Halloween. If there was ever a night of the year best suited to a night of face melting rock music, this is it. The perfect opportunity to create the loudest, angriest line-up of support for the constantly evolving and rapidly rising Bring Me The Horizon. Mallory Knox, not so much.
I must say though, I’m kind of surprised…ok, they’re not as heavy as the headliners, but surely they share a large portion of the same fans? If so, I assume most of them are out trick or treating. There is a small cluster of appreciative fans at the front for the Clockwork Orange attired five piece, but nowhere near enough to get the band excited. Maybe this is why they don’t seem to be trying that hard, or is the lacklustre crowd reaction a result of a lazy performance. Whatever the reason, I can’t help but feel they would be a lot more exciting to watch in front of their own crowd. They storm through their set of admittedly solid pop-rock, with a few short attempts to win the crowd with some sing alongs, though it doesn’t really change anything. Thanks for coming, but you’re just not what we’re looking for.
When it finally goes dark again (eventually!) to play Bring Me The Horizon’s introduction, that’s when the real screams start! By the sound of it, this must be a one off idea for Halloween, introducing the band as mutant bat/human hybrids thanks to a nuclear disaster. The band blast off, slamming the crowd in the face with a great wall of noise. This is the chaos that we expect from the scariest night of the year! Drawing from their last three (and in my opinion, best) albums, tonight is more about their epic, heavy post-hardcore than their scatty rage of old. It’s huge, with the lights and the smoke, it really is a spectacle to behold. The whole band is covered in fake blood, wearing deformed bat masks to ensure they stick to their opening story…a true Halloween special. There’s times when I can’t help but think that Oli becomes more of a hype man for the crowd than the lead singer of the band with the amount of choruses he leaves up to the paying customers to sing for him. But there are times when it’s definitely well warranted, as during the massive sounding Can You Feel My Heart where the crowd involvement perfectly replicates the recorded version’s atmosphere. Oli conducts the crowd through the “I’m scared to get close…” refrain in to a mighty crescendo that raises the hairs on your neck. Powerful stuff!
There’s no lull in tonight’s set, the intensity is held up throughout…so when the last song is announced and the band leave the stage nobody believes a word of it. There’s more to come and they know it, it’s standard practice by now. Free of the bat masks, the band return to say a proper two song long goodbye. Oli instructs the crowd to raise their middle fingers in the air before launching in to a seriously fired up version of Antivist. The moment the smoke shoots out and confetti is fired in to the crowd in perfect sync with the mid-song declaration that “…I think you’re a cunt” is just phenomenal! If anyone was worried that the tamer start to tonight was an indication of what was to come, Bring Me The Horizon have just thrown those doubts right out the window.
It’s amazing to think how far this band has come, and how much they’ve changed for the better. Songs like the epic Sleepwalking won’t sound out of place in a sprawling stadium, they blow the roof off this ‘intimate’ Guildhall show!
★★★★★
FYI: This review was written by me for www.bourne2goout.co.uk. Head over there for more news, reviews and interviews!
In what is quite possibly the most bizarre choice of support act of 2015, we have Professor Green playing before Fall Out Boy. Excuse me? That’s right, we have a quirky, wonky toothed rapper turned mainstream success with a very good dentist supporting pop-punk legends Fall Out Boy. No, I don’t get it either…
It’s quite obvious after a look around the packed out crowd that they don’t really care about the Prof. He’s not who they’re here for and half of them have probably never even heard of him. The look of total disinterest fills the room between instructions on how to move. When the crowd is asked to wave their arms, or jump, or raise their phones and lighters they happily oblige…but otherwise the overall mood here seems to be utter confusion.
None of this is Professor Green’s fault, he actually puts on a really good show! Alright, he looks a little lost on this big stage, but luckily he brought along his hype man, backing singer, DJ and running shoes in an attempt to fill it out. He rarely stands still and has a massive grin plastered on his face at all times, so you have to give him props for trying! Let’s be honest though, he doesn’t have the strongest voice, so would definitely be more suited to a smaller venue…and possibly a crowd of actual hip-hop fans. Something this crowd is not. It is all very over rehearsed, and of course there’s nothing wrong with knowing your songs, but when you’re using pre-written stage banter that doesn’t really seem to apply to the situation at hand, it all gets a bit embarrassing. Case in point: “Hope you guys have got enough energy left for the rest of the night!” (or something along those lines)…Yes Prof, they do. They haven’t moved.
