjan Stevens. He has been since my first listen of Seven Swans in 2004. Most of the subsequent releases have simply reaffirmed how much I like him and how much his music means to me. It's not a slavish devotion. Some of the releases have been merely interesting or good, rather than great; but the body of work, as well as what I know of how he creates it and why, has never added up to less than being my favourite.
With this, it's been a major issue for me to have never seen him live, bar his messing around with the National once at the Brixton Academy. So, I was more than a little excited to find that he was headlining at the End of the Road. And more than a little apprehensive - how would his music translate to a festival setting? To cut to the chase, when asked what my favourite ever show was, my answer will be, instantly, Sufjan Stevens at the End of the Road Festival. That would also be my answer to my favourite ever experience of any type of art.
Of course this is all subjective, but it was everything you'd want: heartfelt, fun, exciting, moving and, throughout, almost impossibly beautiful. I'll never, ever forget how I felt while watching this performance. I'll never forget the effect that the show seemed to have on others: often fragile, subtle songs of loss were played to a festival crowd who were moved to near silence (even those who were worse for wear and asking at the start if this was the War on Drugs…).
So, this is less of a review than a relating of a very personal experience. There have been other reviews of his recent shows (all raves) and of this show (ditto). I'll leave it to them to list the songs, relate wonderful intra-band dynamics of camaraderie and changing of instruments, the playfulness of confetti sprinkling, etc. For me, it was just unforgettably special.
Kevin B.
Photo: KenJamesWallace
- Live Reviews
After an amazing set by the Polyphonic Spree at Moseley Folk Festival last weekend, including all 14 of them joining the Monkees for an encore, I found myself wondering what on earth was going on with them. Where they serious, or is it a joke? As I set off through the crowd to those two essentials of festival life, bar and toilet, I found the keyboard player of the Spree walking towards me. He was easy to recognise, even without the flowing white robes, being 7 foot tall with striking hair. He looked friendly so I stopped him and told him what a great show it was. He smiled even more than before, and said: 'it's impossible not to be happy, being on stage like that 'So I asked him…’Listen….is the band serious, or humorous? 'He beamed down at me and answered,‘Yes’
Kevin Hand
- Live Reviews
It was the luck of the ballot draw which enabled us to purchase tickets for this intimate gig at Village Underground, London. In the application for tix it was very clearly stated this was a no phones event and anyone taking pics or filming would be ejected from venue. (I don't have a problem with this at all. If we need shots get a press pass for Ken!)
It's not the 1st time we have been lucky enough to catch Foals at a small venue in recent years. At a trip to 60 Million Postcards in Bournemouth a couple of years ago I declared my days of getting close to Foals were over such was the sweaty mess that ensued that night! So there we were, at the barrier, for what was going to be a memorable gig. The audience looked quite calm with a larger amount of female interest than I would have thought. I was wondering when the surge of males would come flying forward!
Support came in the form of That F#cking Tank, guitar/drums duo from Leeds kicking out some thumping tunes 65 Days of Static'esque or PSB without the newsreel! It was enough to give some interest while waiting for the main event. Everything was set at 9pm and Foals didn't delay too long before taking the stage to huge cheers and as they ripped into Snake Oil BOOM the crowd erupted! The Village Underground turned into one mad mosh pit. (I have now taken a safe spot at the side, still nursing a bruised shin from Girl Band last week!)
They probably played more old tunes than I thought they would, thinking this would be a showcase for mostly new songs, but this delighted the crowd, the room was dripping with the energy expended throughout Olympic Airways and My Number.
Time for a slight breather with new tune Mountain At My Gate highlighting the band's incline and how tight they are as a unit. Best moment of the gig came when at the opening of Spanish Sahara a few bods sat down and quickly everyone in the room joined in, singing along but totally idolising the band at their feet, it was breathtaking as the song reached its rocking crescendo with everyone back on their feet in the maelstrom.
The best thing about this moment was everybody was feeling it and nobody was filming it. Front man Yannis raised his fist to the crowd and pumped towards his heart. I really think he felt it too. The set carried on in that vein, peppered with the softer tune A Knife in the Ocean showing this band can touch your soul as well as tear up the floor. Yannis declared the end was nigh, but not before a rip roaring encore including Inhaler and Two Steps and a sortie around the venue with his guitar followed by a crowd surf, held aloft by adoring fan's hands.
