 I had been looking forward for tonight’s
Gallows show ever since the tour got announced
many months ago because the only time I have seen
Gallows play before was at Download Festival back
in 2007 and knowing that the Gallows would have
a new album out to coincide with the tour just
added to my excitement of seeing them on their
own headline show.
Due to the Birmingham Saturday night club scene
it was an early gig where the doors were open
at 6pm and the show finishing at 9.45pm to make
way for the club night minutes after, we managed
to get to the venue at 7pm which meant we missed
the first support band Rolo Tomassi but was in
time to see Every Time I Die, another band I was
really looking forward to see.
Now when we walked into the venue it was the
emptiest I have ever seen the Academy, the top
level was closed down due to lack of people so
we made our way downstairs and that was barely
half full, now the Academy can hold a good 3000-4000
people and I reckon by the end of the night the
numbers were only up to 1000 people maximum seriously
there was a lot of room to move and none of the
usual queue’s for the bars, merchandise,
toilets, cloak room etc.
 Every Time I Die took to the stage at 7.15pm
and played a good 40minute set that was full of
manic energy and great stage presence with each
member of the band having their own unique way
of behaving on stage, guitarist Jordan Buckley
seemed to love every moment of being stage and
acted the talented rock star with his fast movements
on stage. Seriously the man was jumping and spinning
around like he was playing the last rock and roll
show on earth. Vocalist Keith Buckley was dressed
up in his axe murderer turned emo shirt and spent
the whole set charging across the stage screaming
his lungs out with his ferocious raw vocals. I
did feel sorry for Every Time I Die a bit because
the front few people in the crowd were really
into them whilst everyone behind the front set
of people looked bored as hell but that didn’t
stop Every Time I Die from giving it their best
shot, they played about ten songs such as ‘Floater’,
‘No Son Of Mine’, ‘Bored Stiff’,
‘Been Gone A Long Time’ and a few
other fan favourites.
When Every Time I Die finished there was a 25
minutes wait for the Gallows to take to the stage
so pretty much everyone in the venue charged out
of the venue for some much needed fresh air and
a cigarette once that was done we headed back
in and waited patiently for the Gallows to take
to the stage.
 Gallows took to the stage dead on 8.25pm, they
came out to the first track of the new album ‘The
Riverbank’ with each band member walking
out one after the other with Frank Carter being
the last member to take to the stage strutting
his stuff in his black and white chequered hoodie,
now I was expecting the show to be mayhem from
start to finish but for the first track Frank
kept his hood up, spent the majority of the time
looking at the floor whilst singing , but as soon
as that was over Frank shouted to the crowd “You
all ready to have some fucking funny” before
running around the stage like a man possessed
with his hard hitting raw vocals and un predictable
ways.
The Gallows played pretty much the whole of their
new album ‘Grey Britain’ apart from
‘Graves’, plus a couple of fan favourites
from their debut album such as ‘Orchestra
Of Wolves’, ‘Belly Of A Shark’
and ‘Just Because You Sleep Next To Me Doesn’t
Mean You Are Safe’ , it was a big gamble
to dominate the set with new material considering
their album has only been out for just over a
week but it was a gamble that paid off as the
fans loved it and seemed to know every word for
every song.
S ome of the highlights from the set was seeing
Steph Carter stage dive during the end of ‘Orchestra
Of Wolves’ whilst frank and the rest of
the band watched from afar, Frank also invited
his friend on stage to sing or should I say scream
along, and that went down really well. Songs like
‘I Dread The Night’ and ‘Death
Voices’ sounded even better live than they
did on CD and that is some achievement as they
seriously rock on CD.
The set finished with ‘Grey Britain’
closing track ‘Crucifucks’ and it
was epic to see the band members come on with
a snare drum each hitting the shit out of it sounding
like an marching band on a mission, the closing
vocals from Frank Carter saying “Great Britain
is fucking dead, so cut our throats, end our lives,
lets fucking start again” had some kind
of eerie and freaky feel about them, the band
left the stage to the sound of a double bass and
various different orchestra style music.
Overall the show was epic, it was so good to
hear so many new songs played and for them to
go down so well, the energy on stage was done
in true Gallows style and it shows that it doesn’t
matter to the Gallows if they are playing to 1
person or 10,000 people they will always put the
same amount of effort in and give everyone a show
they won’t forget in a hurry.
Gallows 5/5
Every Tiem I Die 4/5
Review By Trigger |
