Dead! were a great way to start off our Hit The Deck 2015 experience. The intro of the first song started with some relatively soft guitar before the full force of the track hit the crowd.
Right from the start vocalist Alex Mountford completely owns the stage, and we’re honestly impressed he had the energy to keep it up for the whole set. Before the set had even started he’d discarded the mic stand, clearly showing he wasn’t planning on staying in one place for too long.
Mountford mentions that the second track they launch into is somewhat of a jazz tune and requires some jazz hands, but we think the true jazz sounds came later in the set in the form of ‘Beautiful Broken Bones’. It is a song that sounds eerily like ‘Mama’ by My Chemical Romance. It’s brought in with and incredibly Gerard Way-esque yell, and ends with layered vocals reminiscent of the track they share their name with.
“We’re having a whale of a time up here,” Mountford tells the crowd halfway through the set, and it really shows. “It’s a very big stage and we like to run around.” The controlled chaos on stage rubs off on the crowd, and, while the movement filters out towards the back of the almost full room, it’s clear that band and crowd are playing off of each other.
The high-energy set ends on what is arguably their best-known track, ‘Phantom‘. The vocalist seems to grow more and more restless being restricted to the stage space, and jumps down in front of the barrier once briefly midway through the track. At the end, he flees the stage yet again, venturing further out into the crowd, before offloading the mic onto an unsuspecting audience member, and disappearing out the door without so much as a goodbye.
As Decade start their set, the crowd are instantly taken by the rhythm of the music. There are some obvious fans at the front eagerly singing along and vying for vocalist Alex Sears’ attention. Heads throughout the venue are bobbing (including ours) as the upbeat drums infect the crowd.
Sadly, though, the vocalist doesn’t seem to be enjoying the set quite as much. The two guitarists are full of energy, interacting with each other and simply exuding vibes we don’t get from Sears.
Despite his somewhat lacking energy on stage, there is no faulting his vocal talent or his between song talk. His chats come out conversational, as if spoken to a friend, maybe not a best friend, but it’s still a welcoming and casual tone. He tells the crowd a couple of times that the merch stand at the back is selling their “shirts and shit”. Guitarist Joe Marriner is quick to put him in his place though. “That’s the second time you’ve told them we sell shit,” he playfully scolds the singer. “We don’t sell shit, but it can be arranged.” Everyone on stage then looks appropriately disappointed in the comment, Marriner included.
The first three rows clearly know most of the words and spend the set immersed in the music and are enjoying themselves, so maybe they are just a band you need to know really well, or maybe Alex Sears was having an off day. Either way he didn’t seem to do the upbeat music justice.
Its an oddly emotional experience watching The Swellers, even for those who haven’t been overly invested in their career. With this show being one of their last ever shows they seem to want to fit as many of their songs in to their set as possible.
The first three songs blend together seamlessly. It is then, in the guitar bridge between songs, that vocalist Nick Diener speaks to the crowd for the first time. He take this time to thank everyone for choosing to spend their time seeing their last tour.
A couple of songs later, he launches into a full speech telling everyone that The Swellers only have 5 shows left together, which elicits a boo from the crowd. “Don’t boo us!” the band retort. “If you wanna do that, say ‘boo hoo’.” So the audience did.
The singer also tells the crowd that they haven’t been moving enough for his liking, but that all changes when the introduction to ‘2009‘ kicks in. At that point the crowd truly comes to life, with a few people from nearer the back of the room heading forward to join in on the action.
The set is so well planned out, with songs flowing beautifully together and perfectly timed chat breaks, its clear to see these guys have had a who career, spanning 13 years, to perfect this.
It’s in the final speech that it really hits everyone, this is the last time they will get to experience this band live. Nick Diener thanks everyone for supporting them, whether it had been for 5 minutes or 5 years, reminding everyone that the last merch they’ll ever print is on sale at the back. He also adds that no one needs to buy merch and he only has one request: “Please just remember us, we’re the Swellers, we had fun.”
The set closes with ‘The Best I Ever Had’ and it is very apparent you are witnessing the end of something special. The audience surges forwards for one last chance to rock out to The Swellers and most of the room is singing along to the feel good pop punk tune. If you are particularly sad about this break up, however, we highly recommend not listening to this tune.
As if the gathering crowd of frnkiero andthe cellabration fans weren’t excited enough, their anticipation is built further by a faulty amp, which delays the set start by nearly ten minutes. These guys are the headliners of the Rescue Room, making them the only band with intro music, and as that starts and the lights go down, the screams begin. Once the actual music kicks in however, you forget that the crowd is probably mainly made up of hormonal fangirls as it seems tonight they are actually here for the music, not ‘the ex-guitarist of My Chemical Romance’.
It’s great to see for the first time that people that people are reacting to the music, rather than the man on stage in front of them. People know the words to most of the songs. When they don’t they are happily jumping along in a fashion that suits the almost heavy sound of frnkiero andthe cellabration’s own unique brand of messy punk.
While the set was cut a few songs short by the delay, they still busted out all their most popular songs, opening with ‘.All I Want Is Nothing.’, and still playing Iero’s solo release ‘This Song Is A Curse’. ‘.She’s The Prettiest Girl At The Party, And She Can Prove It With A Solid Right Hook.’ is a staple in the set, prefaced by Iero telling everyone “This is a true story” before launching into the song about his wife.
Perhaps the best crowd vocal comes from the single ‘.Joyriding.’. There are times the frontman doesn’t even need to sing, and the volume of the fans in competing with him when he does. The set then ends with the bands first single ‘.Weighted.’, which gets the crowd rowdy, leaving them on a high. Even the band take the opportunity to go a little crazier on stage, and Frank Iero finishes the set with some nice punk sounding static, jamming his guitar strings against his mic, before exiting the stage.
