WITH three warm up acts of the calibre Alexisonfire had at their latest visit to Rock City you might think could have been upstaged.
The Ghost of a Thousand kicked off Saturday’s East-Pak Antidote Tour with a burst of raw punk energy - vocalist Tom Lacey threw himself into the crowd, first stage-diving, then screaming the vocals from the dance-floor surrounded by clamouring fans.
Then came Four Year Strong - a band of the moment, straddling pop-punk, emo and hardcore with their sound. It’s a shame they didn’t play anything from their newly-released covers album but they performed all the best bits from 2008's Rise or Die Trying. The majority of the crowd seemed to know the words - a sign of how far they’ve come in such a short time.
Anti-Flag are a rarity at the moment. The three-piece are a highly-politicised punk band that have tunes to back up their ideals. Between songs and circle-pits frontman Justin Sane stopped to aim a snappy verbal volley at the banks bail-outs during the credit crunch. There’s some crazy dancing as they perform a cover of The Clash’s 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go'. But the biggest crowd-pleaser is when they get kids out of the audience to help them with a percussion breakdown on their closing tune.
And then it’s the turn of Alexisonfire, back at Rock City after nearly two years away. In 2007 the Canadian five-piece were good but, by their high-standards, a little by-numbers. Then, the crowd hadn’t been bombarded with punk for three hours and were more downbeat. This time they are gagging for the final act and the cheer which greeted the lads as they came on stage was a sign of things to come.
It was a blistering performance. There was no hint of sticking to the new stuff from this year’s Old Crows/Young Cardinals album - the set went right back. Songs from Watch Out! - the album which first brought them mainstream acclaim - still sound as vital now as they did in 2004. The crowd went mental for 'No Transitory', with it’s stirring electric hooks and soaring chorus. And the hits kept coming with 'This Could Be Anywhere In The World' and 'Boiled Frogs' sang back in the band’s faces. '
The frontman for live gigs is scream-side of the screamo George Petit but the man who gives the band its distinctive sound is singer and guitarist Dallas Green. As usual he was stood to the side of the stage and left most of the banter to Petit. But he piped up to tell the crowd he could see why Rock City gets so many plaudits as a venue. It’s a sign that the band were enjoying it as much as the fans and fears that they could be outshone by the other acts were firmly banished.
Posted In Live Reviews, Oct 11 2009.
Words - Cris