At the Drive-In @ Brixton Academy London 28/08/2012 review

At the Drive-In reforming is for almost any post-hardcore fan the equivalent of System of a Down reforming for a metal fan, but then to hear that this show is the last of the "Relationship of Command tour" (finishing 12 years after is started) meant that this gig had some very high expectations to live up to, especially since they have Refused to compete with who reformed at the same time. Safe to say, I had been eagerly awaiting this gig ever since it was announced that At the Drive-In had reformed.

If you take this gig out of context and ignore he significance of it, it was outstanding. The opener Arcarsenal was spine-tingling and whipped the crowd into a frenzy and the moment the chorus of One-Armed Scissor kicked in the audience seemed to erupt. The set also featured some awe-inspiring instrumentals. They showed much more control than the younger At the Drive-In in 2001, and were well worth the wait.

But, this gig was possibly their last. It should have been the send off of all send offs; instead it was just a very good gig. It was an enjoyable and aggressive hour of some of the best post-hardcore ever made and featured some great musicianship, it satisfied fans that had waited 12 years to witness an At the Drive-In gig, but it wasn't legendary and didn't quite live up to it's high expectations.

Overall rating: 5.5/10

Refused @ HMV Forum London 12/08/2012 review

The Refused reunion had been a long time coming. A frenzy of rumours started wildly circulating in March 2010 when the old Refused website was put up again by Epitaph and simply printed the words 'Coming Soon'. However it wasn't until January 2012 the Refused reunion was officially confirmed with the announcement of the Coachella Festival line-up. Now the only question left for me was whether Refused would play a UK headline date, and sure enough two UK dates were announced and I was online at precisely 9am frantically buying myself a pre-sale ticket. So when August 12th came, the two years spent anticipating and waiting for the moment in which I was going to see one of the most influential bands of the last 15 years had finally come to an end, and I was not disappointed.

You could feel the tension rising among the crowd as the incandescent lights burst through the curtain revealing the word 'Refused' behind which you could barely make out the band. As the curtain fell and Worms of the Senses/Faculties of the Skull kicked in, we all knew that we were about to witness something legendary: the shape of punk to come and that has already been. In most cases when a band reforms, especially after a 14 year break, it's questionable whether the reasons for it were honest, but Refused are an exception. Their music still holds the same meaning and significance today, if not more, as when it was first created. Refused are completely relevant, and you can see it in the crowd.

Not only is this band a powerful political and musical force in punk, they are incredibly entertaining to watch. Dennis Lyxzén threw himself around the stage (and balcony!) like a punk Michael Jackson. He even stacked two monitors to heighten his stage presence yet more. Even though Dennis Lyxzén was clearly on top of his game and dominated much of the show, the whole band together was an energetic whirlwind of flailing limbs. Refused managed to seize the crowds attention throughout the whole of their set, which was obviously heavily "The Shape of Punk to Come weighted", but still featured some welcoming older songs for the die hard Refused fans such as "Circle Pit". However it has to be said, the highlight of the gig, and possibly most people's highlight, was "New Noise", which must have secured its place as one of the best and most popular hardcore songs of all time, and hearing it only confirmed it, causing every single member in the crowd to demand "can I scream?". Sure enough they could and soon the floor erupted into a mass of circle pits.

It's incredible to think, that last time Refused played in the UK, they would play to barely 100 people and only managed 4 songs in London before Dennis had to go to hospital. It seems that Refused's biggest period of success was during their break up, now they are bigger than they have ever been before showing how timeless their music. We had to wait 14 years to finally see Refused play a show on this scale in the UK and to hear those legendary songs from The Shape of Punk to Come and it was phenomenal when they did.

Overall Rating: 10/10