Band: While She Sleeps
Support: POLAR, Crossfaith & Bleed From Within
Venue: HMV Institute, Birmingham
Date: 26/09/2012
By the time the doors were swung open just after 6pm, there was a mere 20 or 25 minutes before POLAR, the first of the touring support bands hit the stage in a cold, polluted Birmingham.
Filled to the rafters with teenagers donning more While She Sleeps merchandise that you could ever dream of, the stage lights go down before ‘Iron Lungs‘ the title track taken off of POLAR‘s most recent record begins to eerily haunt an almost full room. The band come out and as the track kicks in, the room begins to nod their heads, some begin to dance and some continue to stand there, confused at the lack of beatdown, it seems.
The Guildford mob tear through new bangers ‘KCM’, ‘The Dead Travel Fast’, ‘Bruiser’ and ‘H.E.L.L‘ as well as taking a trip to the old-school, thrashing out ‘Armed To The Teeth‘ opening their short set with ‘Tonight Matthew, I Am The Batman‘. Some sections of the crowd – that is comprised mainly of youngsters expecting the chance to two-step and fling their arms about – don’t seem to be too interested in the band whereas towards the front of the venue, there are a fair few kids banging their heads, some even throwing horns. Metal.
POLAR are a tight, strong unit and their music transpires perfectly in a venue with as good-a sound as the Institute, it’s just a shame that more kids weren’t interested in what this band have to offer and would rather stand at the back on their phones taking Instagram photos of their shoes.
After stepping outside the venue before the Crossfaith set whilst my companions sparked a cigarette, we were informed that if we moved away from the steel enclosure that surrounded the entrance that we would not be allowed back in to the show. As one of the security was smiling, almost laughing, we thought, naturally, that this was a joke and moved to the pub next door for a quick beer. Surprisingly, when we made an attempt to return we were not allowed back in, meaning that with an abundance of thanks to a system that will undoubtedly fail, unfortunately both Crossfaith and Bleed From Within were missed.
Although, a gentlemanly and metaphorical middle finger was displayed to the Gestapo, thankfully we managed to catch the entirety of the While She Sleeps set. The band sound huge in this venue, the floor opens up, kids are flying all over the place whilst vocalist Loz Taylor basically commands the drones before him to do exactly as he tells them. Belting out new tracks including ‘Dead Behind The Eyes‘ and ‘Our Courage, Our Cancer‘ that go down as well as oldies ‘The North Stands For Nothing‘ and the infamous ‘Crows‘, a track that inspired a lot of kids to start bands and steal riffs, but nonetheless, they are an extremely solid live band with a fantastically dedicated fan-base.
Tedious issues aside, the bill (or what was seen of it…) were on top-notch form, giving their fans something special as well as kicking off the first date of what is set to be a largely sold-out tour in true style.
7/10
Reviewer: Luke Davis
