Gig Review: Funeral For A Friend @ Sub 89, Reading. 12/11/2010

First of all, apologies for the delay in this post, I couldn’t be bothered yesterday and i had a lab report to write today. So get off my back Mike and Lynn, here it is, I hope it is rubbish and you hate reading it. Well, I don’t hope it is rubbish, it would be nice for one of my reviews to be at least half decent!

After a hugely delayed journey back from Brighton, and a horribly rushed dinner consisting of two sausage rolls, we ventured to Sub 89 in Reading in order to watch Funeral for a Friend. This would be my fifth time watching what is fast becoming one of my favourite rock bands.

The venue was basically identical to the O2 Academy at Oxford so I felt fairly at home with this club turned gig venue that I was visiting for the first time. One thing that immediately hit me was the amount of girls that were dressed up for this gig, prompting me to wonder whether we had come on the right night! No worries though, as we were then reunited with gig, and soul, mates Adrian and Dan, and the banter resumed.

The support act for tonight was the eagerly anticipated Rise to Remain, a band headed up by none other than the son of Mr Bruce Dickenson! However, this parental connection is most definitely where the band’s Maiden links end, their brand of metalcore a far cry from the galloping riff’s of Dickenson senior’s band. It is evident that I was a number of very few people who had seen Rise to Remain before, having been blow away by them at Sonisphere this year, and i must say that this performance impressed me more. Playing to a crowd where they were virtual unknowns, they managed to get it going in a great way. I think it is safe to say that the boys left the stage with a fair number of new fans after yet another sterling performance.

Now to the night’s main act. I was a bit unsure about what kind of set list that the boys would be flaunting tonight, well aware of the new line-up and looming new album. With minimal mucking about, the boys jump on to the stage and launch in to new, and heavier than normal, single Serpents in Solitude. Not familiar with this song, I assumed that this might be a more laid back gig, where the lads would take the opportunity to air some new material, I was secretly glad for this as i was still feeling pretty damn man-fluey. However, no sooner had the last meaty tones of this opening song fade, then the band threw themselves into classic Roses for the Dead, and my night of relaxed musical enlightenment was dashed as I ran head first into the rapidly expanding mosh pit.

The guys were on top form tonight, and confirmed the belief in my mind that they are one of the classiest acts around. The new bassist fit in effortlessly, his raw style giving the band a bit of a grittier feel. There was also a great deal more ‘banter’ coming from the band than I had previously witnessed, this is possibly due to Matthew Davies-Kreye being a little bit tipsy. Hilarious chat involving pregnant ladies tearing up the pit, and going off on ‘bastard tangents’ aside, i was impressed with his vocals tonight, coming through much clearer than the previous times i have seen the group.

New songs went down very well it must be said, a personal favourite being Front Row Seats to the End of the World. With minimal time between songs, the lads rattle through a great deal of material, before seemingly ending with a one-two of fan favourites History and Into Oblivion, before returning for a powerful encore.

I was very impressed with Funeral tonight, a much more enjoyable and powerful performance than I have seen before from them. Maybe it is because this size of venue suits them more than the bloated audience gained at festivals. They had complete control of their audience, we really were eating out the palms of their hands.

Rating: 8/10

1. Serpents In Solitude

2. Roses For The Dead

3. Rookie Of The Year

4. Sixteen

5. Juneau

6. Red is the New Black

7. Damned If You Do, Dead If You  Don’t

8. The End Of Nothing

9. Wrench

10. Vultures

11. Man Alive

12. History

13. Into Oblivion

Encore

14. All The Rage

15. Front Row Seats To The End Of The World

16. Escape Artists Never Die

Gig Review: Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour @ Brighton Centre. 07/11/2010

For any right thinking rock fan, a tour co headlined by Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour is one that must be witnessed at all costs. Apart, these bands are big enough to at least sub headline some of the biggest festivals, both headlining second stages at Sonisphere and Download respectively in the last few years. So it is a bit of a no brainer that one gig comprising of both of these American heavyweights is going to be a sell out. That is exactly what this show was, in fact, that is exactly what the whole tour was, Corey Taylor proclaiming that this has been the biggest UK tour by anyone this year. This is extremely impressive considering the future of one of the participants, Avenged Sevenfold, was looking to be very precarious after the tragic death of their drummer just after Christmas last year. This tour was a fitting tribute to a great musician.

The venue for this, the last show of the tour, was the deceptively large Brighton Centre. Now, I must admit I am not a fan of this venue, basically a conference hall with a stage at one end. The main criticism i have of it is that there is no character. When one attends shows at Brixton Academy, or Hammersmith Apollo, there is a certain something that goes with the venue adding to the viewing experience. There was no such ‘special something’ at this dreary late seventies seaside monstrosity. However, it does have a capacity of over 5,000 making it larger than the previously mentioned venues.

