Theory
Of A Deadman
The Crave, Octane Ok
Birmingham, HMV Institute
27th February 2012
Octane OK won some form of competition
to gain the opportunity to open this show on the
tour and personally I wouldn’t have chosen
them for this particular tour as their music isn’t
really on the same level as Theory of a Deadman’s,
never the less to give credit where it was due
they really went for it tonight and they had a
fairly positive response, from my perspective
though they were a bit out of their depth here
at more of a rock and roll show but whilst it
may not be my thing other people seemed to be
relating to it, so I suppose from that kind of
view it was a success but from where I was stood
they were just in the way of who I came to see.
The Crave came on and I think everyone was really
disappointed because I don’t feel anyone
knew that they were playing and were expecting
the headliners to walk on. This is why I feel
initially they didn’t really receive a great
reception but in contrast to the end of their
set where people were bouncing around the room
screaming I’d say they won them over in
the end. The Crave are definitely a more appropriate
act for this particular tour but being the main
support for Theory of a Deadman has completely
gone to waste as not even once did they announce
who they were to the crowd or have any form of
logo on display anywhere, if I hadn’t seen
them before I wouldn’t have had any freaking
idea who they were. So whilst the band played
a great set it’s gone to waste as very few
people can become fans without knowing who you
are.
Theory of a Deadman weren’t initially going
to be recieving a good review from me for a variety
of reasons; number 1 the sound was terrible, number
2 Tyler’s vocals weren’t great and
number 3 the drummer’s mic was louder than
everything else. Fortunately 1 and 3 were soon
rectafied after the first 2 songs and Tyler would
later on explained he was suffering from illness
but again after the first 2 songs his voice improved
drastically also. Once those problems were ironed
out there was no stopping them, whilst some may
call the cliché card I felt they were rolling
with it and having some fun, the comedy value
was off the scale. As the night progresses the
crowd became louder and louder not to mention
increasingly more rowdy; a pair of women’s
pants were flung onto the stage, you could hear
nothing but lyrics being screamed louder than
Tyler could sing them and everyone left their
feet jumping around. The band then made me nearly
hit the roof by announcing they’d be playing
this year’s Download Festival, from that
point on was just pure emotion for me as all of
the best songs came out; “Out Of My Head”,
“Bad Girlfriend”, “Lowlife”,
“Hurricane” and “Santa Monica”.
Not to take away from some of the earlier songs
because “The Truth Is…”, “So
Happy” and “Bitch Came Back”
were easily the most memorable of the night. They
briefly left before their inevitable encore which
consisted of a J.J. Cale cover in the form of
“Cocaine” followed by the one and
only “Hate My Life”. Me and my 2 lads
left the venue in awe eagerly awaiting download
festival!
Octane OK – 3/5
The Crave – 3.5/5
Theory of a Deadman – 4.5/5
Review By James Webb
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