Outcry Collective
Water Rats, London
02.10.08
A half-full Water Rats isn’t likely to be the most inspiring of places to bust out your jams, but that was what faced Outcry Collective on a cold Thursday evening. There might have been a huge gap in front of the stage but that didn’t stop the quartet stomping their way through their support set, whipping the onlookers on the periphery into a whirlwind of noise. Their Maylene-esque numbers chugged and screamed at the highest of volumes with New Franchise Mess proving the high point, getting everyone ready for the headline act of the evening.
When The Plight hit the stage after a short warm up intro, there was still a fair amount of space in front of the stage but that was soon closed up when long-haired singer Aliskull ordered everyone to move forward and get involved with his wayward dancing. Those of us who have seen the Leeds band before know what to expect – bouncing riffs, head-bobbing drums and growled vocals – and it is alwasy a pleasure as the quintet seemed to thrive more and more as the set in the small venue progressed.
Old favourites Pull The Trigger, Ball And Chain and It Only Gets Worse were interspersed with tracks from their forthcoming album and proved that there is definitely a place for The Plight amongst the higher echelons of British rock. The band have fun live, that much is obvious, but when the ever energetic frontman joined in with the drunk man in the corner [who was seemingly on a date with a grandma hell-bent on getting a pit started] as they danced as if listening to disco from the 70s, the crowd knew it was a party time.
Roll on the new album, because if nights like this are anything to go by, London wants The Plight back as soon as possible.
Abjekt.