 The Academy in Bristol is one of the venues that
I visit the most but tonight happened to be the
first time I have ever attended a gig at the Academy
2, we got in moments after main support band Not
Advised had started due to a few complications
at the front desk getting my photopass confirmed.
As soon as I walked into the venue I felt the
heat hit me and that is because the Academy 2
is a really small room located on the top floor
of the main Academy and there was just over 100
people packed into the venue with at least a quarter
of the people really getting into Not Advised.
I first got into Not Advised back in 2008 and
back then I tipped the band for big things and
it seems like their years of hard work is finally
paying off as they are quickly becoming a household
name now and judging by the tightness of the band
during their 30 minute set tonight they really
have matured as a live act and come together as
a band who have had years of experience on the
road.
 Front man James Thomas spent a lot of time interacting
with the crowd between songs whilst the rest of
the band were constantly rocking out their instruments,
the highlights of the set were ‘Right Now’
and the set closer ‘The World’s Not
Ready’ which surprisingly the majority of
the crowd knew the words to and began to sing-a-long.
The only downside to their set was the fact that
the band looked very cramped on stage and with
Andy and Greg kept on in the dark due to the extremely
poor lighting throughout the set.
VersaEmerge took to the stage slightly late at
9.10pm and they made a short introduction before
front girl Sierra Kusterbeck announced are you
ready to party and then proceeding to play ‘Stranger’
whilst running and jumping around the small stage
like a really confident front girl.
Throughout the whole 1 hour set Sierra had the
crowd in the palm of her hand especially during
‘Your Own Love’ and ‘Moments’
where she asked the crowd to jump as high as they
can which prompted the excited teenage crowd to
do just that.
 Instrumentally the band were tight, with the
spooky soundscapes and forceful guitar riffs coming
across exactly as they do on record, the main
highlights of the set were when ‘Figure
It Out’ and ‘Fixed At Zero’
were played to perfection and to the pure excitement
of the crowd.
The set finished with ‘Clocks’ which
features on the bands earlier EP and as soon as
Sierra introduced the song the crowd reacted with
pure excitement and sung along word for word for
the final 4minutes of the show.
Tonight was VersaEmerge’s first show of
their first ever headline tour of the UK and just
a couple of weeks before the tour was due to kick
off, bass player Devin Ingelido announced he was
leaving the band to concentrate on family life
and instead of cancelling the tour VersaEmerge
quickly found a temporary replacement and tonight’s
show proved that they can easily overcome problems
as they were on top form and are sure to go on
to bigger and better things in the near future.
Not Advised - 4/5
VersaEmerge – 5/5
Review By Trigger
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