Gig Review

VersaEmerge
Not Advised
Bristol, Academy 2
18th May 2011


VersaEmerge                Not Advised        
            
Photo Of VersaEmerge © Copyright TriggerThe 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.

Photo Of VersaEmerge © Copyright TriggerFront 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.

Photo Of VersaEmerge © Copyright TriggerInstrumentally 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

 VersaEmerge


Sierra Kusterbeck
Blake Harnage

 Not Advised


Jack Fairbrother
Jim Thomas
Andy White
Greg Day
Ash Oliver

 Band Related Links
VersaEmerge Myspace
Not Advised Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?