By all rights, this shouldn’t be happening. Never before in the history of the poor, forgotten North East has a band chosen Newcastle as the site of one of only two festival warm-up gigs. And never before has such a big name punk rock group picked the claustrophobic pressure cooker of Academy 2 as the venue… which perhaps explains the air of uncontrollable excitement emanating from this most jam-packed of audiences. The kids genuinely can’t believe their luck. Their favourite weird-haired Canadian riffmeisters, right here, right now, so close to their sweat-drenched brows that they’re practically getting jiggy with ‘em.
Billy Talent clearly relish this intimacy. “Welcome to our living room!”, declares lead singer Ben Kowalewicz, “It’s high five time!” As the hands of every punter in the first three rows connect with his, a metaphorical barrier is broken down between band and audience, giving everything an even more personal feel. Kowalewicz is quite literally all over the place, almost falling into the delirious throng during a rip-roaring ‘Devil in a Midnight Mass’, screaming his heart out with reckless abandon. There’s an extra level of oomph to the band’s sound too, and that’s no small feat when you consider how Earth-shatteringly immense Ian D’Sa’s guitar parts are on record. ‘The Ex’ and ‘Line and Sinker’ sound absolutely gigantic, while ‘This Is How It Goes’ is just about as brutal as they come, Ben’s squeals and Ian’s riff wizardry coming together in deliciously abrasive harmony.
It’s a mesmerising spectacle, and one that successfully paints over the slightly lacklustre nature of the new material. The four tracks from Billy Talent III – of which Anti-Flag duet ‘Turn Your Back’ is the highlight – seem to lack the band’s usual urgency. There are a couple of faux pas in the setlist too – ‘The Navy Song’ and ‘Perfect World’, weaker tracks from the last record, are retained at the loss of classics such as ‘Cut the Curtains’ and ‘Worker Bees’ – but we don’t realise this until we’re all stumbling out of the doors at the end, having almost been trampled to death in the unforgiving mosh pit to phenomenal set closers ‘Fallen Leaves’ and ‘Red Flag’, and by that point, it doesn’t seem to matter. The inexorable intensity of Billy Talent’s performance paints over any minor cracks and makes you want to do it all over again. “Maybe we’ll just stay here,” Kowalewicz suggests, “We’ll play every Wednesday night… for a free pitcher of beer and some chicken wings.” You’re on mate. Best deal ever. (8.5/10)
2 comments:
nicelt reviewed sir, sounds a rather good show!
Well, the comment above was me, but its all buggered. But yeah, good review, set list sounds a tad hit or miss, but i guess in that venue, with that crowd they could have played anything and still been a hit! Good times
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