Author: Crossfire

London Barfly
05.06.08

A Day To Remember headline the ‘Road To Download’ tour at the Barfly tonight with Alesana and the Devil Wears Prada. It’s all of these bands’ first performance of the tour and although I miss the first two, from the show ADTR put on you’d think they were old friends of the UK even though they’ve only graced these shores once before. The room is lively from the outset and when vocalist Jeremy growls ‘Pick up your feet!’ the crowd does just that.

There’s also much singing / chanting along tonight with a great feeling of comradery. This band’s bizarre mix of pop-punk and hardcore has one over-riding feature in their crucial beatdowns that always seem to obliterate what has gone before no matter how melodic. Jeremy makes a claw action with one hand and the pit opens wide up. ‘A Shot In The Dark‘ pummels with intent and drives the crowd into a frenzied circle. The lyrics ‘Mark my words, we’re taking over the world’ have never sounded more appropriate as people start invading the stage much to the glee of the band.

The claw hand action is adopted by every member at one point during one of the aforementioned beatdowns and it seems that these guys can do no wrong. Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since U Been Gone‘ is a definite highlight and fuels the singalong factor with A Day To Remember’s heady combination of supreme melody and grinding heaviness.

It’s a surprisingly good rendition despite sounding a little like punk rock karaoke. A crowd clapalong cements the track as an integral part of their appeal despite the crowd remaining transfixed and actually being the most static that they have all night. A new song follows soon after and sounds rather meatier than much of their older material boding well for what’s to come from these guys. After this things descend into madness somewhat but the band is still tight and unphased by the overwhelming reaction. ‘The Plot To Bomb The Panhandle‘ rounds off the evening in style and it’s clear that this is a hit. Mark my words they’re taking over the world.

Winegums

Shepherd’s Bush Empire
25.06.08

You know any show that Ben Folds plays will be pure gold. The only thing to debate when going to see Ben Folds live is what little tricks he might pull out of the bag this time around. Unfortunately, there was no ‘Bitches Ain’t Shit‘ at the Shepherds Bush Empire tonight. However, we had objects inserted under piano strings to distort the sound, dual synth and piano playing, a rogue tambourine man who graced the stage with his presence from time to time through the set, audience participation, piano stool throwing, anecdote telling, old-skool song playing, novelty new song playing, improvisation with amusing results… phew!

This set was almost two hours long and the Folds pulled out pretty much every ounce of enthusiasm, especially towards the end when the old-skool gems graced our ears. This man knows how to play the hits. ‘Underground’, ‘Kate’, ‘One Angry Dwarf’ followed in quick succession with the latter bringing the grand finale and rollicking with such lightning fast speed that the musicians onstage looked scared shitless.

It’s true that the average fan of Ben Folds is more… mature. However, this doesn’t effect the sheer energy of Folds and his musicians. The bassist plays chunky grooves flawlessly and the drummer is accomplished, if a little loose in his approach. Harmonies are tackled with finesse and the musicianship is pretty much astounding all round. Especially when the audience becomes involved in vocal harmonies with so much ease it’s a wonder that musicians don’t use their audiences more frequently.

The second half of the evening is definitely more exciting with the first half mainly comprising slower, more recent tunes. However well-received these may be (and they do go down a storm!) they will never top the poppier hits of ‘Rockin’ The Suburbs’, ‘Zak and Sarah’, ‘There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You’ and ‘Army‘. There’s brand new material too and new song ‘Benny Hit His Head‘ documents Folds walking straight off the stage in Japan and bleeding all over his piano. A little novelty perhaps but definitely a taste of the fun stuff to come.

Winegums