Fightstar review

After several months without a post here is two in one night. This is a review I wrote of Fightstar and Brigade's gig at Mansfield 's Intake Club in May. In a bid to make to make this seem a little more relevant/ current I hopefully have an interview with Brigade lined up for a weeks time. Anyway here it is:

It’s fair to say they that Mansfield’s Intake club is far from the largest or most glamorous venue Charlie Simpson has graced in his career.

A previously unannounced change to the door time meant that fans arriving at the tiny venue spent almost an hour longer then expected waiting to be let inside. Waiting around for no obvious reason would quickly become a strong theme of the evening and there was an air of expectation to say the least when fans were at last allowed inside.

Should further reminder that this was not at a more established music venue such as Rock City be needed it came in the form of the Intake Club’s DJ.

Clearly unused to such a large and young audience he spent much of the night repeatedly attempting to push upcoming gigs by various tribute bands over the PA.

His penchant for 80’s rock, in particular Def Leopard, didn’t go down all that well either.

The night’s openers We Are The Ocean had to spend several minutes on stage trying to silence the aforementioned DJ before they could start their set.

The very repetitive screamo vocals of the bands frontman quickly became tiresome and his stage presence, similar to that of a hyped up spaniel, was far more annoying then endearing.

By far the best track of We Are The Ocean’s short performance was current single ‘Ready For The Fall’ which saw them hold back the screaming a little allowing their guitarist to show the quality of his vocals.

After another prolonged wait and more endless plugging of tribute bands Brigade arrived on stage to a noticeably bigger reaction then We Are The Ocean had received.

After spending much of the last year or so on the road touring with the likes of Aiden Brigade showed that they are developing an impressive live performance. The live airing of the bands current single ‘Pilot’ gave extra power and presence to what was already a very good track.

Should Brigade continue to put in such strong performances on this tour then it should do the sales of new album Come Morning We Fight no harm whatsoever.

Charlie Simpson strolled on stage with a huge grin on his face clearly, despite the size and location of the venue, happy to just be on the road and revelling in the adoration of the crowd. As soon as Fightstar launched into set opener ‘99’ all of the waiting suddenly became irrelevant, in fact possibly even a blessing in disguise, as the crowd turned into a sea of frenzied movement.

The heavy opening guitar riff of the second song ‘Amaze us’ triggered a fresh wave of headbanging before giving the evening’s first real sing along to the tracks soaring chorus.

Next came only the bands second live performance of Tannhauser Gate with Charlie screaming his lungs out throughout the track.

Shortly afterwards Simpson diced with concussion standing on the barrier to lean out across the crowd, head brushing the ceiling and glancing off a light as he was propelled back onto the stage.

A huge cheer greeted the opening strains of Paint your target which saw the chorus belted out by every person in attendance.

As if the crowd wasn’t excitable enough Simpson had everyone jumping on his command during forthcoming single I am the message as the set headed towards a disappointingly quick close.

As Charlie and co left the stage the crowd collectively caught its breath in anticipation of the further madness that the encore would provoke.

‘Fightstar’ chants filled the air as a keyboard was wheeled to the front of the empty stage giving just a subtle hint as to what would come next.

After pausing to check on the condition of a fan Charlie made his way to the keyboard and began to play the intro to Floods.

From the intricate keyboard to the raw power of the guitars added to Charlie and Al Westaway nailing every note of the vocals, the song was genuinely epic and easily the nights stand out moment.

Simpson took a moment to give heartfelt thanks to the crowd for buying the gig tickets and records that allow his band to do what they love.

With the comment ‘Well this is called the ride the Deathcar tour so this seems like a fitting way to end’, Fightstar launched into the unadulterated fury of ‘Deathcar’; giving one last chance for the audience to throw themselves around and sing their hearts out.

After an all too brief set (lasting only a little over an hour) every single person in the Intake Club was left breathless, bathed in sweat and desperate for more.

But above all that they were left safe in the knowledge that they had just witnessed a scorching gig by one of the greatest British bands to have emerged in recent years.

This review appeared in an edited form at www.bandidge.com.