Gig review rating for tonight: I'm in a good mood. A very good mood. A drunkenly stress lifting "thank god for that" mood having somehow conned my way through my PhD viva this afternoon. Unlikely to remember any song titles - but I'm in a good mood.
Anyway, been hearing for a while about the new 3rd Stone being a bit old skool. First few songs kind of bely that, a bit more rock than I'd expected, but after that, the short sharp shock of a set is more like what I was expecting. Uptempo, in your face, but retaining a sense of melody, it'll be interesting to finally hear the material properly when the split release with Armour of God finally sees the light of day. Energetic and good. Vocalist Alex spends the entire duration of the set on the dancefloor and apologises for the brevity of the set. No need, sometimes things should be kept short and to the point. That'll be my cue to end this part of the review then.
Something like Out For The Count really. A band who it has to be said are much better live than on the demo - which in itself isn't bad. It's just that live there's a bit more energy, more power - maybe it's a touch heavier. The songs are fast and as far as my knowledge goes, seem old skool. The initial thoughts of Sick Of It All that I had the first time I saw them are slowly receding, but like 3rd Stone, they're almost going against the grain of a lot of the seemingly crushingly heavy hardcore. And it makes it better, because you can distinguish things going on. Vocalist Gez spends most of the time on the dancefloor, interspersed with a couple of jumps from the side pod things, and some hands in the air gestures from the stage. There's one point where the people that have turned up are thanked, but there should've been more here. Quite right. It's a Friday night, there's 3 bands, 2 of which are local, and there's no Rock City - unless you go to the 80s night. So why not a few more people. And a few more dancing.
Knuckledust in a way were the band I least wanted to see tonight. Seen them before and although they're good, I feel like I need to be in the right mood. Well maybe I was, because despite my initial reluctance, they were excellent. Playing it seems a lot of new material from their forthcoming album, there was plenty of energy, with Pierre as ever spending the duration on the dancefloor, but it also seemed more relaxed and good natured than I remembered. There's a reference to the fact that last time they didn't play at the all dayer due to the guitarist getting lost on the ring road, but they're here and making up for it. They even get some people to dance to them - a hard but well earned victory it seems sometimes.
Sorry, crap review but y'know. I was kind of happy this evening. Bye bye stress. Please stay away for a while. At least until the end of next week.