Rock Sound Impericon Exposure Tour @ O2 Academy Islington 23/02/2013 Review

It's six o'clock on a blisteringly cold Saturday evening, and the N1 shopping centre in Islington, normally frequented by Oasis and New Look regulars, is now packed with a hundred or so hardcore kids waiting outside in the biting wind to witness the mayhem that is the Rock Sound Impericon Exposure tour. Some might argue that this is just yet another corporate sponsored tour to add to the list, but from just looking at the line-up alone, it's obvious that this is not the case. Supporting both new and old, British and International talent, this tour is one of a kind. It's no wonder that this gig sold out even with Your Demise, who headlined this exact same tour last year, playing down the road. 

Even I hadn't anticipated the popularity of this tour, and also how intent people were on getting to the show early to see openers Landscapes. So to my dismay, after rushing out of the Emirates Stadium, scoffing down my Fish and Chips and turning up at the O2 at 6:20pm when Landscapes were due to start, I only managed to catch the very last song of their set. From what I could tell, the Landscapes set was probably quite disjointed due the sheer amount of people outside in the queue like me who were desperate to see them but only catching a mere fraction of their set. But not to worry! I only have to wait a month to see them at Dead Swans last ever show, so there will be a review eventually!

And so it was left to Stray From The Path to make up for my disappointing start to the gig, and they did not fuck about. If you had come to this gig, being unaware of any of the bands, you would have thought that this band could have been the headliners judging from the response of the crowd. The last time I saw them, was in support of Every Time I Die which was only 4 months ago, and I can say that Stray From The Path have come miles since then. Songs like Damien and Negative and Violent felt like hardcore classics and the pit was (I really hate this word but I really can't think of another word that does it justice!) brutal. Though they did suffer from poor sound as the classic Stray From The Path distortion and reverb just sounded like a broken mic.

Next up was British metalcore up and comers Bury Tomorrow. With their release of The Union of Crowns, which was arguably the best British metal(core) release of 2012, they again were definitely worthy of a headline shot. Though I was amazed that Bury Tomorrow seemed to get an ever shorter set that Stray From The Path, and probably only played about half a dozen songs. this might be part of the Rock Sound/Impericon deal or that the gig had to finish early due a club night, but with a band like Bury Tomorrow, they really deserve a much longer set that that. Nonetheless, even with their severely limited time slot, they managed to play some old favourites such as Waxed Wings and ended with the already classic Royal Blood. But they unfortunately still had to miss out some set regulars like You and I. I'm sure most people were in the same mind set as me when Bury Tomorrow left the stage, they NEED to do a headline tour soon. 

If Bury Tomorrow and Stray From The Path hadn't tired you out enough yet, there was still The Ghost Inside to finish you off. Undoubtedly, 2013 is going to be The Ghost Inside's year. A couple of years ago, it would have been unthinkable that they could have sold out a venue the size of O2 academy Islington and actually out-sold Your Demise. It feels like yesterday I saw them supporting Comeback Kid at ULU to a crowd that barely surpassed a couple of hundred. Today, The Ghost Inside rival the likes of Parkway Drive on stage. And with their new release Get What You Give, which saw them push the boundaries of hardcore and metalcore and develop their sound to incorporate clean vocals to create a more melodic sound. The Ghost Inside seem to have an unbeatable combination of breakdowns, gang-vocals, clean vocals, melody and emotion. 

Exploding onto the stage with Get What You Give opener This Is What I Know About Sacrifice sets the crowd off to a vicious start with an immediate breakdown, which TGI know how to do all to well. They were not going to give us any kind of breather or warm up as TGI sustain this anarchy with the second track off Get What You Give: Outlive. Instantly, O2 Academy was seen getting ripped apart from the inside by flailing wind-milling limbs. 

Despite the success of Get What You Give, the more established track from the TGI back catalogue were not neglected, notably Provoke and Faith and Forgiveness off their debut release commanded impressive pits and Unspoken and Chrono demanded throat-wrenching gang vocals. Nonetheless, it was still TGI's new releases that were the real highlights of the night, and foretell the inevitable success that they will achieve in hardcore. Closing with the, by now, most popular TGI track, Engine 45, saw by far the biggest pit and crowd sing-a-long of the night. Out of nowhere, Jonathan Vigil launched himself over the barrier and into the crowd along with his mic, ensuing sheer chaos. The mic is immediately lost among as it's grabbed and snatched by various anonymous hands, and before you know it, the gig is over before it's even 10 o'clock!

This is without a shadow of a doubt, the most enjoyable gig of 2013 so far with quite possibly an unbeatable line-up. That being said, every band on the line-up could have done with much more time. Either doors should have opened earlier to let people get in in time for Landscapes, or club nights should not be given priority over gigs! I'd rather the latter. 

