Band: Zebrahead
Support: States and Empires
Venue: Camden Barfly, London
Date: 02/11/2013
It’s a strange feeling standing in a dark venue waiting for the opening band to come out, checking the time on your phone you realise its 3:30 in the afternoon as they trail up to the stage. This is something the first and only support act, States and Empires, point out regularly. They are suitably punk and do their job, quickly getting heads bobbing. Their penultimate song is a cover of ‘Ace Of Spades’ during which they encourage a circle pit, before demanding a wall of death during the last. They leave the stage with a ‘good afternoon’ and the crowd well ready for Zebrahead.
After an introduction of the Requiem For a Dream theme fading into the appropriately upbeat Benny Hill theme, they launch straight into first song Public Enemy Number One. By the second song, Hell Yeah!, the crowd are already moshing, an impressive feat in a venue so small. The crowd get more and more into the set as it progresses and their movement makes the floor shake, it’s a wonder we don’t end up in the bar below. A few songs later, Zebrahead offer some unneeded encouragement, as they get everyone in the room to sit on floor, jumping up as the song climaxed.
When the band then announced they were going to play their latest single, Call Your Friends, the sing along was immediate and, along with the old favourite Rescue Me, the loudest fan vocals of the night.
The crowd fed easily from the energy of the songs from jumping and moshing to arm swaying and clapping. And with the amount of energy the band delivered it’s a wonder how they’ll be able to do it all again in a couple of hours.
Photos by Kayla Elliott
Review by Jenna Young
