Asking Alexandria & Blessthefall - Rock City, Nottingham - 16th January 2012 (Live Review)
Friday, 20 January 2012
Written by Marcus Colley
I arrived at Rock City at 5pm, two hours before doors were due to open to the general public. My reason: to interview the two highest billed bands (Check here for the Blessthefall and Asking Alexandria interviews). Everyone else’s reason: their pure excitement in anticipation for the show. The queue was buzzing with impatience. Almost everyone you looked at was wearing an Asking Alexandria shirt (or one of the other three bands performing). Their admiration and support was unquestionable.
An hour and a half later, the crowd outside the venue are becoming restless. Chants of “Let us in, you c*nts!” continue until they do. Scores of people pour in and take their places. Not even a quarter of the audience are in before the first band, With One Last Breath, take the stage. No introduction, no audience acknowledgement until halfway through their set. However, the energy release of the crowd was immediate. Mosh pits started five seconds into their first song and didn't stop until Asking Alexandria's last. With One Last Breath were certainly an appropriate opening act given the type of show in store (and their line-up included Asking Alexandria's former bass player, Joe Lancaster). Their performance was confident and impressive. They did their hit, ‘Wake The Dead’ (but without the guest appearance from AA’s Danny Worsnop). This is a band to watch, they'll have their own tour soon. They finished their set and half the audience attempted to leave to relieve their nicotine addictions, however we were refused by security as they hadn't let everyone in yet.
Enter Chelsea Grin: I'd never heard them before but their name and the look of their fans gave me a hint of what was in store. Yes, exactly as I expected, unintelligible screams and roars unhelped by the Rock City sound technicians. The relentless smashing of the drums in random orders of timing somewhat overdid it. However the audience didn't falter, they continued smashing themselves into each other with apparent glee. “We've only got 5 more songs!” grunted the singer. Another half-hour of noise. Every song sounded pretty much like the previous one, but some members of the audience could apparently differentiate them. The one redeeming quality of the Salt Lake City lads was the pretty spectacular guitarist, making it look effortless and completely outclassing all of his band mates, he appeared to be auditioning for another band. The biggest cheer they got was when Alex Koehler (lead shout-at-audience man) asked who was ready for Asking Alexandria. The second biggest cheer they got was when they finally got off the stage.
I've often wondered why headliners have so many support acts, and I've figured it out. It's so if the headliners sound crap, no one will be able to tell, because the audience has been sufficiently pre-deafened.
Now a twenty minute hiatus so Blessthefall could set up. At this point the temperature in the building had reached emergency levels, everyone was now finally admitted. Blessthefall have had their own tour in the UK before and so they had their own following there. They come from Phoenix, Arizona. I know this not because I researched it, but because they mentioned it about five times. However, this can be forgiven because of the level of their performance. They started aptly with the opening duo from their most recent album, 'Awakening', the title track started in complete darkness and ran into 'Promised Ones' which was sung absolutely faithfully by Beau. T
he audience went into full smashing mode, fists flying, noses broken, arms dislocated, the victims laughing. They played a few old ones, 'Hey Baby, Here's That Song...', 'Guys Like You Make Us Look Bad', resulting in massive cheers from the hardcore fans. Their performance went more than smoothly, it went elegantly. More mayhem ensued when Beau scoffed at the “one” crowd surfer he'd seen, god knows where he'd been looking. He then irresponsibly encouraged the audience to “make these security fuckers work for their money!” and “come up here and give me a fucking hi-five!” The place went mental, everyone reacted at once and instead of being able to enjoy the music fully, those of us near the front row had to watch for flying boots for the rest of their show. They certainly know how to get an audience warmed up, by this point according to my phone, the temperature in the room was 35 degrees. The only (personal) disappointment of Blessthefall was them not playing my favourite song, 'Meet Me At The Gates', but I'm not complaining because it was an incredible show which gave Asking Alexandria's performance a run for its money.
An abnormally short break for Asking Alexandria. They were due on at 10 but actually started their first song at 9:30. They opened with 'Welcome' - it says 'New Welcome' on the set list but hearing anything new about it was impossible because of every person in the room screaming in ever increasing pitch as each member came on stage, finally culminating as lead singer Danny Worsnop sprinted on stage and roared something inaudible to the audience. Their sobriety cannot be questioned and neither can their talent. As 'Closure' started the place went absolutely insane, increasing in insanity until the synth breakdown to which everyone in the room danced euphorically. It was at this point the mosh pits started to get very dangerous, to my right was a person who had somehow entangled their hair in someone's arm bracelet thing, while chaos ensued all around. This went on for at least two minutes whilst struggling to see, in the end someone came with a knife and cut his hair free and the audiences madness continued.
They chanted along, with intensity, to songs such as, 'Not The American Average', 'I Was Once, Possibly, Maybe A Cowboy King' off the album 'Stand Up And Scream’, and 'Dear Insanity', ' To the Stage' and 'A Lesson Never Learned' from 'Reckless And Relentless’ (released April 2011). There was never a calm moment during their powerful show. In between 'Dedication' and 'Dear Insanity', Danny welcomes the crowd to encourage a drum solo, which was impressively obliged. Ben Bruce on lead guitar and clean vocals does a staggering guitar solo, completely blowing away the captive audience. They finished their show with one of the fans favourites, the dark and evil, 'Morte et Dabo'. The band exited but the audience did not, for they knew it was not the end... and I had a set list.
“ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!” The audience chant irrelevantly. James Cassells, the drummer, walks on stage alone and the familiar start of 'Alerion' begins. Drummed so faithfully to the studio version of the song, the guitarists Cameron and Ben strum along in wait. “FUCK THIS!” Danny and everyone shout, and the song leads into the culminating song, the one the audience had been waiting for, 'The Final Episode'. The place explodes, bottles fly, a huge wall of death, an annoying ginger man gets knocked out, all whilst singing along word for word. The song finishes and the band thank the audience. Nobody can hear, everyone rushes for the nearest tap.
This was a good performance overall, with the performances improving as the night progressed. The factors that let it down were the venue itself and the attitude of staff. The sound technicians needed to turn the vocals up and the drums down. The fact that they didn't, resulted in a song you could recognise but barely hear the words to. However, their performance on the night reflected how much they have grown and matured as a band as they've mastered self control and control of the audience. Well worth going to see.
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Now a twenty minute hiatus so Blessthefall could set up. At this point the temperature in the building had reached emergency levels, everyone was now finally admitted. Blessthefall have had their own tour in the UK before and so they had their own following there. They come from Phoenix, Arizona. I know this not because I researched it, but because they mentioned it about five times. However, this can be forgiven because of the level of their performance. They started aptly with the opening duo from their most recent album, 'Awakening', the title track started in complete darkness and ran into 'Promised Ones' which was sung absolutely faithfully by Beau. T
