Celebrating the 10th anniversary of their revolutionary album Ideas Above Our Station, Hundred Reasons return to London to grace the stage of the Coronet and play homage to their breakthrough album by playing it in it entirety. Due to the phenomenal rate at which tickets sold out to their show at the HMV Forum on the weekend, they announced an extra show, fortunately for those of us who weren't lucky enough to get a ticket first time round. Joined by Hell is For Heroes, playing their album The Neon Handshake and Cable, playing their first shows since 1999, this was certainly going to be a trip down the post-hardcore memory lane.
Before Hell is For Heroes (7/10) had even come on stage, the venue was already bursting at the seams. Arriving a little late at the venue, I was confused to be told by the security to go upstairs. After asking why, they said it was because I wouldn't be able to see a thing. I ignored this response and went straight downstairs to stalls and sure enough, the security guard was right. There was hardly any space left on the floor to even place my feet let alone see anything. Ashamedly I have to admit that before this gig I had only listened to Hell is For Heroes a couple of times, god knows how they didn't cross my path, but after this performance, I'm sure to be listening to them much more. Although I had an awful view of the stage, thanks to the sound at the Coronet, I still didn't feel as though I missed a thing. It's rare for every song on an album to be a live hit, but The Neon Handshake appeared to be an exception. Slow songs and heavy songs alike drew equal attention from the crowd such as Slow Song, which at the finale of this track managed to create the biggest pit of the set, and Out Of Sight. Overall, it was quite an enjoyable set, though not spectacular.
Fortunately, as everyone moved back to the bar during the break, I managed to squeeze into front row for Hundred Reasons (7/10). Expecting Hundred Reasons to come out blasting with I'll Find You, the first track off Ideas Above Our Station, I was surprised to say the least to hear instead Broken Hands. It became clear very quickly that this wasn't going to be your stereotypical Hundred Reasons set, it wasn't even going to be a stereotypical album show. The one Hundred Reasons set morphed into three completely different and contrasting sets. Firstly, was you could say the most classic of a Hundred Reasons set. Much of the set was compromised of old Hundred Reasons songs mostly from the album Kill Your Own, such as This Mess and The Perfect Gift. Even though for some people in the audience hoping for a set filled with newer songs from Quick the Word, Sharp the Action when not playing Ideas Above Our Station, I thought it fitted perfectly into the set. As they were celebrating their 10 year anniversary of an album, it made sense that this gig was going to feature plenty of nostalgia, especially since it's been 5 years since they have released an album. Once their initial 7 song set was over, Hundred Reasons confusingly left the stage leaving us wondering whether this was going to be the Ideas Above Our Station show that we were told. But, sure enough, after a brief but much needed break, they came on to perform arguably their best ever album. It was evident that the audience had come prepared as every member was singing along to every single word. Even though Hundred Reasons sure have aged a fair amount since the release of Ideas Above Our Station and perhaps lost some of their energy, they were still remarkably lively and seemed genuinely happy to be playing their debut album, the album which thrust Hundred Reasons into the limelight. The only problem with playing your best album in its entirety, it doesn't really leave you with many songs to play in the encore. And so the third set commenced: the encore. It was again a song weighted on older material, even featuring Remmus off EP2 and My Sympathy off Shatterproof is Not a Challenge, though finishing on a high with the well know Kill Your Own.
This show will certainly stand out for me with it's outstandingly refreshing yet nostalgic set. Though there did still seem to be something lacking, and it may have been that Hundred Reasons aren't as relevant as they were. Without a new release for 5 years, it forces people to wonder what was the real intention for these shows?
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