Terror, H2O, Polar Bear Club, Fucked Up @ Manning Bar,Sydney (2/3/11)

Mon 7th Mar, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Tonight is a raw deal for Fucked Up fans. A Toronto band touring here for the first time in their decade-long existence, their only non-Soundwave show in Sydney is a 30min slot at the bottom of a four-band bill. And yeah, the other three bands are highly-regarded hardcore bands, but Fucked Up’s appeal goes past hardcore audiences, with their unique take on hardcore earning them a spot on the Matador Records roster and a whole lot of more indie-minded fans.

And so it went, with Fucked Up opening like a punch in the face with Son the Father, just 20 minutes after doors. They blew the roof off the place. And up front, a few dozen fans went nuts to it, surrounding vocalist Pink Eyes as he tumbled over the barricade and made his way through the crowd. And by the end of the set, everyone was watching, and they were met with a big applause as they left. It was a tremendous thirty minutes, one that alleviated concerns about such an early set, but also laid out exactly why a band like Fucked Up deserved a headline show.

Polar Bear Club, on the other hand, weren’t so interesting. Finding themselves in a similar situation to Fucked Up, they played their rather straightforward, hardcore-influenced indie to a few dozen dedicated fans up front, with the rest of the venue spectating from the back and sides. But their songs weren’t particularly engaging, and vocalist Jimmy Stadt’s rockstar posturing seemed insincere.

H2O were a little more sincere. Unashamedly straight-edge and New Yorker, the hardcore veterans tore through a set of straight-up punk rock. After two bands taking a more indie/experimental-oriented spin it was refreshing, and seemed to get a bigger reaction from the crowd. Their set pulled from all parts of their career, with the biggest cheers coming for earlier tracks like Family Tree and I See It In Us. And unlike most bands, they didn’t promise to come back – while they didn’t say it was the last time, they didn’t pretend a return was likely to happen for a while. A shame, because they put on a great rock ‘n’ roll show.

Terror’s vocalist Scott Vogel likes contradictions. As the group tore through the heaviest material of the night, he tried everything possible to whip the crowd into a frenzy – whether declaring the evening a “celebration of life”, or telling people to party because life sucks, and hardcore is all they have. He also demanded the crowd to “fall on each others heads”, and asked for people to jump off the rather high speaker stack. But then he kept repeating “no-one’s getting hurt!”. And blamed barricades for the inevitable injuries.

The music itself was good – the heavier end of the evening’s spectrum, and the first band to really show the influence of metal on a lot of hardcore. Backed by a huge banner saying “Keepers of the Faith” (also their new album’s title), they played a raucous set, filling the floor with slamdancers, circle pits and crowdsurfers.

But mostly, Vogel just wanted to “TEAR THIS MOTHERFUCKER APART!”, and the set was more fun as a spectacle than anything else. One had to feel sorry for the helpless security as body after body tumbled off the stage into a violent crowd of hardcore fans. And for the record, two guys jumped off the speaker stack. One nailed it in a beautiful leap. The other landed feet first into a sparse crowd and hobbled away in pain. A celebration of life.