Never Say Die Tour with We Came As Romans + Blessthefall + Stick To Your Guns + For The Fallen Dreams + Obey The Brave + At The Skylines + The Browning + At Dawn We Rage @ O2 Academy 2, Birmingham – Monday 15th October 2012
One night and a grand total of 7 bands, that’s a lot of gear, a lot of band members and a lot of merch as the Impericon Never Say Die tour descends on Birmingham for its first stop off in the UK. We Came As Romans, Blessthefall, Stick To Your Guns, For The Fallen Dreams, Obey The Brave, At The Skylines, The Browning and dub-step types At Dawn We Rage complete tonight’s bill.
Due to the crazily early start I miss At Dawn We Rage but I manage to catch the last couple of songs of The Browning’s set, terrible band name aside, the electronic infused metal sounds pretty good. They may not have got much of a crowd reaction but one guy down the front certainly enjoyed himself!
It may be Obey The Brave’s first time in the UK but it’s evident that it’s been a long time coming as they get the best crowd reaction of the night so far. Opening with ‘Lifestyle’ the Canadians definitely picked up the energy levels and the judging from the number of bodies moving in the pit the crowd certainly enjoyed the set.
At The Skylines are up next and play a pretty decent set which the crowd laps up. Frontman Dylan with his shocking bleach blonde hair does a great job of firing up the crowds and can be forgiven for some less than perfect vocals. The big hit ‘Brothers in Arms’ goes down a treat and is the highlight of their set.
I’d go as far as to say Stick To Your Guns stole the show, their straight up hardcore takes no prisoners from the get go as bodies slam in to each other down the front. Motivational speeches, audience participation, serious scissor jumps from the guitarist and a failed stage dive make for one highly enjoyable set.
Two more bands to go and the air is thick with testosterone as the predominately male audience get ready for Bless The Fall who take to the stage taking no prisoners with a ferocious set. The crowd seem to be pretty familiar with the songs and there are plenty of moments when they join in with the band. Keeping things interesting and the security team on their toes, Bless The Fall invite people to the stage for high-fives, cue kids flying over the barrier with outstretched hands much to the displeasure of the security guards.
Headliners We Came As Romans definitely have a job on their hands, the last band of the evening normally means the biggest crowd but this is definitely not the case tonight. The room has significantly emptied leaving only a few clinging on to the barrier and others a good ten feet back. They start off well, bounding on the stage full of energy and what’s left of the crowd seem to be enjoying themselves it doesn’t last long though as the dual vocal attack falls flat as clean vocalist Kyle Pavone struggles to hit all the notes. The disappointment at the poor showing is etched on the bands faces and even though they put a lot of effort into revving the crowd up it doesn’t do much when there isn’t much of a crowd left.
Photographs of Obey The Brave and At The Skylines by Steve Gerrard
Photographs of We Came As Romans by Katja Ogrin
Review by Hannah Sebestjanowicz