March.
Like I have said before in a previous post, I need to put my stack of useless knowledge to some use, or at least document it.
Each month, I am going to blog memories from that particular month throughout the years. Through various shows.
So, Top 10 shows in March…
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1. Finch / Brand New - Astoria 29/03/03
2003. The year of emo. And Finch were the best of the bunch. Cooler than pop-punk, and a more accessible Glassjaw, for about a year I was absolutely obsessed with this band.
I remember doing “the walk” down the Astoria (RIP) queue and thinking that everyone was so cool - Poison The Well, The Movielife, and Thursday shirts were everywhere, along with Converse, Nike Dunks, and sweatbands.
Straylight Run opened, but I didn’t care. Brand New were next, and even then, I didn’t get them. All I wanted to see was Finch (I missed them in November 2002).
They opened with ‘New Kid’, which was a slow starter, then, if I remember correctly, went straight into New Beginnings. From then on it was banger after banger, and all but 2 songs from ‘What It Is To Burn’ were played. It was a fairly short set - less than an hour, but I couldn’t have been happier.
This show was just before I started making friends at shows, but I can guarantee that A LOT of my friends were there.
The video below was filmed at the show. You can briefly see me in the ‘pit’. Never not moshing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRg-SaqmIj4
2. True Colours / Your Demise - Purple Turtle - 04/03/06
It was a matinee show on a Saturday. There were maybe 20 people, if that. I hate True Colours, not my thing at all. But this show kind of changed my life.
I only went because I was staying with a friend this weekend, and he really wanted to see the opener. I had heard the name before on the london calling messageboard, and met a kid at a Bane show the year before who said he sang in a band. This band. Your Demise.
They sounded like Terror. Tick from me. George, the guy that I had spoken to before gave me the demo for free. Tick from me. They were playing with CDC a few weeks later. Tick from me.
We remained friends, through the multiple line up (and sound) changes. 2 years later they asked me to go on tour with them. And the rest is history.
3. System Of A Down / Dillinger Escape Plan - Brixton - 27/03/02
My 3rd ever show.
This was meant to be in November 2001, but was rescheduled due to 9/11. This worked in my favour, as I managed to get one of the re-released tickets.
SOAD were probably the biggest band in metal at this time, along with Slipknot, and this was the first of 3 nights at Brixton.
Dillinger Escape Plan were the only support, and this was Greg’s first tour with them (I think). I had never heard of them before. I don’t think anyone had ever heard of them before. There was a stunned silence for the whole 30minutes they played. Literally no one moved. I watched with my mouth open - I had never seen a band lose it whilst playing before.
The fact that DEP had received that reaction meant that it went mental for SOAD. It was so much fun. Daron was running everywhere, bug eyed crazy, and the crowd sung back every single world. I had never been so hot and sweaty. (I did get a cigarette burn on my arm because someone was smoking in the pit. I DO NOT miss those days)
4. Comeback Kid - Kingston Peel - 06/03/07
This was the start of possibly the best 10 days of shows I have experienced yet.
Comeback Kid are my favourite ever hardcore band. They were playing an off show from the Alexisonfire tour. I had been to the London show 4 days previous, and it was average as fuck. No surprises there.
This show made up for it tenfold. The Peel has a capacity of 250. The legend of this show was that there were near on 350 people in the venue. Hottest show of the year.
Before CBK even came on you couldn’t move. Whilst they were playing, you just had to go with the crowd. It was like the crowd you see at festivals. But no one cared that they were packed in - this was the best show I have seen at this venue.
The band knew their crowd, and played a heavy ‘Turn It Around’ set, which I was stoked for. I will never, ever tire of hearing All In A Year.
5. Poison The Well - Islington Academy - 12/03/07
At this point, Poison The Well were seen as not the band they used to be. 4 years between albums, and a massive change in sound meant that the hype from 2002/2003 was well and truly dead.
Luckily for me, myself, and a lot of my friends got into hardcore because of this band, so always had a soft spot for them. Which meant there were loads of us at this show. And not many more people. In an 800 capacity venue, there were perhaps 500 in, which sounds bad, but, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, it meant that the pit was insane.
Like CBK the week before, they knew the crowd, and played a bunch of old stuff - I will always remember how they slowed down the “chug-chug—chug-chug-chug-chug-chug” in ‘Slice Paper Wrists’ and it was the heaviest thing I had heard.
Because of the nature of seeing the band before (festivals, larger venues, packed out venues, strange tour packages) I/we had never been able to mosh to PTW. And we made up for it now. I don’t think I had moshed so hard.
The best time I have seen one of my favourite heavy bands.
6. Arcade Fire - Brixton Academy - 14/03/07
And now for something completely different.
This was the first time I had seen Arcade Fire play their own show - before was at Reading 2005, and I missed out on tickets when they played the church in London in Jan 07 (I am still gutted to this day).