An incredible show, FOALS are a fantastic band with so much style to their diversity is it dance, math or indie rock.
I knew we had to be quick off the mark to secure tix for their Southampton show on pre-sale last week I was not wrong the nationwide tour sold out in 5 minutes!
Sally @sally_wally
New Album 'What Went Down' is released on New Music Friday 28 August, 2015
- Live Reviews
I am on a bit of a mission to visit those legendary concert venues that I have not had the chance to to see a band play in before so, a Friday night offering of Camera Obscura at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire was just too tempting to turn down,
It's a lovely venue as well, very reminiscent of a church hall. Built in 1923 it must have seen many dance nights long before last Friday. The place has a very homely feel and reasonably priced and decent beer!
Because of the small size of the venue every gig will be intimate and tonight is no exception, with a true music loving crowd in attendance, even the very assured and able singer/songwriter in support was given an attentive hearing.
I guess this was a 'dipping our toes back into the water' gig for Camera Obscura who were also headlining the Visions Festival in London the next evening. Tracyanne Campbell expressed nerves at the start of the 15 song set but that certainly did not come across in the performance.
The band was in fine shape and really gave a good run through their history (so far) over the 90 minutes of the set. Everyone was happy, band and audience alike and as the evening progressed and the venue got hotter and hotter the songs became even more danceable!
Let's hope there is a new album on the way soon!
Pete
Set
Troublemaker
Let's Get Out Of This Country
Tears For Affairs
Honey In The Sun
Cri du coeur
Books Written for Girls
Eighties Fan
James
Desire Lines
Break It to You Gently
Do It Again Lloyd
I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
If Looks Could Kill
Encore:
French Navy
Razzle Dazzle Rose
- Live Reviews
Two firsts for me on Saturday night - this was the first gig I had attended in the back of the Brudenell (the Games Room) and secondly, I think the first gig I had been to where the audience for the support bands were bigger than for the main act.
It became clear that during the set of first band called, oddly (and dreadfully) Porl Whos, that they had bought a lot of family and friends to watch, especially as they are Leeds based and it was drummer Matt’s birthday. What wasn’t dreadful however was the noise they were making, and each song of the 30 minute set seemed to increase the noise and rapture of the audience, even the spaghetti western style instrumental. Think a young Arctic Monkeys, with swagger and confidence beyond their years, and you won’t be far off.
And talking of confidence, Doncaster’s Bang Bang Romeo have that in spades, especially their sassy vocalist Anastasia Walker. With a soulful bellow, similar to that of Alabama Shakes’s Brittany Howard, they also had the crowd rocking and rolling as the temperature inside the club neared sweatbox levels. Check out fabulous single Johannesburg.
And so to the main act of John J Presley, who along with drummer and keyboard player, sloped onto stage almost unnoticed to a crowd of approximately half of what it had been an hour and a half ago. Sadly most of them had decamped to the bar next door to continue the birthday party; however their loss was our gain.
Looking somewhere between Father John Misty and Josh T Pearson, the Birmingham based heavily bearded dude sure can play a down and dirty guitar. With a sound that his Facebook profile suggests is blues alt noir, the atmosphere changed drastically from what had come before, with an intensity you get from a growling vocal over an overdriven blues rocking guitar.
The keyboards and even a squeezebox used occasionally add another dimension to the sound however, which keeps the music varied and interesting. The fabulous single Honeybee then lead into Come to Me and the tremendous slide guitar gets an outing. The size of the crowd was irrelevant as the 11 song set ended with I'll At Ease, and clearly everyone had enjoyed the different level of musicianship we had just witnessed.
Intense, sweaty, dirty, fuzzy, at times psychedelic, and always compelling….looking forward now to that debut album.
Keith @kjsmith4082
- Live Reviews
What a show, what a band and it's only Tuesday night. Sentiments often quite rightly chanted after any gig by Danny and the Champions of the World on any day of the week.
This particular Tuesday we are at my old hometown venue, the delightful Colchester Arts Centre. An old church, now with a bar and a stage instead of pews. It has been transformed for many years now and is a fine venue and well worth a visit.
First up tonight was Magic Number, Michele Stoddart in Americana guise with an electric guitarist by her side. Certainly an additional string to her bow. Sweet songs and a charming couple.
