Friday 23 November 2012

Gig review: Rock Sound Riot Tour (w/Billy Talent, AWOLNATION, Don Bronco), Newcastle O2 Academy, 13/11/12

With every passing year, the string-pullers at the ever-bourgeoning Rock Sound magazine (we say bourgeoning, it's been a formidable force in the industry for eons now) manage to outdo themselves in the Winter tour stakes. Their annual showcase soirée is rapidly becoming as much of a staple of the alt calendar as NME's February tour or, ahem, Kerrang's regular rotation of EXACTLY THE SAME BANDS EVERY FOUR YEARS. Fitting, then, that this time around, the blighters have only gone and nabbed one of the finest live acts the genre currently has to offer, and one with a pretty darn stonking new record to boot, and thrown them straight to the top of the bill.

Canada's Billy Talent have been decimating rabid audiences the world over for nearly twenty years now, honing their craft, so the fact that they're bloody brilliant tonight virtually goes without saying. The support, on the other hand, are another matter entirely. Regrettably, due to some highly inconvenient transport hiccups, we don't get to experience the purportedly bonkers Don Bronco but reports from various elated sources speak of 'shredding', 'tunes galore' and, curiously, 'choreography'. Smart money's on these guys being catapulted to stardom in the next two years; catch 'em at a shoebox near you while you still can.

Sadly, Stagecoach North East were not kind enough to allow us to miss AWOLNATION, however. With their delusions of 30 Seconds to Mars-esque grandeur (they even have a logo that reeks of Jared Leto), tuneless guitar thrash-outs, liberal injections of ill-advised keyboard wankery and, Heavens to Betsy, an 80s power ballad the likes of which would make Foreigner cringe (seriously, they even try to make the crowd put their arms around one another and SWAY FROM SIDE TO SIDE... wasn't this kind of ultra-saccharine codswollop outlawed in 1991?), the band sound a complete and utter mess, as if all the ingredients were thrown into the pot and no one bothered to do anything with them. It doesn't help that the sound guy seems equally nonplussed, not really bothering to even try to make anything listenable out of this garbage. The lead singer gets hopelessly lost in the dirge... so much so, in fact, that his between-song attempts at rousing some semblance of interest, or engaging with his audience (man), fall utterly and embarrassingly flat. Hopefully, if tonight is any sign, AWOLNATION will disappear off the face of the Earth before the next Riot Tour rolls around.

In fact, if we didn't have Billy Talent to rescue the show from the depths of mundanity, the future of Rock Sound's showcase may well have been in serious doubt. As it is, we're pretty certain we'll be back here same time, same place next year. It only takes one measly strum of Ian's guitar, signaling the arrival of 'Lonely Road to Absolution', arguably the new LP's best track, to send shivers down every spine in the building and whip the expectant masses into a jubilant frenzy. The band sound EPIC tonight; the hooks catchier, the riffs dirtier and the between-song banter, well... it seems like Ben's been taking a leaf out of the late Freddie Mercury's book, addressing the crowd with a lavish, lovable flamboyance, climbing atop the speakers and surveying the scene before him, strutting, posing and, at the most appropriate times, losing himself in those delectable, guttural screams (never is this more prominent than in debut album classic 'Line and Sinker', during which we start to wonder whether he has any vocal chords left at all).

The set, for the most part, is spot on. There's a smattering of new tracks, all of which are met with open arms by the adoring crowd, a healthy selection from Billy Talent II, including a riotous 'Devil in a Midnight Mass' and, of course, the anthemic 'Red Flag' to close and the still-sodding-astonishing 'Try Honesty' and, get this, 'This Is How It Goes' from the early days. The only real gripe is the (un)healthy injection of Billy Talent III numbers; sure, we can live with 'Devil on my Shoulder' and even 'Rusted from the Rain' but 'Saint Veronica'? 'Diamond on a Landmine'? Filler tracks from a filler-heavy record, certainly their weakest to date, and ones that bring the mood down just a smidgeon. Undoubtedly, the band would've been better served by a few more older tracks but hey, it's hardly as if it kills the show dead. The Newcastle contingent still bay for more and, by the end, leave sweat-drenched, sated and utterly knackered. And that's all we can really hope for, right?

In the main, then, a successful evening from our Rock Sound hosts. With a band of Billy Talent's might and experience, it's hard to go far wrong and tonight's headline performance is a corker of a show. It's a shame we have to endure the appalling AWOLNATION but there's no point in pleasure without a little pain, right? Right.

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