sduff85
05/11/09, 01:33 PM
Amazingly this was my first gig of this entire year. Subways in Brixton was last and I've been dying to get to a live show ever since. I missed out on Slipknot, FOB and Metallica in months gone by which really sucked.
It's also my first visit to The Electric Ballroom. The place looks tiny on the outside but is vast on the inside. Down the stairs is a bar in the centre and the main stage is to the right of that, there's also stairs either side of the front main area. Not bad. Although the front right is kind of on a corner which made for a lot of crushing.
Yashin from Scotland are first up, entering to the "don't talk about fight club" speech and tearing into a high octane screamo show with not one but two main vocalists. Crowd seems really into it and a good pit is going in the middle left of the arena. We also got to meet one of them (Harry I think) at the end so all was cool. 7.5/10
Flood Of Red though were a disappointment however. I'm not sure whether it was because Yashin were really quite good as a support act or because the crowd was tired out from them. Either way, they'll need to do better. 5/10
I'll admit I was gutted, absolutley gutted when Kill Hannah pulled out of this but The Audition make for an okay replacement. It's Pop Punk by the numbers but good enough to keep the crowd interested. 7.5/10
Main Event: Madina Lake
Score: 10/10
There are three things in life I will never, ever tire of. United winning the league, Nights out with the lads and the fact that seemingly every single time a band I like takes criticism, they pop up in the UK to ram it as far down the throats of said critics as humanly possible. Madina Lake are no exception to this rule in the slightest.
Starting with Never Walk Alone, the crowd explodes into life with Matteo Leone taking the first of several stage dives. On stage, they sound a million bucks, hitting every single note perfectly, getting the crowd to sing along.
It's by the time House Of Cards comes around when Madina Lake really make you think they are taking the absolute piss. A flurry of giant balloons are thrown from the main stage, bouncing all over the arena as they go, invariably exploding into a cascade of glitter which has everyone's hands in the air to grab a piece.
New single Never Take Us Alive has the arena bouncing up and down and the classics from Them to us through you, incite some insane moshing in the centre.
Finishing with their encore, and another barrage of balloons, they depart back to Chicago, but not after informing us they are indeed doing Reading & Leeds. I for one can't wait and an NME slot would be as epic as it gets. I still can't help but wonder if they would have been the stand alone stars tonight if Kill Hannah hadn't pulled out but on this evidence, I'll be marking this one down as one to look back to when deciding my gig of the year. Awesome in every respect.
It's also my first visit to The Electric Ballroom. The place looks tiny on the outside but is vast on the inside. Down the stairs is a bar in the centre and the main stage is to the right of that, there's also stairs either side of the front main area. Not bad. Although the front right is kind of on a corner which made for a lot of crushing.
Yashin from Scotland are first up, entering to the "don't talk about fight club" speech and tearing into a high octane screamo show with not one but two main vocalists. Crowd seems really into it and a good pit is going in the middle left of the arena. We also got to meet one of them (Harry I think) at the end so all was cool. 7.5/10
Flood Of Red though were a disappointment however. I'm not sure whether it was because Yashin were really quite good as a support act or because the crowd was tired out from them. Either way, they'll need to do better. 5/10
I'll admit I was gutted, absolutley gutted when Kill Hannah pulled out of this but The Audition make for an okay replacement. It's Pop Punk by the numbers but good enough to keep the crowd interested. 7.5/10
Main Event: Madina Lake
Score: 10/10
There are three things in life I will never, ever tire of. United winning the league, Nights out with the lads and the fact that seemingly every single time a band I like takes criticism, they pop up in the UK to ram it as far down the throats of said critics as humanly possible. Madina Lake are no exception to this rule in the slightest.
Starting with Never Walk Alone, the crowd explodes into life with Matteo Leone taking the first of several stage dives. On stage, they sound a million bucks, hitting every single note perfectly, getting the crowd to sing along.
It's by the time House Of Cards comes around when Madina Lake really make you think they are taking the absolute piss. A flurry of giant balloons are thrown from the main stage, bouncing all over the arena as they go, invariably exploding into a cascade of glitter which has everyone's hands in the air to grab a piece.
New single Never Take Us Alive has the arena bouncing up and down and the classics from Them to us through you, incite some insane moshing in the centre.
Finishing with their encore, and another barrage of balloons, they depart back to Chicago, but not after informing us they are indeed doing Reading & Leeds. I for one can't wait and an NME slot would be as epic as it gets. I still can't help but wonder if they would have been the stand alone stars tonight if Kill Hannah hadn't pulled out but on this evidence, I'll be marking this one down as one to look back to when deciding my gig of the year. Awesome in every respect.