A quick turn-a-round and Danny and the Champions of the World are on before 9pm. What follows is close on two hours of "The sensible Job" (the alternative is "running away with the circus" apparently), which means the six piece including a pedal steel and a Sax player blast through their ever increasing catalogue of good humoured riotous Americana.
Danny's voice gets gravellier and his enthusiasm for the task at hand seems to grow with every tour. This is a band that rarely rests and when they do, they are usually in the studio recording a new record as with this year's LP 'What Kind of Love'.
You will find that many of the songs are stories either, from the road or about the many facets of love and in love with the band the audience certainly are, after 20 minutes the crowd are dancing and at the two thirds point of the gig, we are all led on a Tuesday night conga around the venue by the band's Sax player.
A more brilliant and down to earth band as you could ever wish to encounter. Make sure you see them, next time they are in your town.
Pete
- Live Reviews
It was a cold 8th October 1994 when the Holy Bible tour arrived at the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton, fast forward 21 years and it's a cold and wet 1st June 2015 outside the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton, inside Manic Street Preachers are performing 'The Holy Bible' album in full. At least a couple of things have changed in 21 years, the quantity of camouflage netting has increased about ten-fold as it now covers four sides of the stage and extends out over the audience and more significantly there is a gap and no microphone stage right, where Richey Edwards once stood.
'The Holy Bible' is largely the words of the troubled, challenging but often astonishing mind of Richey Edwards. It covers themes such as prostitution, racism, suicide, The Holocaust, self-starvation and it contains lots of words, so many that to fit the meter of the songs they are spat out like machine-gun fire which increases the anger and intensity of listening to, and I assume playing it demands.
Rather than a support band tonight we have a DJ set from music journalist and Manics biographer Simon Price. The tracks played appear to be a Manics approved list consisting of Public Enemy, Big Country, The Stones, The Mighty Wah!, Magazine, Dead Kennedys, Guns'n'Roses and as a finale with a little local flavour, Black Sabbath which generates a sing along to 'War Pigs'.
The stage lights turn from blue to red and The Chemical Brothers remix of 'Faster' welcomes the band on stage dressed in a 2015 reboot of the military gear they wore in 1994. James Dean Bradfield approaches the microphone “Hello Wolverhampton. We are Manic Street Preachers and this is The Holy Bible”. The blistering guitar riff which opens 'Yes' starts the enthusiastic leaping down the front, the chorus of ' ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart' is sung back to the band with surprising vigour. James apologises for The Holy Bible not being a party album but promises a more celebratory second half of the show.
'Revol' a song about perceived emotional failings of a list of political leaders is dedicated by Nicky Wire to “ the high cheekbones and brilliant intellect of Richey Edwards who once stood on this very stage”. Richey gets another mention as James informs us that 'This is Yesterday' was written on Richey's guitar which he then uses to play the track.
I should mention the unassuming presence of Sean Moore who hammers away on his drum kit throughout the show, driving the live sound along and leaving space for James to solo over the rhythm. There's a fine example of Sean's playing on 'PCP ', the last track on the album, which is introduced by Nicky “ let's fucking punk this up, PCP”. As the song ends there's a collective exhalation and an emotional and physical escape from the intensity of the first hour as a stream of sweaty bodies head to the bars.
After a 10 minutes break James re-appears dressed in a more sombre jacket, shirt and tie for his regular solo spot, tonight it's 'The Everlasting' from 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours', which James strums along to a click track and the audience sing most of the words.
The remainder of the band return now bolstered by regular contributors Nick Nasmyth on keyboards and Wayne Murray on rhythm guitar and backing vocals for the party section of the show. Nicky goes the opposite direction to James on the dress code with glittery face paint, a designer version of your favourite teenage denim jacket with band patches and studs on the shoulders all topped off with a white, sea captain's hat.
'Motorcycle Emptiness' revs the crowd up, Nicky is duck-walking around the stage like Chuck Berry during 'Walk Me To The Bridge'. The first surprise of the party set is the inclusion of 'Condemned to Rock 'n' Roll' which is the final track on their debut album and features a lengthy instrumental with a epic guitar solo.
A double whammy of 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough' and 'You Stole The Sun From My Heart' played live feel superior to the recorded versions as they become more of a celebration of the emotional and physical connection between the band and the audience, whether it's the call and response sing along of the former, or James and Nicky leaping along with the audience during the chorus drop “ but you stole the sun from my heart, you stole the sun from my heart” in the later. In fact the band have talked about “losing it” in the act of performance and these two tracks illustrate this perfectly.
