It's
that time of year again, the time when days get
shorter the nights get longer and the cities venues
start to have bands on almost every night of the
week. Tonight's gig is that of Sleeping With Sirens
who are here to bring their own unique brand of
emo/metal to the sold out venue of screaming girls
here in Birmingham, but we don't want to jump
ahead of ourselves as we have 3 support bands
to go, and first up is
The
Getaway Plan, this Australian 4 piece are a long
way from home, but it doesn't matter as the crowd
warm to them instantly, cheering along as they
play mellow indie rock songs that are a million
miles away from the main band tonight. Aaron Barnett’s
vocals are beautiful and resonate across this
bustling room as it continues to fill up to bursting
point. The rest of the band move around the stage
head banging and rocking as they go upbeat and
play some faster tracks which get the crowd warmed
up, just as everyone gets ready for another track
the set ends and they leave the stage. An interesting
start to the night which leaves me wanting to
hear more from them, let's hope the next band
are as good.
Hands
Like Houses come out to huge applause, after their
walk on song “I'm the voice” plays
to a crowd too young to know the killer tune.
They kick straight into action with Introduced
Species and jump around the stage with tonnes
of energy all with smiles on their faces, they
look like they're having a great time and this
passes over to the crowd as the slightly Enter
Shikari sounding songs blast into the room. They're
upbeat, fast and hard hitting, they've kept the
tempo going and again their set ends quite abruptly,
so I wouldn't mind checking out a headline show
as they definitely had more to give.
The
Summer Set are up next and change the style of
music again, with their slightly country pop rock
sound but again they go down a storm with catchy
songs like Rescue and Boomerang which have catchy
lyrics like “If I was James Dean you could
be my Aubry” which gets the crowd moving
and trying to sing along. They tell the room how
it's the last night of the tour and they want
to end with a bang so the room best be having
the night of their lives and to be fair with music
that's this catchy it's hard not to have a great
time. They tell the crowd how they love Birmingham
and how when they were last here they saved someone
from a car crash, which gets huge cheers. They
wrap up their set with the immensely popular song
Chelsea that bears an ever so striking resemblance
to Stacy's mom by Fountains of Wayne, but it doesn't
matter as it's so unbelievably fun you can't help
but enjoy it. They leave to huge applause and
now we wait for the main act.
Sleeping
With Sirens come out to the biggest screams of
the night, and burst into action, all jumping
around to the music and all dressed in plain shirts
with bow ties except for singer Kellin Quinn who
is in a bright shirt and without the bow tie,
and the reason is, he's the front man he's the
main focal point of the band and he's the one
that adds the final charm and panache to the deep
songs that are being played. I reviewed Sleeping
With Sirens a few months back at Slam Dunk Festival
and wasn't impressed but tonight they're on fire,
they're instantly setting the stage off, they
sound amazing all across the heaving room with
bashing drums, plodding bass and thrashing guitars
whilst tied together with Kellins unique vocal
styles. They play an awesome set with songs like
Here We Go, Congratulations and Low. In between
songs the band has some
fun and play some short covers like Greenday’s
Know Your Enemy and N Together Now by Limp Bizkit.
They also take the time to enlighten the crowd
about some songs and life in general, for instance
after Free Now Kellin tells the crowd how his
dad called him to complain about the song and
he said “the fact you rang me up to complain
shows it made a difference, life is hard and I
don't mean to complain about parents but it's
hard you have to be the jock and look like that
girl on the magazine and have a perfect job but
you don't, we are all unique and perfect the way
we are”.
This
band are something special they're fun entertaining
and deep, their songs have passion and meaning
(especially to this young crowd), and they're
also doing it from a good place, you might think
as I once did that they're pretentious and without
heart but this couldn't be further from the truth.
They put on a great show with awesome songs that
will get you moving as the rest of the set was
filled with songs like; If I’m James Dean
You’re Audrey Hepburn, A Trophy Fathers
Trophy Son, Do It Now Remember
Later, Satellites and ending with an encore of
If You Can’t Hang. So as this was the last
night on the tour, the next time they come around
shake off the ideals that they're sell outs and
a band without a soul and just go and see them
as you won't be disappointed!
The Getaway Plan – 3/5
Hands Like Houses – 3.5/5
The Summer Set – 3.5/5
Sleeping With Sirens – 4.5/5
Review By James Daly
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