Title Fight, Touche Amore,Break Even, Daybreak @Billboard, Melbourne(10/09/2011)

Sat 17th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

It isn’t every day Melbourne gets to see a line up like they would get tonight. No matter what had happened in the world of live music within the previous week, nothing could keep the faithful away. And faithful they were, as they arrived at Melbourne’s Billboard The Venue, swapping the city’s icy cold winds for a night of live music. Tonight there would be no gimmicks; there would be no synth sections, auto-tuned vocals or songs about sex, booze and partying. Tonight, these four walls would see the emotion, sweat and tears of men who bare their souls on stage every time they play.

Inside, the bitter cold felt miles away as the crowd, lacking in numbers, stood around waiting for the first band to go on. Even if their expressions weren’t showing it, there was definitely a buzz of excitement in the air – and with a lineup made up of Break Even, Touche Amore and Title Fight, there was little reason not to be excited.

Locals Daybreak were charged with opening the night, and while seemingly unknown to the crowd, still tried their best to put on a good show. The early start time meant a lot of the crowd hadn’t arrived yet, but they still worked hard to get everyone warmed up. After a small mishap in the shape of a guitarist snapping a string during their first song, their set continued with a maturity not seen in a lot of more well-travelled bands. Their sound fitted well within the context of the rest of the bill- short, fast, 90’s inspired punk.

Next up was one of Australia’s favourite hardcore acts, Break Even. A band who are no strangers to big line-ups and large rooms, they worked tremendously hard to get the crowd going. They tried to play the same brand of energetic, in your face hardcore they always do but there was just no atmosphere to accompany it. As their set continued a few crowd members slowly got into it, but the set just couldn’t be salvaged. As they continued, Break Even’s on stage energy began to match that of the crowd- quite flat compared to the show people are used to seeing. They still sounded like the tight, professional unit they always are but without the crowd behind them there wasn’t much more they could do. With only a few songs left, vocalist Mark Bawden reached out to the crowd asking, “You guys are too quiet, tell me what the hell is going on?” He inspired two crowd members to get involved and sing-along, but by the time Break Even left the stage the crowd weren’t all that warmed up.

Before Touche Amore took the stage murmurs rose as the crowd tightened their shoelaces and stretched in preparation for the storm that was about to hit the stage. There was one topic of conversation common amongst the crowd. In the two days preceding this show, two separate shows had been shut down due to moshing. On the Thursday the Brisbane date of this very tour was shut down and on the Friday another show in Melbourne faced the same fate- all because the crowd was too rowdy. It seemed that the fear of cancellation was keeping the crowd still.

There are not many bands that can fit almost twenty songs into one forty-minute set, but Californian hardcore act Touche Amore serve as an exception to this rule. As soon as they took the stage, Jeremy Bolm and the rest of the band began inspiring an energy in the crowd that seemed lost. They began their set with new album opener Tilde, and from the get go Bolm had no problems with leaning over the barrier and getting right into the thick of things, as crowd members piled on top of each other to get closer to him. Their performance was quite cool and controlled as the band let the audience take charge. The bulk of their set was made up of tracks from their two albums ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse and Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me. They also played the two tracks off their split with La Dispute, Searching For A Pulse/The Worth Of The World and the first song they ever wrote as a band, Negotiating The Charade.

Recording their albums in a live setting meant that the audience already knew what to expect, and Touche Amore delivered exactly what their albums promised. As their set continued, and the crowd’s energy grew so did that of the band, as Bolm fed off every ounce of energy and emotion the crowd threw at him. Between tracks his timid, squeaky voice filled the silence; a stark contradiction to the raspy screams that appeared during every song. No matter how much Bolm tried to connect with the audience, the disconnection created by the barrier could be felt. By their last track, Honest Sleep, it all got too much for him as he left the microphone on stage and joined the crowd on the floor, singing along with their screaming voices.

Next up were headliners Title Fight. Immediately the crowd’s energy peaked. Even without the crowd interaction seen during the previous set, the room was still full of energy. The combination of vocals from bassist Ned Russin and guitarist Jamie Rhoden worked really well live, as it allowed both members to move around on stage. Their brand of fast paced, energetic punk was well received by the crowd, and got them moving right from opener Symmetry. Russin’s continuous bobbing up and down caused him to miss the microphone, opening up space for the crowd to fill in the gaps, and they did at the top of their lungs. In comparison to Touche Amore, Title Fight’s sound was a lot more raw and unpolished, making them seem like a strange choice for headliners, but the contrast between the bands worked well and the crowd received them equally as strongly.

As the band pushed into their fourth song, Dreamcatchers, the first crowd member tested his luck at crowd surfing, waking the security from their boredom-induced slumber. Finally realising that tonight wouldn’t be a repeat of Brisbane’s show the crowd let loose, leaving any pent up emotion or energy they were holding onto on the floor. It may not have been a large section of the crowd, but those that were finally getting into it definitely provided the energy needed to boost Title Fight on stage. By their eight song, Safe In Your Skin, the waters had well and truly broken, and the crowd weren’t holding back. To the beat of Title Fight’s punk drum the crowd began throwing themselves left, right and centre. By closing track, Youreyeah, the show looked just like as messy as any good hardcore/punk show should.

It may have taken most of the night, but by the time Title Fight left the stage enough sweat and emotion had been poured out onto the Billboard floor to last a lifetime…or at least until the next show anyway.