The stage set up was mind blowing. Arcade Fire are such a visual band, and the concept for “Neon Bible” was the church and it’s faults.
So they had a massive organ, had the stage look like an altar. The intro was of an Evangelical reverend, and to contrast the stage was lit in red….like hell.
Hearing ‘Neighborhood #1’ live for the first time - I’ll never forget it.
During the first half of the show, the crowd was really subdued, and the lead vocalist even said ”well…this is the biggest library we’ve ever played”. After that, people started waking up (pun intended), and it became such an intense performance.
It isnt the best time I have seen them - Reading 2007 takes that, but as the first time, it hold something special to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkkqSCF_k54
7. Facedown - The Dome - 17-18/03/07
Nothing to do with Facedown records, this was a weekender made completely of UK bands.
During the build up it got a lot of shit online - tickets were sold in advance which wasnt really the done thing for smaller hardcore shows, bands dropped out, bands got moved days, bands were on the lineup before they were confirmed, blah, blah, blah.
On the day itself (well, Saturday anyway, Sunday had half the turn out and hardly any good bands) everything went well, and the crowd was much bigger than anticipated.
This was the start of UKHC bands actually drawing a crowd, and the show has gone down in folklore for everyone getting a mad reaction. From memory, it was the first time TRC played with the new lineup, Last Witness killed it (see below video), and Six Foot Ditch’s sound cut out just before the breakdown on the last song, and spent 5 minutes sorting it, just to play an extra 30 seconds. But it was worth it.
Famous for Negi Gary getting ‘Baulked’ during Jailbait’s first ever set. Note a topless Jack Hennessey covered in pen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9tZdPUB9XU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zRekGul6Xs
8. A Day To Remember / Your Demise - Manchester Academy - 12/03/10
This was YD’s biggest show to date - with the ‘new’ lineup anyway. The tour was only 7 shows, so it was short, sweet, and the most relaxed one yet.
The day didn’t get off to a good start, as there wasnt enough space for all the bands to have merch in one area, so we were tucked away in a doorway near the stage.
Whether this, plus a few other problems was a catalyst for the band, I’m not sure, but the result was one of the best performances by YD I have seen in over 200 shows.
It wasn’t just that the band were on top of their game, the crowd reaction was insane. From my position I could see hundreds of kids singing along and moving - and for an opening band on an academy show, that’s a big deal.
We all often look back at that show, and think of it as the turning point where the band stopped being this hardcore band who were ‘lucky’ to get these tours, but a legit band who deserved everything they got.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ngtr4igJhA&list=UUFzPk0EExYZxDrG5XofZx6Q&index=8&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21g-SvgkY74&list=UUFzPk0EExYZxDrG5XofZx6Q&index=6&feature=plcp
9. Glassjaw - Kentish Town Forum - 30/03/11
These next two entries are somewhat of a surprise.
Firstly - Glassjaw at the Kentish Town Forum last year. 2000-2002 and this band could do no wrong. Releasing two of my favourite albums, and they were the most exciting band around.
Then they kept on cancelling tours. Then they didn’t release any music for years. And when they did, it was weird 30 second samples. 07/07/07 I finally saw them, and it was kinda average. Everything was slow, and everything was different.
I didn’t see the next two London/UK shows - supporting Brand New, and Hevy Fest, but heard from literally everyone that they were awful. And embarrassing.
Nevertheless, when this show was announced, I thought I would give them one last chance. That was the common feel among my friends.
Although hardly any songs from EYEWTKAS, the set was Worship & Tribute heavy, which is always a good thing. Plus, they actually looked like they were having fun!
I was a bit bored with the encore - The Colouring Book EP back to back, but hearing Siberian Kiss again was worth every second.
I really enjoyed the set, and it’s actually the best time that I have seen them. I still wish that I was able to see them in the glory years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cbcpwXxOp0
10. Converge / Beecher - Underworld - 30/03/04
A Converge UK tour? Funny that.
I don’t listen to them much on record, but live, I think they’re amazing. This was the second time I had seen them this year, and was just ‘ok’
Beecher opened, and at the time I really dug them, so that was good. But when Converge were on, although it was good, it was a bit familiar, what with seeing them just 2 months previous.
What makes this show stick out, is that this was the first time they played the title track of the upcoming album ‘You Fail Me’.
From the first note, I honestly thought that this was the darkest song I had heard. It sounded like the end of the world, and was very different to what I was listening to at the time (emo and beatdown hardcore).
I don’t remember much else about the show, but I was obsessed with that track, and still am.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRUIWzA-npE
Honorary mention:
Knuckledust / Awoken / The Break In / Tenfold Truth ??? (if you know, let me know) - The Verge - 21/03/04
An all-dayer show at The Verge. Need I say more.
