The
Kerrang tour is an event which hits the UK every
January and February and it always features a
very diverse line up and this year the tour has
been as diverse as ever with pop-punk superstars
New Found Glory headlining the tour and being
supported by pop-punk friends Sum 41, hardcore
giants Letlive and rising metal-core band While
She Sleeps.
Sadly two weeks before the Kerrang tour was to
kick off Sum 41 announced that they would not
be able to take part in the tour as frontman Deryck
Whibley is battling on going back problems which
have left him
pretty much wheel chair bound but instead of cancelling
the show Kerrang worked long and hard to find
a replacement for Sum 41 and invited The Blackout
to fill the gap on the tour which was met with
mixed reactions from the fans due to the fact
that lots of people bought a ticket to just see
Sum 41 and The Blackout were on the tour a couple
of years back.
I arrived at the Academy just as While She Sleeps
took to the stage and they had the crowd on their
side from the start with their fast and furious
brand of metal-core music, the venue was packed
the mosh pit was kicking
off and the band were charging around on stage
like maniacs with so many people in the crowd
screaming along to the lyrics of songs such as
‘The North Stands For Nothing’, ‘Hearts
Aside Our Horses’ and a few others.
While She Sleeps only had a twenty minute set
but they clearly put everything into it and I
am sure they left the stage tonight with a few
more fans.
Next up were Letlive and despite reading articles
on how energetic their live performances are I
still really did not know what to expect but my
god they were extremely bonkers from start to
finish, they played in near darkness with the
odd bit of strobe lighting and frontman Jason
Aalon Butler was like roadrunner on speed running
around the stage like a mental case and spending
the majority of the set in with the crowd which
kept the security on their toes.
They managed to fit 5 songs into their 25minute
set and the progressive sounds of tracks like
‘Muther’, ‘La Prologue’
and ‘Casino Columbus’ went down surprisingly
well with the crowd despite a few technical sound
difficulties with Butler’s vocals not coming
across as loud and clear as they should of and
I am sure that a lot of people will want to check
these out at their own headline show just to see
if butler can keep up the hectic pace for over
an hour.
After
a short change around of equipment on stage The
Blackout took to the stage and blasted straight
into ‘I’m A Riot! You’re A Fucking
Riot!’ and then followed this on with a
fantastic cover of Sum 41’s ‘Fat Lip’
after the song Sean Smith dressed in his finest
customised Sum 41 t-shirt spoke to the crowd about
how gutted he was that Sum 41 had to pull out
of the tour but also how glad that The Blackout
were offered the slot of filling the gap on the
tour, things then went humorous with a few Sum
41 jokes before the band continued to rock out
with killer song after killer song with songs
like ‘ShutTheFuckUppercut’, ‘Children
Of The Night’ and ‘Higher And Higher’
going down a complete storm with the crowd, the
energy displayed on stage was fantastic with
the whole band bouncing and jumping around the
stage with Sean Smith also getting extremely close
to one of the security guards at one point who
seemed to have taken it well.
A lot of people wrote The Blackout off before
they even stepped on to the stage tonight but
they truly blew the crowd away and proved that
they were the best band to step in for Sum 41
such an energetic performance which felt like
a headline set.
After The Blackout finished there was a good 20
minute wait for New Found Glory and this flew
by and before we knew it the lights had dimmed
and New Found Glory took to the stage and bounced
straight into ‘All Down Hill From Here’
which was followed by ‘Radiosurgery’,
as the set progressed you could tell that the
next hour was going to be a party as New found
Glory smashed out classic songs from each of their
albums and also found time to play a few cover
songs such as The Ramones ‘Blitzreig Bop’,
Sixpence None The Ritcher ‘Kiss Me’
and everyone’s favourite punk sing-a-long
anthem ‘Basket Case’ by Green Day.
New
Found Glory frontman Jordan Pundik spent most
of the set charging around the stage whilst singing
the pop punk lyrics that we have come to love
over the years, Ian Grushka spent a lot of time
pulling funny faces to the photographers and generally
having a laugh, Cyrus Bolooki whacked his drums
with passion whilst showing off his mascot of
animal from the muppets, Steve Klein played with
pure energy whilst Chad Gilbert did all the interaction
to the crowd and got a massive response when he
announced that New Found Glory will be back later
in the year with the pop punks not dead tour.
The
atmosphere throughout the New Found Glory set
was fantastic with the majority of the crowd dancing
and singing along and generally having a good
time, when the set came to an end with ‘My
Friends Over You’ you could tell that everyone
was left wanting more from New Found Glory as
they seriously put on the show of their career
tonight.
While She Sleeps 3/5
Letlive 3/5
The Blackout 4/5
New Found Glory 5/5
Review By Trigger
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