Gig Review

Patent Pending
People On Vacation, Lacey
Birmingham, Academy 2
28th April 2014


Patent Pending              People On Vacation         Lacey
                            

Photo Of Lacey © Copyright Elizabeth AstonI get to the venue early, for once, to do a lovely little interview with the first support band Lacey, after which I'm escorted into the Academy 2 to catch a very special vip ticket holders only acoustic Patent Pending set which sounds great and is worth the extra money these ticket holders have paid. After which the band mill around and have photos and conversations with all the people before the main doors open and the first support get on stage.

Photo Of Lacey © Copyright Elizabeth AstonLacey a relatively new band from Nottingham take to the stage. They're not really pop punk like Patent Pending, but tonight's line up isn't the normal, keep everything in the same vein. It’s broaden your horizons night with this wealth of new music and with that Lacey don't disappoint. They're melodic rock with power chords and brutal riffs thrown in for good measure. They remind me of Lower Than Atlantis crossed with Twin Atlantic minus the Scottish accents. They have lovely harmonic vocals and trash about the stage during the bridges, they're powerful emotional and fill this already heaving room with great Photo Of People On Vacation © Copyright James Dalynoise. They take some time to talk to the crowd between songs to say how they beat Jaret at Fifa every night on their shared tour bus. They brighten up the room and bring in some help toward the end in the form of Patent Pending who add a little extra oomph to this already great set by getting down in the pit and crowd surfing whilst playing guitars. They're really awesome and I can’t wait to catch them again in there rise up.

Photo Of People On Vacation © Copyright James DalyPeople On Vacation take to the stage, this is Jaret from Bowling for Soups new band, they’re acoustic rock with a hint of country and punk thrown in for good measure, think BFS's Turbulence and you’re on the right line, but obviously it’s not all the same as that. They sound great and this 4 piece play a great catchy set, which changes pace and has a few guest slots from patent pending and Lacey throughout. Jaret does the normal BFS thing of chatting to the crowd allot, including a story about when he was peeing next to Josh from Lacey and how Josh has this system that he has to do after he finishes, “I mean I shake and done but his goes on for five minutes”. They then go on to Photo Of Patent Pending © Copyright James Dalytalk about dick cheese and hick babies but that's a bit to crude for this write up. They go down great but it’s hard not to with this great crowd which is a mixture of all different ages and backgrounds, this gig definitely brings a universal group to play. They play allot off their album Sumer In The Fall a BFS song; The Bitch Song, which starts acoustically before going into a flow blown cover. Before ending on a cover of Cum On Feel the Noise by the mighty Slade and they play Because Of The Sun before bowing out after getting this crowd warmed up and ready for the main attraction. They were really tight and although there are Photo Of Patent Pending © Copyright James Dalyjust 2 full time members, the touring members do an amazing job of pushing the band further, the only down side is that the set goes on too long and gets a bit samey, but the crowd love it and are ready for headliners.

Patent Pending are the main attraction, and they take to the stage with their touring member who sits at the back of the stage holding the door open for them, as they run on into to a bang and have their backdrop drop down revealing an awesome mural of Patent Pending in Nintendo style lettering and a Donkey Kong style level. They come out to I Already Know (she Don’t Give A Shit About Me) and get the party started with singer Joe Ragosta instantly jumping off stage into the crowd and crowd surfing whilst singing for a while, before getting back on stage and moving around like crazy, which is a hard thing to do Photo Of Patent Pending © Copyright James Dalyon such a small stage like the academy 2. They continue with Let Go and this is where it gets hard for me, as I love Patent Pending live, but I haven’t really listened to them at home, so I don’t know the songs, and as the band don’t have set lists on stage as they change it every night its hard for me to know exactly what songs where played, but I think they continued with Anti- Everything which involved Joe again jumping off stage into the legion of adoring fans. Patent Pending sound amazing, its so hard to sound good in this room, but they pull it off so well. Even though there setlist changes every night they can still keep things going and even with all there random events like during the next song, a cover of Party Photo Of Patent Pending © Copyright James DalyHard by Andrew WK they get two members of Lacey to come out dressed all in white like Andrew WK does which is awesome. They then go into Therefore, I Party and prove that they can party just as hard as Andrew WK. After this they take a bit of time to breath after the pure craziness of the first five songs, and take some time to talk to the crowd, but it’s not the normal how you all doing, its “Ladies and gentlemen of Birmingham,” said buurrmingum, “I cordially invite you to, the world Olympic crowd swimming championships”. Which if you’ve seen Patent Pending before you’d know exactly what is going on, but if you haven’t they split the crowd up and part them in the middle before Joe and bassist Corey DeVincenzo go to the back of the Photo Of Patent Pending © Copyright James Dalyroom and climb on to the crowd dressed in swimming bands and goggles and swim back to the stage on top of the fans, and whoever gets on stage the first wins. They do this as the band plays the music to Psycho in Love before the two members get on stage and join in with the OOOH OOOH OOOH, oh and in case you were wondering Joe won. They start the next song by saying how One Direction through down the gauntlet down as they said they’re better dancers than the people in Patent Pending. “So during this next song where going to show them up”. They then proceed to do a dance routine on stage during the chorus of Falling out Of Love. They continue to play there great sounding set list with Shake Weights and Moving Crates in which guitarist Marc Kantor leaves the stage un noticed and goes Photo Of Patent Pending © Copyright James Dalyround to the balcony at the back of the venue and climbs up over the edge to play a solo before heading back to the stage and continuing the song. The band take a break after this and slow things down with Joe doing an acoustic version of Spin Me Around, before the set list continues, during the final songs of the main set we see more crazy antics with other members of Lacey and People in Planes joining in on stage, with fans joining in on stage and with some pure good old fashioned pop punk. They finish their set with Brighter and the internet classic Hey Mario, which is currently being made into a documentary about them making a video for it. The band leave the stage and the crowd goes crazy chanting Patent Pending and the band quickly come back to play There Was A Time, Second Photo Of Patent Pending © Copyright James DalyFamily and there biggest hit Douchebag. The crowd leave happy, and the band come down to thank everyone for coming, showing that they love what they do and they love their fans.

Overall tonight’s gig was great, it started with a more indie rock start with the awesome Lacey which turned into acoustic mellowness with People on Vacation before ending in the pop punk craziness of Patent Pending. I can’t stress enough how awesome Patent Pending are live and the next time they’re back over hear please check them out, as you’ll have an awesome time, they truly love their fans and due to the ever changing set lists on a nightly basis they want their fans who follow them on tour to have just as much fun each night too, as not knowing what they’re going to play is something that doesn’t really happen much these days, but Patent Pending are keeping that mystery alive.

Lacey 4/5
People on Vacation 3.5/5
Patent Pending 5/5

Review And Photos By James Daly And Elizabeth Aston

 Patent Pending


Joe Ragosta
Anthony Mingoia
Marc Kantor
Rob Felicetti
Corey DeVincenzo

 People On Vacation


Jaret Reddick
Ryan Hamilton

 Lacey


Graz Turner
Josh Lewin
David Pearson
Pete Maksymiw

 Band Related Links
Patent Pending Facebook
People On Vacation Facebook
Lacey Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?