Gig Review

Gallows
Every Time I Die
Birmingham, Academy
16th May2009
    
          
Gallows                        Every Time I Die        
         
Photo Of Every Time I Die © Copyright TriggerI 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.

Photo Of Every Time I Die © Copyright TriggerEvery 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.

Photo Of Gallows © Copyright TriggerGallows 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.

SPhoto Of Gallows © Copyright Triggerome 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

 Gallows


Frank Carter (Vocals)
Stephen Carter (Guitar)
Laurent Barnard (Guitar)
Stuart Gili-Ross (Bass)
Lee Barratt (Drums)

 Every Time I Die


Keith Buckley (Vocals)
Andrew Williams (Guitar)
Jordan Buckley (Guitar)
Michael Novak (Drums)
Josh Newton (Bass Guitar)

 Band Related Links
Gallows Myspace
Every Time I Die Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?