Kerrang! Tour 2015 – Don Broco + We Are The In Crowd + Young Guns + Bury Tomorrow + Beartooth @ O2 Academy, 19th February 2015
Tonight Kerrang! pulled together a selection platter of bands from either end of the current rock music spectrum, and to be honest it shouldn’t have worked, but according to the packed out Academy crowd it really did.
Having seen Beartooth on each of their visits to the UK and watched their live sound and stagecraft improve; my expectations for tonight were pretty high. I was relieved to get into the venue in time for their early opening slot, as the queue (in the pouring rain) was about the longest I’ve seen at the Academy. Caleb and the guys arrived onstage amidst a wall of guitar noise and while the crowd were being invited to ‘let lose’ the crowd pushed back to open up a pit just in time for Beaten In Lips.
I wasn’t disappointed. As the line “Listen to the sound of your children revolting” still hung in the air, the following breakdown had exactly the designed effect, causing Caleb to comment that it’s been a long time since he’d seen that sort of energy from the first song. Despite the rest of the band being spot on musically, it seemed that Caleb was struggling. Coughing and gargling water between songs, speaking some lyrics rather than screaming them and his band mates did seem to be casting a concerned eye; it appeared he might have been struggling with some form of illness. Regardless though, he pushed on through In Between, I Have A Problem and finished up with Body Bag, still throwing everything into them. I know that I for one will be there next time they hit the UK, hopefully with Caleb at one hundred percent.
Things got heavier with Southampton lads Bury Tomorrow. Every time I see them I’m so impressed with how well the screams and lows of Dani Winter-Bates and the cleans of Jason Cameron compliment each other, this was demonstrated brilliantly with their opener Man On Fire.
Tonight’s set was pretty much a best-of, and really showcased what BT are all about; Of Glory, Watcher, An Honourable Reign and Lionheart were all clinically (despite a couple of technical set backs) and energetically delivered. I have to say, there are vocalists and then there are frontmen, Dani is most definitely the latter in every sense of the word. As well as his vocal performance he has character in yards, tonight he provided a spontaneous lecture on safe sex inspired by a floating condom, a brutal disapproval of bands that charge fans to meet them and after their set, spent the rest of the evening tirelessly meeting fans and taking selfies. I can only hope some of the more pop-punk members of the audience had their horizons broadened by a Bury Tomorrow firing on all cylinders.
In a rather polar transition between the sub-genres of rock, Young Guns took the opportunity to play a quick three tracks. Added at the last minute, and intentionally not impinging on anyone else’s set time, their energetic poppy alt-rock seemed to be exactly what a lot of the crowd had been waiting for. Kicking off with I Want Out, their single that featured on Zane Lowe’s hottest record list, they immediately had the crowd jumping along and singing back. They did seem to lose their momentum a little with another new one Speaking In Tongues, but quickly pulled it back with fan-favorite Bones. After a fairly significant break away from touring to work on their third album, they promised the crowd that they’d be back soon, and from the reaction there’s no doubt they’ll see a few of tonight’s audience when they do.
The first of the night’s co-headliners were We Are The In Crowd from New York. Their bass heavy grooving pop-punk riffs and female vocals grabbed hold of the crowd and lifted the energy in the room, as they rolled from one song into the next. That is, until singer Tay Jardine came down from her two-tier ego riser to slow things down a little with Come Back Home. It seemed at that point that the pace change and rather long set list lost a few members of the crowd to the bars and exits, glancing around a lot of people not in the middle of the room in front of the stage were either checking their phones or moving further off to the sides of the venue to chat. Things did pick back up a little with Kiss Me Again which saw great participation from the crowd, and the set finished strongly with Both Sides Of The Story and Rumour Mill. Tay did let us know that WATIC wouldn’t be back in the UK for a while, as they’d be spending the time working on their new record.
After a really long stage rebuild (filled with rather more projectile vomit than you get at most gigs), which seemed to lose even more of the waiting crowd, it was the turn of pop-alt-rock three piece Don Broco. There’s no doubting that the guys from Bedford have a strong fan base and those in the crowd tonight made their allegiance clear, their participation and singing back during Yeah Man was a spectacle in itself. For me though, and I do know that I’m in the minority, their whole performance just didn’t seem to work, the quality of sound from their album Priorities was just not there and their exaggeratedly jolly stage presence just seemed to dilute what little edge their music has. Singer Rob Damiani’s grin and the overly choreographed running back and forward to their ego risers, like sliders on a mixing table just felt uncomfortable. That, coupled with the increasing similarity of each of the tracks in their set list meant that I found it difficult to stay interested. One thing that I cannot knock is their energy, keeping the tempo up and the partisan fans jumping for the entire set, including the most smiley, friendly circle pit you’ll ever see.
Overall, I think the night was a success and I have to take my hat off to Kerrang! for pulling together a great, value for money evening, showcasing music from across the rock continuum. For me, more evenly balancing the stage time across each of the evening’s acts would have would have kept things moving a little better and maybe a few more of the crowd there until the end. Looking forward to next year’s tour.
Review: Steve Kilmister
Photographs: Dave Musson