The aptly named Intercontinental Championships Tour featuring headliners Neck Deep who hail from North Wales, with support from the Australian Trophy Eyes, Canadians Seaway and Americans Knuckle Puck made its way through London last week. The night was set to give fans a taste of all things pop punk as Neck Deep warmed up in preparation for their slot supporting All Time Low at Wembley Arena, and across Europe next month. Taking on a wrestling theme seems like the most lad-ish thing possible, but it added a hint of humour to the evening even before fans piled in to the venue excitedly.
Trophy Eyes took to the stage first, delivering a harder dose of pop punk to the audience who opened up an unimaginably large circle pit. The quintet, who hail from New South Wales, released their debut album Move, Mend On back in November on Hopeless Records, but the first part of their set was dedicated to their earlier EP, Everything Goes Away. Their nine song set seemed shorter than it was with the way it had the rowdy audience transfixed, but as a result it meant the band had done their job of keeping fans entertained ahead of Neck Deep.
Next up were Seaway, who had everyone in fits of laughter when they entered the stage to the tune ‘Blame Canada‘ from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Entering on the line, “they’re not even a real country anyway!”, the band played seven songs that split across most of their records including ‘Your Best Friend‘ from their most recent EP All In My Head, that visibly went down a treat among their surprising amount of fans in the crowd. Things continued to be solid and exuberant, without a moment for anyone to stop for long enough to decide they were tired — especially when the band announced that they were filming for their new music video across the tour. On their first UK tour, their performance in the Capital definitely seemed to go without a hitch while the quintet’s family watched from the balcony.
Source: George PowellKnuckle Puck are somewhat of a famous name in pop punk lately and have already scored themselves up quite a considerable fanbase in the United Kingdom. That evening they performed the first of their two sets for the day, with their second to be at London’s biggest rock nightclub Facedown in the early morning but likely to a crowd a lot older than the teenagers who packed in to the pit at the Electric Ballroom. With that being said, the Chicago quintet did not worry about using up all their energy, that was for sure, as they gave Camden one hell of a performance with songs from their most recent EP While I Stay Secluded like ‘Bedford Falls‘ and ‘Oak Street‘ as well as older tunes, ‘Give Up‘ and ‘Stuck‘, which meant there was something on the setlist for fans of all ages and lengths. From the way the crowd sang along, it was clear that not everybody was there just for Neck Deep and it just goes to show you how important supporting artists really are.
Neck Deep were on a mission, no doubt, to pack in as many songs as possible to their unbelievably short set seeing as there was an early curfew on account of the Electric Ballroom’s Friday club night. They did it, delivering fans with a setlist of 16 songs plus a one song encore meaning that they got to play tracks that you wouldn’t hear in a support set, making the evening all the more special. All the usual contenders were there, such as ‘Crushing Grief (No Remedy)‘ and ‘Growing Pains‘ from the band’s full-length Wishful Thinking and of course, ‘A Part Of Me‘ which had the band’s long time friend Laura Whiteside grace the stage for her featuring guest vocals, but a few other gems made the cut much to the delight of the fans who had been waiting patiently down the front to see their favourite band.
Source: George PowellWith no lack of banter on stage (something expected from a gang of five guys), Neck Deep closed off the show in a way that had the audience either singing along or laughing at all times — it’s something that shows how really down to earth they are as musicians. Being able to interact with your fans like that is envied by the fans of bigger artists, so it’s one of the real reasons why starting off small and building up with everything you work for is the best way to go when pursuing a music career. Neck Deep are surely aware of this, but have no issue with messing around and doing things their way so they’re ultimately having fun the same as their crowds are. It makes for a touching scene to watch, and will see the band go far.
