Categories
Live Reviews

Against Me – Live

Electric Ballroom
Future of the Left
Steriogram
01.11.07

Well, Against Me are back again, always a good thing, support bands, not so much of a good thing. Apparently these guys had the whole tour, how? Up first was Steriogram from New Zealand and wow what a way to start what was to be an amazing gig. I felt like I was at a battle of the bands contest with a teenage crew churning out Terrorvision hits, honestly take a listen to some of their riffs, not good. I think the singer wanted to be in a hip hop band with his half talk rhyming confused with random Smash Mouth choruses.

Next for the chopping board was Future of the Left hailing from Cardiff. Whoever booked the support bands has a thing for high-pitched white men trying to rap to rock. I think I must be missing something because their tour schedule looks pretty impressive, obviously someone talented working for them. I think I’ve said enough about them, although I must note that the London crowd appeared to appreciate them slightly more than the Brighton crowd.

Finally to the crowd’s delight, not least because it meant not having to listen to anymore painful support acts, Against Me! took to the stage. Commencing a whirlwind tour of the new album, and I mean the entire album, the band interspersed the new songs with a few golden oldies which sent the fans into a frothy moshpit frenzy. They must really like the new album, I think it’s rare for a band to play every single song, especially with such an impressive back catalogue and not that long to play it in. The new songs were played with a palpable energy.

Ocean‘ was especially enjoyable due to Tom’s brilliant father dancing that he seems to have adapted as his new stage movements for this song. The best songs have to have been ‘American Abroad‘ and ‘White People for Peace‘ which were delivered with the energy and force which one has come to expect from Against Me! They triumphed in bringing out some old favourites, although a few fans were left disappointed that it wasn’t more, but with so many anthemic songs under their belts, it is almost inevitable that some would be missed off the setlist.

One of the things that makes Against Me! such a brilliant live act is the chemistry that you can almost touch, you know these guys love each other and really love doing what they do. On top of this Tom, Andrew and James on guitars and bass all have brilliant voices and manage to deliver the same harmonic quality live as featured on their recordings. So all in all, this was a great gig if you were happy to see Against Me! alone, if, on the other hand, you were hoping to make a bit of an evening of it, then you may have been left slightly disappointed by the support.

Katya Ozols