The support for tonight, as for the rest of the tour, was the ‘super group’ Hell Yeah! A bastardisation of Mudvayne and Pantera, one can tell what Hell Yeah! are about by trawling through their song titles, with such gems as Alcohaulin Ass. I witnessed this group at Download festival this year and to say I was unimpressed would be very kind. Needless to say I had no desire to catch any of this support act.

As the crowd started to fill out and creep forward, I must say that I was again reminded of the reason why i attend London gigs whenever possible. The majority of people around me were half my height and at least ten years younger than me. However, I guess I was expecting this for the evening’s first act, Sevenfold, as their fan base is on the whole a lot younger than the generally heavier Stone Sour’s.

The stage was completely obscured by a large black curtain, implying that we were in for quite a treat of a set from the Sevenfold boys. As the lights extinguished, and the haunting chimes of Nightmare rang out, the curtain dropped revealing an extremely impressive graveyard scene, complete with burning torches. The band take to the stage amid thunderous applause, and the night is well and truly under way.

I had been looking forward to this gig for a long time, having seen neither of the bands before. Avenged Sevenfold’s latest album just built up my anticipation of seeing the guys in action. Honestly, I have to say that I was underwhelmed by their performance tonight. Whether it was the quiet vocals, or the surprisingly lacklustre stage presence of M Shadows, the band did not blow me away in the slightest, an eventuality that unpleasantly surprised me. Their performance was not aided by the crowd, who being saturated with younger fans, were more irritating than anything, any attempts at stable ‘mosh pits’ were unconvincing and easily swallowed up masses by ‘bopping’ teens. Maybe I am being a bit harsh on the boys, they did play well, and the set was extremely impressive, especially during the up temp finish to Buried Alive, but I was not inspired nearly as much as I was expecting. The set list was decent, however, I would have preferred a rendition of Bat Country to Almost Easy to close the set but hey ho. There was a good mix of hits off the new album and older classics such as Beast and the Harlot and Unholy Confessions but the latter song failed to illicit the destructive audience response that it really deserves.

There was a rather touching dedication to their late band mate, Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan, followed by an emotional performance of So Far Away which definitely pulled at the heartstrings. Stepping into ‘The Rev’s shoes was never going to be easy, but new, stand in, drummer, Mike Portnoy, was welcomed to the Sevenfold family with open arms by the fans and it is hoped that long may their affiliation continue.

Overall, a disappointing performance from the boys. I was expecting a more impassioned performance, given the high regard that their live performances are given and I did feel a little let down. However, it still won’t stop me going to see them time and time again.

Rating: 6/10

1. Nightmare

2. Critical Acclaim

3. Welcome to the Family

4. Beast and the Harlot

5. Buried Alive

6. So Far Away

7. Afterlife

8. God Hates Us

9. Unholy Confessions

10. Almost Easy

So to the evenings next act, the much anticipated Stone Sour. As the Avenged fans filtered out in search of water and the like, we managed to secure pretty damn good spots right at the centre of the stage, now covered with a large white sheet. After half an hour break, the lights extinguished again, and the crowd exploded, evidently much more ‘up for’ the closing act. Cue some epic Star Wars music (the piece from the Phantom Menace accompanying the awesome lightsaber battle at the end) along with a pretty impressive light show focussed around a large Stone Sour emblem imposed upon the curtain. As the music reached its dénouement , the shadow of an statuesque man standing, arm aloft, centre stage was imprinted upon the canvas. Corey was waiting. The curtain dropped, and Stone Sour launched into their opening track, Mission Statement. The energy emanating from the five-some was incredible, Corey Taylor the centre of it all, running around like a man possessed, all the while maintaining perfect vocal control. This was more like it, Stone Sour had come to show us what a rock concert is supposed to be like.

A brief pause, only enough for Corey to greet the crowd and announce that this performance was being recorded for the band’s new DVD. Due to the time constraint of this gig, both bands being given an hour set, there is minimal time for ‘chat’ and the boys hurtle into their second song, a perfect rendition of Reborn. Thankfully, the crowd are much better for Stone Sour, most of the scene kids had left for safer climes, leaving mostly the more hardcore rock fans to battle it out for Taylor’s amusement.

I am not sure what it was about Stone Sour tonight, but they absolutely blew me away. They were phenomenal. No amount of superlatives would be enough to describe how good they were. The set list was spot on, you could feel the energy emanating from the stage, Corey’s vocals were (as ever) immaculate, the “wall of dance” was hilarious, the light show was simple but spectacular....I could go on. In fact, on factor that sets Stone Sour apart from many bands that I have seen live this year was the emotion shown by the boys tonight. The most prominent example of this was during a powerful rendition of Bother, when an isolated Corey broke down a number of times, tears streaming down his face, if that isn’t raw emotion then I don’t know what is.

Given this level of intensity from the band, it could be expected that this was a very ‘serious’ rock gig. However, Stone Sour know the score. Like the best acts from this genre, they still remember to have fun up on stage. One of the highlights of the evening was Corey initiating a Wall of Dance during Hell and Consequences. Now a Wall of Dance is very different to a Wall of Death, in that in the former, instead of beating people up, when the two sides meet, people dance with each other. For me it is things like this that make Corey Taylor the complete showman. Capable of humbling passion and emotion, possessor of one of the greatest voices around, but also with the sense of humour to be able to illicit spontaneous waltzing during a heavy metal riff.