It's an odd choice then to drop the atmosphere with 'Golden Platitudes' from ' Postcards From a Young Man' which is a pleasant, reflective tune , but feels like the party pooper in this set. Fortunately the guitar intro to Ozzy's 'Crazy Train' leads us into the confrontational, attention- demanding, snotty post-punk of 'You Love Us' with Nicky scissor–kicking along to the chorus.
“... may all your gods go with you, this is A Design For Life” inevitably ends the show for the final, arms in the air sing along to the anthem of class conflict and solidarity amongst the working class.
The split set highlights what remains so special about the Manics, that they manage to combine songs with some difficult, or confrontational themes like those on 'The Holy Bible', with the celebratory, big tunes played in the second half . If you can give people something which might make them think or question, and have a celebration whilst doing that, then that's the best of both worlds
Alisdair Whyte
- Live Reviews
Just a couple of days after the controversy surrounding Mark Kozelek’s comments about a female journalist during the show at the Barbican in London, most of the pre gig chat in the car park prior to the doors opening, is what the heck was going to happen tonight, and which version of Mark Kozelek was going to turn up ?
Having been rescheduled from late last year when the band missed a connecting flight, and upgraded in size from the Brudenell, tonight's slightly surreal venue was the 800 seated capacity Irish Centre, best known as hosting Indoor League with Fred Trueman in the 70’s.
With no support, the latest 4 piece band and version of Sun Kil Moon took the stage promptly at 8.30, including the wonderful Neil Halstead on guitar, and the place fell silent….the tension was palpable as Kozelek took to the stage last, then quite carefully and deliberately rearranged his equipment, drink, towel, checked the tuning on his guitar, then approached the mic…with a whispered “hey folks”, they launched into Marietta, from his 2013 with Desertshore……wow ! We’re off…. So the song ended to rapturous applause, which was appreciated and thanked for, then the first chat with the audience about he hadn’t visited Leeds for 12 years, and it was nice, but “is it an over 55 year old community ?” , referring to the mainly balding, middle aged men audience, but said with a smile….He was joking folks ! He knows how to joke!
One thing to mention was that the entire show was electric, and there wasn’t an acoustic guitar used all night, so the songs were ever so slightly rearranged from the album versions, and in some cases for the better, including songs from latest album Universal Themes which your reviewer is still bitterly disappointed with..Quality not quantity Mr Kozelek please.
After the wonderful Carissa from 2014’s Benji album (“my masterpiece”…ironically stated, but it is), the first surprise of the evening was sprung on us when Justin Broadrick arrived on stage, thankfully not to play Napalm Death “songs” but to accompany Kozelek on Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes. Then quickly followed THE surprise of the evening, when following joking with Broadrick about now playing I Got You Babe, a young girl from the audience shouted out "play it" so quick as a flash, she was invited up on stage and they sang the duet…Go on Uncut - report on that…
So back to serious stuff, and the gruelling The Possum and Ali/Spinks 2 from the new album were endured before the beautiful He Always Felt Like Dancing from him album with Jimmy Lavelle from the Album Leaf was played. Fabulous.
4 more songs were interspersed with moans about his age, how tiring some were to play, how Halstead never puts on weight, how lovely the audience were and how hot it was, and the 2 hour mark had been reached.
I Can’t Live Without My Mother’s Love and Caroline were the 2 encores, and again he was quite wonderfully magnanimous about how lucky he was to be sharing these songs up on stage with his friends and to a lovely audience who were neither “heckling nor hassling” him.
I make no apologies of being a fan boy of Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon and the “very bad man" himself, nor do I excuse any off colour things he may have said, but let's lay off him eh ? I guess the spotlight is firmly on him, and any aspect of his behaviour is analysed and scrutinised under a microscope, and perhaps that’s deliberate from his side….any publicity is good publicity right ?
Tonight was wonderful, memorable, charming (best behaviour perhaps), emotional and long overdue. Controversy ? What controversy.?
Keith
Set
Mariette
Micheline
Hey You Bastards I'm Still Here
Carissa
Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes
I Got You Babe
The Possum
Ali/Spinks 2
He Always Felt Like Dancing
I Watched the Film the Song Remains the Same
Dogs
Little Rascals
This Is My First Day and I'm Indian and I Work at a Gas Station
Encore:
I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love
Caroline
- Live Reviews
Considering the fact most of us would have thought the chance to see Ride again had vanished years ago, the fact that I am typing this is a small miracle.
