 So tonight I headed to the Academy in Birmingham
to Watch Papa Roach rock so hard with Filter and
Dear Superstar in tow to get the night started,
Dear Superstar were meant to be on stage at 7pm
tonight but due to the stupid early opening time
of 6pm and the early curfew of 9.45pm due to a
club night being on after, Dear Superstar took
to the stage extremely early at 6.15pm and due
to myself having interview commitments with Papa
Roach during this time I missed the whole Dear
Superstar set but from what I could hear from
back stage they sounding pretty damn energetic,
luckily fellow Alternative Vsion team member Rob
Lawrence was also at the show and managed to see
Dear Superstar and had the following to say.
 Dear superstar, no this isn't the start of a letter,
these are a 5 piece sleazy rock band from Manchester,
on the last date of their support of papa roach,
sauntering on to stage, kicking off loud, fast
and heavy, playing fan favourite 'Brothers in
Blood' plus two new songs 'Never Surrender’
and ‘Glitter Like Gold’ which are
well received by the Birmingham crowd, the band
filling the stage with the presence of a headlining
act, they rock out hard an get a good response
from the crowd, good nights work.
Now Rob has got his words out about Dear Superstar
I will continue my gig review, once I finished
interviewing Papa Roach I made my way down stairs
to a very packed out Birmingham Academy, Filter
were on stage and currently half way through there
set, So I stood in the crowd on the far right
hand side from the stage and watched the band
from a far, now I have never seen Filter play
before but I have heard a lot of positive things
about them and how they have influenced many bands,
but during the 4 songs that I managed to see from
Filter they did nothing for me at all, they seemed
really bored on stage with not much movement at
all, and for the crowd, well they all looked like
they were going to nod off to sleep, the only
song I remember from Filter’s set was ‘Take
A Picture’ and I was really looking forward
to hearing the song as it was one of the only
Filter songs that I have heard in the past, but
sadly it was a big let down and Filter did nothing
to build the crowd up for Papa Roach.
 When Filter left the stage there was about a
30minute wait, but this time went pretty damn
quick for me as there was problems with my photo
pass, I some how got given a photo pass for Dear
Superstar when I should have been given one for
Papa Roach and due to the security being fussy
they wouldn’t let me in the photo pit until
I got the problem solved, luckily I did but it
took the best part of 30minutes.
Papa Roach took to the stage in true rock star
fashion which each member of the band walking
on one at a time with a lengthy gap between the
next member taking to the stage whilst smashing
out the hectic introduction instrumental track
‘Days Of Way’ which quickly ran into
‘Change Or Die’ the second frontman
Jacoby Shaddix took to the stage, now for the
full 1 hour 20minutes that Papa Roach were on
stage they were totally energetic, frontman Jacoby
Shaddix spent the majority of the show running
and jumping across the stage, when on stage he
is like an animal let loose who needs attention,
excitement and energy to feed his kicks, by the
end of the first main track ‘Change Or Die’
he was drenched in his own sweat and I wondered
how he was going to make it through the next 1hour
15minutes but he did and in such an hectic full
on way.
 The next few tracks that Papa Roach played were
some of their hits such as ‘Broken Home’,
‘To Be Loved’ and ‘Getting Away
With Murder’ the fans went nuts to each
and every one of these songs but with people going
more mad to ‘To Be Loved’ mainly for
the fact that Jacoby put on a quick rendition
of The Ramones classic ‘Hey Ho Lets Go’
before kicking off into the song.
The set that Papa Roach played was a mixed set
with songs from each and every album they have
ever released being played, the hits went down
very well and the new songs also went down well
which goes to show that the Papa Roach fans can
deal with change and have accepted the bands new
style and sound.
One of the biggest highlights for me was to see
the band perform ‘Between Angels And Insects’,
now that is a song that I have always loved, ever
since when I first heard it back in 2001 and it
is still a classic which sounds so much better
live.
Like most bands Papa Roach played an encore which
consisted of the extremely catchy sing-along track
‘Scars’, the bands forthcoming single
‘I Almost Told You That I Love You’
and the song that got most people into Papa Roach
back in 2001 which is ‘Last Resort’.
When Papa Roach left the stage I looked around
and everyone had a big smile on their face and
looked extremely hot and sweaty which is proof
to me that Papa Roach rocked the fuck out of the
Academy tonight.
Papa Roach 5/5
Filter 2/5
Dear Superstar 4/5
Review By Trigger and Robert Lawrence |
