With the exception of Jon Green from Picture The End filling in on bass, The Red Shore Looked notably pissed off. Who could blame them though, with the recent tragic passing of their frontman Damien Morris and merch-guy Andy Milner, not to mention one of their guitarists breaking his foot while trying to stage a successful comeback on a highly anticipated tour. Struggling with a terrible mix and some serious PA issues, the Melbourne lads did their utmost to rally the fringes into action-but to little avail. Certainly a band to keep an eye on in the coming months, but the cards were unfortunately not in their favour tonight.
In stark contrast, the dark brooding cloud The Red Shore summoned, was whisked away by the five beaming limey lads of Bring Me the Horizon. Clearly stoked to be abroad, playing to large crowds and a
foreign fanbase, BMTH brought the brutality with refreshing positivity. Oli Skyes virtually redeemed himself from his much publicised confrontations with the ol’ bill with his great stage presence. The
spindly tattooed young un’ had some hilarious onstage banter-”These people paid good money and you’re just standin there tunin’ you twat!” and “Cheers Big ears!” JJ Peters (aka Deez Nuts) also joined them onstage for a brief run-through of, “there’s a party over here, ain’t shit over there,”, to great fanfare. BMTH are certainly no ground breaking band when it comes to their recorded material, however the stage show proved to be very refreshing.
Like every band on the bill, I KIlled the Prom Queen’s I sound suffered from a terrible mix. This did not perturb the fans, or the band whatsoever, as both parties thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They ripped through a lengthy set, playing material from all of their releases, including an updated version of The Paint Brush Killer. Oli and the new Red Shore vocalist joined them briefly for two quick brutal barrages as did one punter, nuding up, then jumping in the crowd and starting a biff.
Sadly it was Michael Crafter’s stage presence, or lack thereof, that let them down. Dressed in a blue flanno, Crafter appeared somewhat nonchalant or perhaps filled with sorrow as the seven year journey of Prom Queen was coming to an end. The rest of the band made up for it though and they even re-emerged for an encore of Sharks in your Mouth.
Really, the tour should have been named “the controversial frontmen of hardcore/deathcore/whatevercore” owing to Michael Crafter’s brief Big Brother appearance, Oli Skyes’ brushes with the fuzz and the Red Shore’s newbie. But it really was all about I killed the Prom Queen.
So who DID kill prom queen? Was it the Butcher who came, recorded, toured, then got homesick and left? Or was it Weinhofen, who, whilst touring with Bleeding Through was given an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up. Both were undoubtedly contributing factors, but who really cares. Bands break up. At least this one decided to cash in
and have a proper send off.
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