Funeral For a Friend @ Relentless Garage London (18/02/2013) Review

Funeral For a Friend are one of those bands that most people at some point in their teenage years, probably during that regrettable emo phase, used be infatuated by, myself included. Fast forward to 2013, when emo is a dying culture, Funeral For a Friend are playing a sold out show at the Relentless Garage, which is a feat in itself. Though they aren't the same band that we listened to when we were fifteen. With the release of their new album Conduit, they have reinvented themselves, or more like returned to their roots with a much more hardcore influenced sound. How was this new (or old) sound going to go down with the crowd?

The opening act of the night was post-hardcore quintet I Divide. Despite being the opening act, having to deal with a mostly empty room with people straggling in through the entrance throughout their set, they were definitely the band which drew most attention to the crowd. They managed to get every single person at the front to sway their arms in unison. Mostly for an opening act, when the front man jumps down to the barrier, desperately trying to communicate with the audience, it's rather awkward, but for Tom Kavanagh, this was not the case, getting members of the audience to wail into the mic. However, at the end of the day, I Divide did sound like a band trying to reproduce the same kind of sound and success that bands like Sleeping With Sirens have achieved. However, they did it VERY well incorporating some insanely catchy vocals, stage presence and raw emotion. Even without having given them a proper listen beforehand, you couldn't help but get swept up in their addictive melodies. Judging from tonight, I Divide are definitely a band worth keeping an eye on.

This tour was definitely displaying modern pop-punk/melodic hardcore in its full force with up and coming bands Such Gold and Major League, the latter of which was my first full set of the night. Major League were always going to struggle tonight, this tour being their first ever time playing the UK, and also that the growing pop-punk scene, lead by bands like Such Gold and The Story So Far, doesn't really seem to ring with a lot of the audience tonight at FFAF. Though this didn't wear them down. In true pop-punk style, they came out up beat and bouncing, eager to play their new album Hard Feelings to some new ears. Technically, Major League were faultless. Their fast paced brand of pop-punk is just so insatiably uplifting that whether they liked it or not, the crowd found themselves happily bouncing away with them. Unfortunately, with the exception of the already fans and general fans of the melodic hardcore/pop-punk movement, I doubt Major League made many more.

And finally, half the reason I came to this gig: SUCH GOLD! For some reason it took me until the latter part of last year to discover and truly fall in love with them thanks to their incredible debut album Misadventures, and I've been waiting impatiently since then to see them. Finally I had my chance. Though unfortunately this wasn't quite the environment that I was hoping to see them in. There were only a handful of people in the crowd who seemed to know who they are despite being the largest of the three support acts. And Such Gold seemed to notice this fact too. The lack of enthusiasm from the crowd definitely seemed to affect the bands performance for the first part of their set, frequently making jokes about how tame the crowd were. Though this didn't stop the few who were just as excited as I was about such gold from two-stepping and screaming along to Storyteller and Two Year Plan.

Undoubtedly tonight was purely Funeral For a Friends night. As soon as Such Gold left the stage, people were already eagerly surging forward. As the intro to She Drove me to Daytime Television roared in, the crowd, old and young, male and female, metal or punk, erupted into a sea of unified bodies and voices. Expecting this gig to be primarily about the release of Conduit, I was surprised to hear a set which spanned their whole history as a band. But even after a whole decade of being a band, and after six studio releases funeral for a friend are still on top form. Its rare for a band to have so many songs which still prove crowd favourites, such as Juneau, history and roses for the dead, and with FFAFs return to their roots, they still manage to please the crowd.

The set list felt like it was telling the musical story and evolution of Funeral for a Friend as a band. The middle part of the set displayed funeral for a friends return to hardcore. Despite these songs not being as established as the rest, they made up for this in breakdowns which commanded pits that any hardcore band would be proud of. Its just not musically that funeral for a friend are being loyal to hardcore, its in ethics as well, quoting Toby Morse of H2O "passion before fashion" (though I think this reference was lost on much of the crowd). Furthermore, there was a certain feeling that the current government and socio-economic situation in the UK may be slightly responsible for the increased aggression in funeral for a friend, citing the Tory government of the 80s responsible for the unemployment and struggles of Wales. It makes FFAF all the more relevant even today. 

Not only are Funeral For a Friend musically on top form, beyond shadow of a doubt, tonight was the best performance I have ever seen from them. It honestly felt like they had rediscovered themselves as a band after the few lost years of Memory and Humanity. Despite having played to crowds and in venues much bigger than this, FFAF genuinely seemed humble to be at the Garage. The songs Juneau and History could have brought tears to Matthew's eyes as surely every single member in the audience wailed along to every single word in perfect harmony. And from his speech to introduce Juneau, it's apparent that these songs still 
mean just as much, if not more, now as they did when they were first written.