Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Live Shows Part 3

2013 started off with a British band renowned for their unique sound, political views and well reviewed live shows. I am of course talking about Skunk Anansie!

Back in March 2013 at the Wolverhampton Civic I went to watch Skin lead out her fellow band members and put on one of the best sounding shows vocally and musically I have been too. Her voice is just superb and one on its own! As she belted out the big hits such as 'Weak', 'hedonism' and 'Twisted (every day hurts) the roof metaphorically blew off. The whole crowd got behind all of the tracks Jumping, clapping and singing along. But could that of partially been due to the booze?

Skin also joined us on floor by crowd surfing during 'Little Baby Swastika'. I was stood just to the left as she came past the middle of the room. After she was put back down she stayed in the crowd during the song kneeling on the floor enticing everyone else to get down projecting the lyrics 'Who put the little Baby Swastika on the wall?' It was brilliant! Almost as good as the dingy on the crowd during the Rammstein concert.

Moving on, highlights of the show! Most definitely hearing 'My Ugly Boy'. It was one of my favourite songs off of the newest album. The way she sung it made you feel every lyric of the song. Also 'I believed in you', the line 'Would you do me the favour go slit your skinny throat' is so sadistic it's moving. It sets the tone to the song and the raw emotion behind it. It's fantastic!

Unfortunately their not a constant touring band so when they do play shows you have to grab a ticket as quickly as possible and trust me you need to see these guys live or you'll regret it!



I had a long spell of no concerts until December 2013 when I went to see Avenged Sevenfold with my best friend Chloe (who I have already mentioned in a past post). I know I go from one political band to and another political band! 

However Avenged Sevenfold are a much more darker and heavier sounding band which I love. I really love a heavy bass line and fast guitar riffs that get your head nodding and fists pumping in the air. 

The first time I ever listened to Avenged Sevenfold was when the song 'Nightmare' was released. I was listening to it in the car thinking it was James Hetfield singing! But no it was M Shadows. That was when I first fell in love with Sinister Gates' clean guitar work that had you clinging to every note just wanting to hear more!

They also picked a phenomenal support act in Five Finger Death Punch! Hearing songs such a 'Hard to see', cover of 'Bad Company and 'The Bleeding' were like throw backs for me.
  •  For example when you haven't heard a song you used to love for a very long time.
Surprising me immensely was how good Ivan Moody's voice was live! His voice was so clear and in tune I was shocked. But it just made their set even better. 

They are another band which I would love to see as a full set in the future!

Back to Avenged Sevenfold, Three words:
  • Fire
  • Skulls
  • More fire!
Opening up the show with the newest single 'Shepard of Fire' set the place jumping. From where I was in the stands I watched everyone on the floor jumping around to the beat and cheering loudly. They brilliantly mixed the song into the second 'Critical Acclaim'. For me that was a highlight of the night hearing that song played. It is an extremely political song when you sit down and actually listen to the words M Shadows is saying, it's brilliant.

Through the set they mixed up the songs performing dark metal tracks, 'Nightmare and 'Doing time' to the more emotional songs in memory of the late drummer such as 'Dear God' and 'Seize the day'. The manipulation between them all was excellent it was as if they knew exactly what the crowd wanted to hear next. And that is the number one priority, entertain your crowd, keep them happy because they are the ones paying good money to watch you put on a show!

Finally I would like to mention the solos in the middle of the concert with Sinister and the new drummer they were fantastic. As you probably know from my earlier posts I am a huge Slash fan, his guitar work blows my mind but Sinister is right up there with him. His sheer skill and talent on the guitar is timeless, he runs up on down that fret board a mile a minute and doesn't even bat an eyelash and all the notes come out clear as day. No mess ups or stutters just utterly clean music played phenomenally.  

Like most bands I see I always say 'Yes I would go and see them again'. And this show was no different!







Thank you for reading guys! Hope you enjoyed it Part 4 will be up tomorrow!

Lissy.C

No comments:

Post a Comment