Band: Pierce The Veil
Support: Crown the Empire & The Getaway Plan
Venue: London Underworld
Date: 21/09/2012
After numerous support slots to the likes of A Day To Remember and The Blackout tonight marks Pierce The Veil’s first headline show in London. It’s a sold out affair and probably the first time this venue has witnessed such a queue before a show. Even before the bands start the venue is packed full of eagerly awaiting fans and music lovers alike.
Australian rock band The Getaway Plan are tonight’s opening act. It’s great to see the band onstage doing what they love after they sent fans into cardiac arrest in 2009 when they announced they were going on hiatus. Their set is filled with an array of older and new tracks including ‘Shadows’ which gets the crowd singing along. It definitely is an international evening of music.
Crown The Empire are tonight’s headline support. Despite the fact that they have only got an E.P to their names currently the crowd certainly seem familiar with this band. After the E.P release this band were quickly signed up to Rise Records with a full length release in the pipeline. Crown The Empire have drawn comparisons to American band I See Stars and British electronic- hardcore veterans Enter Shikari, and despite these bands being from a very clichéd and overcrowded genre Crown The Empire show the crowd that they aren’t just another heavy band with a synthesizer. Their heavy beats and catchy lyrics notch tonight’s levels up even higher.
As the evening draws later and the venue gets sweatier a chant for tonight’s headline act begins. It’s been a while since the UK has seen Pierce The Veil and what with an album like ‘Collide With The Sky’ fresh in everyone’s minds it’s no wonder the Underworld is bursting at the seams. Vocalist Vic Fuentes’ voice live is just as it sounds on record: smooth and flowing yet bursting with a raw edge to it. Vic spends most of the night with an acoustic guitar strapped to him singing directly to those in the crowd while the rest of his band bounce around the limited space on stage and throw everything into the show alongside every chug and every beat.
Tonight shows plenty of nods to latest album ‘Collide With The Sky’ including ‘Hell Above’, ‘King For A Day’ and ‘Hold On Till May’. There are also plenty of oppurtunites to show off their older material from their debut album ‘Selfish Machines’. Each track is greeted by the audience the same way, the band could be playing the same song on repeat all night and it’s doubtful anyone would care.
Every track is packed with passion and energy. Vic’s higher pitched voice coupled with the long drawls of bassist Jamie Preciado gets half the crowd dancing and moving and the other half circling around the room to the beat of a mosh pit. This band are bouncy and energetic like any great pop-punk band but are also heavy and crushing like any great hardcore band.
Pierce The Veil are the sort of band you can’t help but love and they have certainly won the hearts of the UK and everyone packed into the Underworld tonight.
10/10
Reviewer: Rhian Westbury