The destructive 30/30-150 brought an end to an impeccable performance, one that flew by all too quickly. Battered and bruised, we emerged from the depths of the pit to stumble out into the cold Brighton air. Content, elated, and thunderstruck. This performance is going to take some beating.

Given the short nature of the set, it is impossible for me to give this performance top marks, but safe to say, today, Stone Sour absolutely blew Avenged Sevenfold out of the water, they were phenomenal. Although I do await Corey’s return to Slipknot, I just hope that Stone Sour keep on recording and performing. What. A. Band.

Rating: 9/10

1. Mission Statement

2. Reborn

3. Made of Scars

4. Say You’ll Haunt Me

5. Get Inside

6. Unfinished

7. Your God

8. Bother (Corey Taylor solo)

9. Through Glass

10. Digital (Did You Tell)

11. Hell & Consequences

12. 30/30-150

Should America's Game Stay In America?

This is a question posited by many critics of the NFL every time that the glitz of the most lucrative sport in the world ventures to our sceptered isle.  It is no secret that the majority of sports fans in the UK have no time for ‘American Football’ , common criticisms being its ‘stop-start’ nature and the length of time that it takes to finish a game. Thus, the average Brit will typically be dismissive of this bastardisation of rugby that requires you to strap on 50kg of padding before you play. Given this common view it may be obvious at this point that the NFL should remain stateside, where it belongs. However,  the NFL has a very committed, and rapidly growing, following this side of the Atlantic and has become one of the most widely watched sports in recent years. So popular has the sport become that in 2005, the NFL decided that London would be the venue for the first regular season game to played outside North America. The subsequent contest between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants was one played in front of a sold out crowd of NFL fanatics at Wembley Stadium in October of that year. So impressive was the success of this game that the NFL has returned to London for one game a season ever since.

I was one of nearly 84,000 lucky NFL fans who managed to gain tickets to the latest regular season game to be played at Wembley, this time between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos, last month. I was keen to see how my experience of the ‘big event’ would match up to the hype surrounding it and whether the NFL’s foray into the United Kingdom was welcome. As a big follower of the sport, I had been looking forward to this game for a long time, having missed out on the previous three visits to our country’s capital.

Formerly, I had attended two regular season NFL games, both in the northern Florida town of Jacksonville, in order to see my beloved Jaguars take to the field. Having witnessed the passion and excitement that accompanies a ‘football’ game in America, an experience that served to belittle the fervour that is so praised in our English Premiership, I was keen to see whether British NFL fans could match the atmospheric monstrosity that the members of both teams are accustomed to.

Initially, the answer to this question would be a resounding ‘no’. Although every attendee to this latest ‘international series’ was bursting with anticipation, this was just the excitement at a chance to see their adored sport in the flesh, a chance the majority have never had before due to this event’s habit of selling out within hours of going on sale. As a result, the atmosphere in the stadium was very flat to begin with, not helped by a horrific performance by My Chemical Romance in the pre-game ‘show’.

However, it must be said that this initial flatness compared to atmospheres stateside was completely understandable. Even though there were 84,000 fans in attendance, it is estimated that less than a fifth of these supported either of the two teams at this event. Therefore, the majority in the stadium were neutral and passive in their support of either team. The placid atmosphere was not helped by a less than mediocre first half of ‘football’ played by both teams, the San Francisco offence looking particularly impotent.

As the game progressed, however, and the quality of football improved, the fans came into their own. From a dreary 3-0 score line at half time, the match exploded in the latter quarters, ending up with a 24-16 win for the 49ers. Due to the massively neutral nature of the stadium, every piece of brilliance, whether it be an interception, a fumble recovery, a touchdown pass or a crunching sack, was met with unadulterated mayhem. The whole crowd was obviously loving every minute of the game, well the second half at least. Although it took a while to get going (ok a whole half is a bit too much, but can be worked on), the atmosphere at this year’s ‘international series’ far outshone any that I have experienced stateside. I think the best word to be used to describe the feeling inside Wembley on this cold October night is ‘happiness’. Everyone was just having an incredible time, grateful at getting the opportunity to watch one of the best sports in the world first hand. Corny as it may sound, the American’s have extended out a hand of sporting friendship with this gift to us, and we have most definitely latched on with two hands.

Given the success of the last four outings into the British market, and the planned future expansion of the NFL within the next few years, there is the possibility of a permanent NFL franchise to be based in London, an idea that has the support of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. However, this eventuality is a long way off, the next step is securing multiple regular season games a year in the UK.

The crowds witnessed at every NFL game at Wembley since 2005 is the best sign of the success of the ‘international series’. My personal experience of this fourth ‘international series’ has just cemented in my mind that the NFL is in it for the long run, it is here to stay, get used to it folks.