Ghost Of A Thousand, Four year Strong, Anti-Flag, Alexisonfire – Manchester Academy 18-10-09
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The Ghost Of A Thousand
The popularity and rising prominence of UK metallers Ghost Of A Thousand was clear to see, as they played to a large crowd despite the relatively early stage time of 6:45pm. The presence and crowd interaction from the band was as good as ever, helped along by masses of energy on stage and genuinely good songs. Their only problem, as far as I can see, is that most songs are similar in structure and sound…during a longer set, they might struggle to hold the attention of the non-rabid fans.
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Four Year Strong
A surprisingly large amount of people, mainly the proportion wearing FYS t-shirts, seemed to be here just for these guys. I say surprisingly because I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything by them before, so I was expecting a typical support-band crowd of half-interested people. Instead, the reaction they received was impressive and it isn’t hard to see why. Their mix of pop-punk riffs and metal licks is endearing because it sounds different, and even though I wasn’t familiar with the songs it was still easy to enjoy. An impromptu slayer cover mid-way through their set helped, too. A special mention goes out to he ‘larger’ guy stood near us, who spent the entire set running full steam in and out of the front section of the crowd, pausing only to dance like a maniac. His head was banging so hard his hat fell off. He was ace.
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Anti-Flag
Ah. I’ve never really understood the appeal of Anti-Flag. For what it’s worth, they know how to put together a good punk song; all the energy and typical elements are present and done well – but their set was interrupted atleast twice for them to spew out preachy nonsense. It’s designed, I assume, to evoke a reaction from the crowd and spread a political message…but it just halts the show and kills the atmosphere (for me, atleast). It’s hard to swallow a political message from a band who follow it with a song consisting mainly of ‘whoa-ohs’ and ‘yeahs’. Other than that, they were okay. Maybe someone more familiar with their music could give a better opinion. There was also a confusing end to the set, with the band asking if anyone in the crowd ‘could play drums’, then dragging about 10 people who answered ‘yes’ up on stage with them, for about ten seconds, before dismissing them. It was pointless and again just halted the show…does anyone know why they did this? Was it justa bad idea that went nowhere?
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Alexisonfire
Playing a healthy mix of old and new songs to a very responsive crowd, Alexisonfire go down a storm. Most songs are met with a wall of sound from the crowd singing every word, encouraged by the dynamic frontmen George and Wade, backed up with Dallas Green’s incredible vocals. This is the second time I’ve seen Alexisonfire live, the first being a few years ago at the same venue; their act hasn’t changed and still retains the same energy and excitement they had then. Clearly a band enjoying what they do, their set was tight and the on-stage banter was playful; the dynamic of the three vocalists works well in a live setting as they play off each other, creating a trade-off of throat shredding, punk vocals and Dallas’s aforementioned soulful verses. Nigh-on flawless.
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