Nothing warms the cockles of the heart on a chilly winter’s evening quite like punk bands and beer, and Jive welcomed us into her warm and inviting bosom like an old and faithful lover. Or maybe it’s just because the armchairs nearly ate us. Comfy!
As we walked in we were greeted by an amazing wall of sound, which stopped the second we turned to the stage, beer in hand. Damnit! If you’re reading this Grenadiers, we think your demo is awesome, and we’ll be on time next time. Promise! The demo is generally available free at gigs if you want to check it out.
Next to take the stage were local mainstays, Day on Fire. The boys are talented and their gear is impressive, but the band suffered from a bit of a dog’s breakfast of a mix. The songs themselves were great, but the muddy mix made it difficult to appreciate them.
Warming up the crowd for Horsell Common were Amber Calling. Tight, personable, and sounding great, this is a band for lovers of classic emo-driven punk tunes. A band for the kids: tell your mums you’re in good hands. If they were around 3 years ago, they would have been huge. We’re not being unkind, lads, it’s just that we’re old enough to have been young when Nirvana broke, and now we see 6 year olds wearing “Cheer Up Emo Kid” T-shirts. The Emo ship is sailing.
Which brings us finally to Horsell Common. Can we say enough nice things about these lads? No! The ‘Common delivered a tight, flawless set, which sounded absolutely huge. I doubt there’s many bands around that wouldn’t give their firstborn son to have an onstage sound as big as this three piece. A shout goes out especially to brand new drummer Shane Wakker (of Bodyjar), who freakin’ went off—no mean feat considering he’s only had a handful of rehearsals with the band and it was the first night of the tour. Kudos to the extreme.
The crowd was much smaller than we expected, considering the thorough thrashing the lads have been given on Rage of late, but highly appreciative. And it’s always nice to see a band so genuinely moved by a positive crowd response: we saw the big grins on stage when the crowd sang the chorus for you, lads!!!
DougieAndJayney
said on the 13th Aug, 2008