Black hoody and wristbands? Check. 11 bands, 4 of them (and a few more no doubt,) incredible? Check. One to drink, one to throw? Check. Black and white check? Ch…er, well – check. I’d say this could only mean one thing, but there are plenty of things it could probably mean. But on the 30th October 2009, the Vans Off The Wall Music Night is what it meant to me and almost 4,000 others.
It’s not often a tour with such a strong line up comes around in our humble town of Birmingham, and even less often when the tour itself skips every other city in the country. Getting tickets wasn’t really a choice, it was a reaction – 15 quid for Funeral For A Friend, Fightstar, Kids In Glass Houses and Attack! Attack!, not to mention plenty of local and touring talent, totaling an absolutely mental 11 bands in one night. It’s taken me an entire paragraph just to tell you where it is and who was playing – talk about a grand scale.
Fortunately, I was considerably more sober for this than my last gig, so being able to remember almost the entire thing – and perhaps get caught up in less of the dancing and violence – will help me to be a better reviewer. Upon walking into the always-has-a-strong-smell-of-body-odour-in-the-aircademy, I was engulfed by a swamp of wristbands, tattoos (from the intricate and striking to the completely rubbish,) glowsticks (not quite sure where they came from) and, as previously mentioned, sweat. There was a strange, yet welcoming atmosphere in the air – the apprehension and impatience of waiting to see bands you’ve wanted to see for months, even years – I have been a fan of Funeral For A Friend since the release of Hours, and yet never seen them live – so, truthfully, this is probably going to be slightly biased on their front.
The problem with 4 band lineups and co-headliners is simply this – everyone’s there to see the biggest band, and when they’re not playing, the place doesn’t live up to the momentum that you get from a headline gig. Each band only got a 50 minute set, and I’d never be satisfied with anything less than an hour and fifteen for a headliner. That said, I can’t imagine how hard it must be to please an entire arena of 3,000 fans after 4 albums and 2 E.P’s, and you can’t do much but play your biggest and best songs, play them well and hope it all goes according to plan.
Funeral For A Friend pulled this off with all the skill of every band that’s lasted the distance, from the uplifting “Into Oblivion” (without exception, the highlight of the entire night – and a shining example of how an intro that the band doesn’t play live should be done – see Zebrahead gig earlier,) to the insane The Art Of American Football, the likes of which may actually have physically damaged the venue – and definitely damaged one person’s face, who was carried away from the pits half-concious. Grim. Kicking off with Streetcar, Funeral For A Friend rocked most of their classic tracks, bar perhaps Rookie Of The Year and definitely missing History, which would have made an unbelievable encore track – but for bands on a strict time limit and a club night starting an hour after the gig, an encore wasn’t an option. Sure, they’re little cliché, but a night never feels complete without one. Although this was beyond FFAF’s control, it was a slight let down at the climax of what was, overall, an unbelievable set. Choosing to play the classic tracks is rarely a bad idea – in the words of Kris Roe of The Ataris fame, – not playing your most famous track is like going to a Metallica concert and not hearing Enter Sandman” – and it’s doubtful that anyone will argue that this is a great ethic for any live band. Matt’s voice, coupled with their drummer’s sadistic roaring and guitarist’s enthusiastic, if not slightly forced backing vocals, delivered a set played with what seemed to be ease. It’s rare you see a place erupt in the manner it did when Juneau (or Juno, depending on which version you can argue with people on youtube about,) was dropped as their last track. My voice was struggling to sing along with the band and 3,000 eager voices by the end of the gig, but squeezing the last five minutes from such a great experience was, well, mandatory. Pain was felt afterwards, not to mention my voice dropping an octave – and needless to say, there were plenty of jokes about this such as “My name’s Barry White and I like making loovee with the lights onnn” on the way home. Our taxi driver didn’t look impressed. I also don’t understand why Matt screamed “MOTHER FUCKERS!” inbetween almost every song.
One thing I noticed was just how many couples stand near the side lines, hold each other as tight as possible throughout the entire gig, and yet still manage to jump around, together. It’s almost as if some divine balance is taking place, where love and music go hand in hand. Which makes absolutely no sense when everyone’s going mental to the bitter, hurt, yet anarchic sound of Fightstar’s “Palahniuk’s Laughter” – and looking at their backdrop – an image of a woman with a cow’s head. Oakey Dokey. It also makes the couple look like a pair of cretins. Fightstar, despite Charlie’s “awkward” beginnings in crap-punk trio Busted, throughout their career together, have been an incredibly flexible and deeply artistic band. War Machine, orchestral, broken and slightly twisted, completely wiped any inhibitions about Fightstar firing out “same old” material – the whole thing felt like a horrific, impending doom had fell upon the academy, and it was, in a word, epic. For a band that wanted to write a track that “captures something as epic as the big bang” with Grand Unification (Part 1,) they’re still pulling it off a couple of albums later. Fightstar, by any standard, are definitely not light-hearted.
That’s not to say Fightstar can’t get the crowd singing, and plenty there was with the slightly-less-depressing-than-most-of-Fightstar’s-other-music We Apologise For Nothing. Alex, their lead guitar and second vocalist, sounds considerably better on their newer work – his appearance on Hazy Eyes, although a great track, is no doubt a little too emo-punk and overall whiney for most, and you can’t help but appreciate how he’s developed vocally as the band has on the whole. Fightstar may never be huge, but their existence is a great thing, and I would see them again in a heartbeat.
(By the way, am I the only one who thinks that Amaze Us sounds like a new Rage Against The Machine Track in the beginning?)
In an effort not to bore you, providing you’ve read this far already, my words on the last two bands (who ironically played first) will be considerably shorter than the previous. Kids In Glass Houses, a band that sit somewhere between modern Indie and ah, I dunno – let’s say Fall Out Boy – seemed a little under-appreciated. The Vans Off The Wall Music Night should probably have been named the Vans Welsh Music Night, considering all four majors bands were, indeed, from Wales. For a band that have only written one album, Kids In Glass Houses’ set didn’t get boring, which may have been lucky, more than anything. Luck, or the overall Charisma of frontman Aled Phillips, who, at one point managed to catch a glowstick that some complete trollop threw at him. Admittedly, the set was relatively uninteresting, which is what’s expected from a second support, really – but that’s probably because Smart Casual has been out for about two years now, and it wasn’t a brilliant album then. Their recent single “Young Blood” doesn’t really fill in the gaps, but luckily Kids In Glass Houses have enough material to fill a support slot, and most of it good enough for people to enjoy themselves. Kids In Glass Houses also played a new track (which doesn’t seem to have surfaced on the internet yet,) which pretty much boasts more of the same – but we can guess they’re just getting started. With their sophomore album due in March 2010, they’re worth keeping an eye on – but at the moment, not much more.
Again, I’ll be honest in saying that I missed most of Attack! Attack!, due to, again, “not paying those bloody drink prices.” Their last few songs were pretty awesome, and although their following seemed to be small, the fans were really going for it. It’s hard to find out exactly which band I was listening to, on account of there being about 3 bands with the name Attack Attack in one form or another – these were the indie/rock sounding version, not the horrifically bad scene-electro counterpart. Another great set from a decent band – and for the third support (if you consider FFAF to be the main act,) that’s pretty awesome going.
