The
self acclaimed Distorted Pop band from Aberdeen
kicked off tonight's show with "Do You Feel
Safe" a single taken from the band's debut
album "In The Cold Wind We Smile". Murray
MacLeod's vocals powered over the distorted guitar
and Tom Heron's heavy drum beats providing a near
CD quality sound, to my great relief as all too
often with three piece's the vocals are weak and
hard to hear. The band worked their way through
a large number of tracks of the second album such
as, "Scatterbrain"," Slackerpop",
"Carnival Time" and "Hurt With
We" playing only a couple of the debut album.
As well as enjoying the sound reminiscent of early
Silverchair with a pop punk influence they were
all comfortable and energetic on stage and the
lights picked up after a few songs. Murray made
an attempt to engage the crowd quite early on
but too little success as it seemed that most
members of the crowd were unaware of the bands
existence prior to the show. He dealt with it
well and avoided the annoying experience of watching
an opening act spending too much time trying to
get a reaction from a crowd that are waiting for
the next band. Although the crowd wasn't interested
in getting involved there was an affectionate
round of applause after each track. It would have
been nice to see a bit more interaction between
band members as Jordan Smith and Murray whilst
jumping around and enjoying themselves, tended
to stay in their own area's with little banter
between tracks. This wasn't helped by crowded
stage with the drum kit almost in the middle of
the two axe men. All in all they did an excellent
job of starting of the evening leaving me pricing
up there albums in my head between bands. I'd
love to see them headline because they clearly
enjoy what they do and with a crowd that knows
them I would expect Murray to flaunt his talent
as a front man while the energy onstage engulfs
the crowd.
After
a fantastic performance from the opening act the
xcerts the Brooklyn Punk Rock outfit I Am The
Avalanche had a lot to follow. Coming on to a
dark stage before being illuminated as the guitars
kick in at the beginning of "Holy Fuck"
the opening track from "Avalanche United".
It took all of about three seconds before the
band started jumping around or head banging and
they showed no signs of stopping at any point
during the set. Once again the sound was among
the best I've heard from a support act at the
O2, with Michael Ireland and joining in for some
bulky group melodies that perfectly fit the powerful
guitar riffs of Brandon Swanson. Brett Romnes
made the drums look effortless not missing a beat
or a chance to add to the group chanting. Even
with five people on stage Vinnie made fantastic
use of the space moving from one end of the stage
to the other. By the fifth song "Amsterdam"
most of the crowd was bopping along with a few
even starting to sing. This was picked up on and
Vinnie managed to get the entire crowd to cheer
before they broke into "Brooklyn Dodgers".
I Am
The Avalanche carried on the evening exactly where
The Xcerts picked off playing superbly, with a
highly energetic and entertaining performance
by each member topped off by a well crafted light
show. Quite frankly I could have left at the end
of the set feeling more than satisfied.
Before Brand New came onstage I was quite nervous
as I'd heard they weren't good live, and given
how well both support acts performed I was hardly
expecting to be impressed. Brand New came out
to "Welcome To Bangkok". The sound of
the three blazing guitars of Vincent Accardi,
Jesse Lacey and Derrick Sherman was phenomenal
with Brian Lane smashing the drums to complete
what can only be described as a wall of sound
hitting the crowd most of which were already singing
along at the top of their lungs. Sadly unlike
the instruments which could all be heard clearly
Jesse's voice was unable to force its way to the
top. The band followed with "The Archers
Bows Have Broken" with Brian getting some
assistance from a second set of select drums,
and for the first time all night the band on stage
had yet to show much energy. Whilst the band remained
fairly static the light show picked up the slack
on par with AFI at give it a name in 2007 or Australian
Pink Floyd in a smaller venue. I wouldn't be surprised
if Brand New's light tech got poached by the end
of the tour.
For the third track Brand New played "Millstone"
but more importantly they took the show to a whole
new level as the mic issues seemed to be resolved
and with it came a flood of energy both on and
off stage. From this point on they were like a
steam roller obliterating everything in their
path with absolutely no signs of stopping. The
show just continued to get better and better,
with brand new playing a mix of old and new songs.
Before breaking into the next song Jesse jokingly
mocked Garrett Tierney suggesting he couldn't
be heard, a perfect set up for the bass heavy
"Sick Transit Gloria...Glory Fades"
from the bands second album "Deja Entendu"
throwing the old scores back in to a nostalgia
from their teen years of their initial Brand New
obsession. The stage then emptied for the first
acoustic track of the night "I Believe You
But My Tommy Gun Don't" giving the crowd
a small break and a chance to slip further into
the nostalgic trip with the entire venue singing
back at the top of their lungs. With the crowd
eating out of the palm of their hand Brand New
continued to mix between soft and heavy songs
like a set list version of the Pixies "Quiet,
Load, Quite" style of writing, with the crowd
exploding with movement during one song then standing
eyes close hands raised singing at the top of
their lungs for the next. Everyone getting completely
schooled by Jesse
during the first encore "Degausser"
when he broke into the aggressive vocal shouting
leaning forward to get close to the crowd most
of whom had yet to realise that he wasn't using
his mic yet he could be heard clearly at the back
singing with so much emotion. When Brand New came
on stage the first two tracks where good with
only the mic being the problem and not much energy
on stage, but something seemed to click with an
explosion of energy and so much emotion sheer
vocal power I was thrown back to Eddie Vedder's
heart rendering singing when Pearl Jam covered
the who song "Reign Over Me" at the
London O2 in 2009. One of the most emotional gig's
I've seen, If you get the chance to catch these
boys live, take it.
The Xcerts 4/5
I Am The Avalanche 4/5
Brand New 5/5
Review By Marc Rich
Photos By Neil Oliver
|