I worked for years in record shops filled with employees who loved the band but never got a chance to see them, they were far too young. Here was our chance, all together, many of us who have moved on from retail and have families and new jobs, all here at the Danforth Music Hall to see Ride!!
The last time they played here, it was 1992. That year they played the same venue (RPM) twice, first with Lush (the show that I attended but can remember very little other then it was very loud and Ride may have played a much shorter set!) and the second, a show I missed that they played with Slowdive
Years later there were rumours of a reunion show at our NXNE music festival but that was just a rumour and nothing came of it
So here we are, in my favourite venue in the city, hoping we get the show we have heard so much about. Reviews from friends and online video reveal the potential of a pretty special night but is it wise to anticipate the same? Setting myself up for a fall?
Not a chance!
The sold out crowd gets treated to a fantastic 2 hour set of what seemed like everyone's favourites. I stood at the back of the venue and watched as friends and strangers looked at each other with that astonished " I can't believe I am hearing/seeing this" look on their faces.
I sat back marvelling at how great they sound...I don't recall them ever sounding this great but from the opener "leave them all behind" into "like a daydream" into "polar bear" and "seagull" all coming at you with a sweet wave of harmonies and fantastic drumming and guitar. We are barely 20 minutes in and the place is going bonkers.
It's pretty tough to pick my favourites from the night, "OX4" or "Vapour Trail" or the blistering "Drive Blind" or "Chelsea Girl", just how does one choose?
It really was a very, very special night at the Danforth Music Hall and to top it off? They end with a fantastic version on Stooges " I Wanna Be your Dog"
Looking back at the set list it really is all a blur when you add in "Sennen" "Cool your Boots" "Black nite Crash" "Natural Grace" "Twisterella" "Dreams Burn Down" "Time of Her Time" "Chromeo Waves" "Paralysed" "Taste" " and “Mousetrap".
I have read a number of reviews of the same show and at least two reviewers were so overwhelmed by the show, they apologised to their readers and said they got so excited they forgot to write notes and take any photos
That pretty much sums up the show and thankfully in a post gig conversation, we heard of a possible return visit in the Fall. Perhaps then I may try to take a photo or two!
Jim @totolondon
- Live Reviews
Camden’s Black Heart is a bijoux music venue resting in the shadows of the rock haunt Underworld, very much the junior venue. However last Sunday it was rocked to its core with a tech metal festival worthy of its more muscular sibling. Supporting the mighty Malefice on their nine date warm up tour was the very impressive Londoners Exist Immortal.
Touring on the back of their recent Darkness of an Age album (please see our recent review) this 5 piece certainly knew how to tease and please a packed Sunday crowd. It was the last night of the tour but, even so, they delivered an immense amuse bouche selection of pure metal power, in what seemed like the small back parlor of Ozzy’s quirky garden folly.
Pre-set the partisan crowd was already in the party mood and ready to deliver themselves into vocalist Meyrick’s hairy palms. Not happy until the whole room was rammed up against the stage did he declare the proceedings open with Imperator and a threat that no head was to be left unbanged for the next hour.
The set was very much the best of the album and delivered at such a level it felt that Armageddon had arrived with all the horses. Nice surprises too, as Will (friend of the band) guested on vocals for Liberator as Sam Rudderforth, who featured on the album track had not toured, and what a performance as he took his vocals from the stage to foray into the baying crowd. The set ended with a celebration as long time guitarist “Monty” announced he was leaving the band and tonight was his swansong, at which point the head banging went up to 11 in his honour for Omen Machine.
Monty will be missed but this band will go from strength to strength. This was not a venue too far but a venue far too small to contain the mind-blowing power of Exist Immortal. If you like it louder than hell then, like me, you’ll want to hear them. Speaking with Meyrick afterwards it was strange to hear him softly speaking about soon to be announced future tour news. Definitely news that Sunday’s crowd will look forward to.
Iain @docswallow
Set List:
1) Imperator
2) Delirium
3) The Participant
4) The Void
5) Liberator (feat Will, friend of the band)
6) Edge of Infinity
7) The Omen Machine
Members: Meyrick de la Fuente -Vocals Tom Montgomery - Guitar Kurt Valencia - Guitar David Billote - Bass/Vocals Charlie Bines - Drums