Last Witness are tonight’s opening
act on the bottom on the bill, not only that but
they are on the bottom of the list in terms of
performance quality, the babies of tonight if
you will. I don’t know if it was nerves
or just general inexperience but the members are
all expressionless, motionless and emotionless
pretty much standing in the same place softly
head banging for their entire set, the vocalist
in particular plays most of the set with his eyes
closed and his back to the audience, pacing around
seemingly unsure what to do with himself. As for
the music I can get into the musical side of things
but those vocals really just aren’t for
me as I cannot understand a single word that was
said, between songs as well the lack of confidence
is present as there is plenty of silence as he
doesn’t really speak nor does the crowd
really seem bothered about them.
Stray From The Path are much more on par with
tonight’s headline act with this performance,
much more aggressive and energetic, confidence
exuding and making for some great moments. Their
vocalist asks for movement and a first doesn’t
get it, but then he asks for even a little bit
just to see the crowd get their money’s
worth and then a few people get to it. The room
isn’t really that well populated in all
fairness but towards the end of the set people
to seem to be turning up and on their last song
chaos absolutely explodes, it’s a shame
this only picks up at the end but at least they’ll
take that memory away from them and seeing as
their main job was to warm us up for Everytime
I Die you can safely say that that has easily
been done here thanks to their aggressive onstage
presence and vocalist Drew York’s fantastic
interaction skills.
Everytime I Die absolutely explode on that stage
with a furious momentum, a momentum which never
lets up throughout the set; songs flowing off
into the next, reaching a total of a whopping
17 songs in their hour and 15 minute set! Aside
from the rapid growth of Keith Buckley’s
facial hair nothing has changed from the last
time I saw them play back on the 2009 Taste of
Chaos tour; energetic, aggressive, fast paced,
chaos provoking and generally epic. Buckley is
on top form as always, vocals are damn near perfect
and his stage presence is immense, having a laugh
with fans and riling everybody up. If you compare
this atmosphere, this reception and the energy
on display with the other acts of the night the
difference is unbelievable; you can hear the voices
of hardcore fans screaming the lyrics to every
song over the band, feet are flying in the air
smashing into the lighting rigs, cups and assorted
liquids are flying all over the room and the best
part of it all none of it phases the band even
a little bit they appear like this is just another
day at the office! Never have I been a part of
something quite so high octane and fast paced,
it’s a set I won’t soon be forgetting
that’s for sure!
Last Witness – 3/5
Stray From The Path – 4/5
Everytime I Die – 4.5/5
Review By James Webb
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