22nd June 07
When was the last time you went out? When was the last time you went out to witness a fucking riot? When was the last time you went out to watch a band destroy a venue and eat you for breakfast at the same?
If you can’t answer these questions then you have not see Gallows in the flesh and you have not lived your life to the full yet.
Picture Kings College in London. It’s Thursday night, The Ghost of a Thousand slayed the warm up leaving people stoked. Then the Cancer Bats fuelled the fire on 400 raging kids making way for the most explosive show since the last one! It’s the end of the tour and after 4 songs you could the band were just that 10% off their usual energy charged set until Lethal Bizzle of all people came on stage to join mouthy Frank Carter to perform a swinging rendition of Staring at the Rude Boys! Even The Ruts themselves turned up tonight to see what all the fuss was about – it turns out they were stoked on what they saw as the cover was dynamic and burnt the place down.
Franks Mum, who was watching this atomic bomb spill napalm over London from a gallery was probably wondering how the hell she spawned 3 amazing sons who are causing the uproar with their heart felt hardcore set across the UK. Tonight, this set was for her and also for everyone else of course because that’s how Gallows roll – they can be in your face wanting to kill ya, but will pull back and buy you a beer and give you a hug before they do…
With no security present, the stage was invaded for the legendary chorus of Orchestra of Wolves and with bodies flying everywhere, the band are stopped mid song due to the overcrowding and Frank stage dived off the PA into a sea of boiling energy. Crowd surfing seems normal, i had to dive too, no holds barred, one dude is crowd walking! This is total and utter carnage only witnessed years back when Snuff came to town and injected their pop punk blend of total fun into your life or when US hardcore really had the word ‘punk’ tattooed on it’s vinyl compared to the crap we are fed thesedays. Carter reminds us of this all night and he is right to….
Gallows even have the audacity to bring a circle pit back to the punk scene and on tonight’s evidence it will not be long until that pit gets much bigger. See this band now before you can’t get to the front to launch yourself off the stage and buy this debut album today, you seriously have not lived until you do.
Zac Slack