What better way to spend Valentine's Day than with 2300 others rocking out for nostalgia's sake. Saying that, there are plenty of younger people in attendance, who are clearly too young to remember the beginning of the last decade.
We Are The Ocean open up, a band many of crowd appear to know. They've gone for a mix between pop-punk and screamo and lack the musicianship, lyrics or frontman to pull of either to any degree of quality. Another teenaged band that has sacrificed writing good or complex music so they can jump around on stage, which is never going to result in anything remotely interesting.
In stark contrast to this, second supports Kids In Glass Houses are fantastic. Brilliantly upbeat and catchy pop-punk executed to perfection. The crowd is singing back loudly to all the tracks off their 2008 debut Smart Casual, and the new tracks performed only serve to further expectations that their sophomore effort Dirt (due out in March) will be just as good as their first.
Lostprophets open as their latest album 'The Betrayed' does with 'If It Wasn't For Hate, We'd Be Dead By Now' followed quickly by first single of that album, 'It's Not The End Of The World'. Arguably one of the best tracks on the record, it is even better live, far heavier and when backed by the crowd singing along, it's hard to go wrong. Classic single 'Burn Burn' follows and the mosh pits soon open up.
Throughout the set Lostprophets exhibit the majority of their latest album, particular highlights being 'Dstryr/Dstryr' and 'AC Ricochet', plus nearly all their singles. 'Last Summer' and 'Last Train Home' are predictably brilliant, as are the mass sing-alongs for 'Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)' and new single 'Where We Belong'. The only disappointing moment is a rare airing of 'The Handsome Life Of Swing' (a personal favourite) from 2000's Thefakesoundofprogress, being slightly ruined by the aforementioned young crowd, leading to very few people knowing the track.
Apart from that, Lostprophets cannot be faulted. They know exactly what they are doing and how to do it, and they do it very well. They rock out on stage; everyone on the floor rocks out and sings along, and a thoroughly good time is had by all.
Gig Date: Sunday, 14th February 2010 | 891 page views.