But then enter Fall Out Boy. All it takes is for the intro video to be played to set off the deafening screams…these boys are a big deal! Kicking straight in with the mega hit that made them famous, Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down, it’s clear they’ll be throwing in some crowd favourites. The set is a sight to behold; big lights, steps, video screens and even fire! Low key, this is not.
There’s minimal between song banter tonight, and like Professor Green, what is said all seems a bit rehearsed, a bit too slick and all planned out. But again, this isn’t to take away from the amazing show! It looks great and it sounds huge! Even old classics like Where Is Your Boy sound beefier when played by Fall Out Boy of 2015. This is a band who have surpassed their punk rock roots and evolved in to epic, arena rock anthem playing superstars. They have a full hour and a half with us tonight, but rather than hang about, they play everything! I mean, not literally EVERYTHING…but they cram in a crazy amount of music here. This crowd is certainly getting their money’s worth and more! They dip in to just about every album, almost becoming a bit of a greatest hits tour…old fans and new are all catered for.
Absolute hysteria is created when after the room goes dark, and a stage wide video of what looks like the band in hockey masks is played, people start to notice Patrick, Pete and Joe have gotten a little closer while their backs were turned. Setting up right behind the crowd at the back of the room, the three axe-wielding members of the band launch in to a mini acoustic set. It’s a nice touch, and one not normally expected from a band like Fall Out Boy. But as awesome as this is, they are completely shown up when the lights switch back to drummer Andy, who is back on stage atop his flashing staircase. Pounding out an epic drum medley to a perfectly mixed selection of popular song snippets, all sandwiched between a larger than life, drum heavy version of the Game Of Thrones theme. It features a stunning display of lights, lasers and video that leaves the quieter moment we just witnessed an already distant memory.
Of course there is an encore, this goes without saying these days. The pace never seems to slow down though, and tonight ends on a massive high with old school fan favourite Saturday. Pete Wentz passing his bass duties over to the guitar tech so he can say a proper goodbye in the form of screaming his vocal parts from the front row of the crowd. Girls faint (probably), the crowd goes wild. Great success.
This is a much bigger, much louder and much flashier version of the Fall Out Boy I remember from Take This To Your Grave…it’s a different beast entirely. But without question, it is epic!
★★★★★
FYI: This review was written by me for www.bourne2goout.co.uk. Head over there for more news, reviews and interviews!
Bullet For My Valentine + While She Sleeps (O2 Academy, Bournemouth – 01/10/15) ★★★★★
October 2, 2015
Whilst Bullet For My Valentine were born to play the arenas, While She Sleeps are definitely the sort of band I believe thrive on the smaller scale dingy sweat boxes with near non-existent stages. It’s not that they don’t deserve it, or they look lost on the bigger stage tonight, it’s clear that they make the most of having all that space to run around in! I don’t know, I guess it’s just the mood the music sets…they still pull off an incredible set though. Barely letting up the whole time, it’s fast and it’s heavy, broken up briefly with a mini speech on unity within the rock scene, very nice. It’s not long though before front man Lawrence is once again roaring, crowd surfing….and coughing up blood? Brutal! Ace work from these heavy as fook northern lads!
Tension builds in the darkness before Bullet For My Valentine emerge from a great wall of white light like some sort of metal messiah’s second coming, diving straight in to their trademark riffs, screams and duel guitar attacks. It’s fitting in a way, seeing as a lot of those who had been fans in their early years had most likely lost track of them until they heard they were making their debut appearance in Bournemouth…I know I had! They make up for this lost time though for sure, treating us to the oldies that made us fall in love with them in the first place; Four Words To Choke Upon, Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow and Tears Don’t Fall all make the cut, and to a riotous response. Bournemouth has been waiting for this.
I have to admit, at one point it did occur to me that their performance seemed a bit too rehearsed, a bit clinical, something which I guess comes from over 15 years on the road. So it was a nice reminder that it hasn’t got to that point when after acknowledging that a trip to Bournemouth has been a long time coming, maybe the crowd should decide which classic track from debut album The Poison the band should play next. It was a close vote from where I was standing!
I think it’s safe to say that Bournemouth went ape shit crazy for these guys’ first trip here, so hopefully it’s been enough to encourage them to return. It seems that more and more well established artists are heading this way, so fingers crossed we get another chance to see the mighty Bullet For My Valentine….it’s been loud.
★★★★★
FYI: This review was written by me for www.bourne2goout.co.uk. Head over there for more news, reviews and interviews!
Mo Phonic 