Gig Review

While She Sleeps
Bury Tomorrow, Feed the Rhino
Birmingham Academy 3
13th October 2011


While She Sleeps    Bury Tomorrow       Feed The Rhino
          
Feed The Rhino are up first, the only possible way to describe their set is by saying from start to finish they unleash a display of extreme aggression and energy. At some points during the set I genuinely thought the lighting rig was going to come down and crack someone’s skull open due to the way lead vocalist Lee Tobin was swinging off it. Tobin makes up for the real lack of energy from the other members who don’t really engage with the crowd and remain in the same spot for the duration headbanging. The way Tobin makes up for it is by being all over the crowd, swinging off the lighting rig and dousing people in water whilst spouting word to energise the audience. Musically they aren’t really something I’d normally listen to because I’m not too keen on the vocals but either way the crowd is really getting into it as it’s extremely heavy and the atmosphere is amazing which is what counts.

Bury Tomorrow step up next; I was told previous to the bands set by my good friend Bradley that these guys were going to be “Sick”, in fact the last thing he said to me before they came on was “you like metalcore right?”And that was it. It was love at first note, heavy as fuck British metalcore and this Birmingham crowd was eating it up! Everyone knew the words to the songs and was going bat shit crazy for them! Lead vocalist Davyd Winter Bates is on it tonight, hanging off the lighting rigs, leaning over the barrier on the front row, spitting water over everybody, handing out the microphone to get people involved, it’s surreal how much I actually fell in love with this band. The other members aren’t left in the shadows either they get involved as much as humanly possible to try and have some fun behind Davyd; the bassist at the end was passing his bass around the crowd, the guitarist and clean vocalist was addressing everyone as much as he could and the drummer was smashing his kit to pieces. I would 100% see these guys again, I’m off to buy their album now!

While She Sleeps absolutely nailed it. They are a band I’ve not once been disappointed with since I discovered them, they keep the momentum going from the moment their intro “Trophies” rolls on the entire crowd is screaming to lyrics back louder than the speakers can play them. The second they finally hit the stage and start with “Proud Of The Demon In Me” that’s game over, chaos ensues and blood starts to fly and bones begin to break (I saw a guy outside with a broken nose and bandages wrapped around his head). It’s like a warzone in there, it’s fully sold out in the smallest room of the academy its like world war 2.5 has erupted, it gets worse during “Crows” and “The North Stands For Nothing” with people screaming till their lungs collapse and then being sucked into the vortex which I once remember being a mosh pit. I cannot describe how much I enjoyed this set and I don’t think I was on my own at all, the streak continues as I’ve not yet a bad show from While She Sleeps, roll on that new album I cannot wait!

Feed The Rhino 3.5/5
Bury Tomorrow 4.5/5
While She Sleeps 4.5/5

Review By James Webb

 While She Sleeps


Lawrence Taylor
Sean Long
Mat Welsh
Aaran Mckenzie
Adam Savage

 Bury Tomorrow


Davyd Winter Bates
Mehdi Vismara
Daniel Winter Bates
Adam Jackson
Jason Cameron

 Feed The Rhino


Lee Tobin
James Colley
Sam Colley
Chris Kybert
Oz Craggs

 Band Related Links
While She Sleeps MySpace
Bury Tomorrow Myspace
Feed The Rhino Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?