Rocksound Impericon Exposure Tour- We Came As Romans – O2 Academy Islington, London – 02/03/14 | Live Review

Credit: Rhian Westbury

The Rocksound Impericon Exposure Tour featuring We Came As Romans, with Palm Reader, The Color Morale and Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! as support, came to London on March 2 for the final date in a week long run. Now the third time that Rocksound and Impericon have teamed up to bring up and coming bands in to the spotlight, there’s no doubt that all four sets performed on the night oozed with raw talent and professional showmanship. Playing O2 Academy Islington which has earned itself a bit of a legendary reputation in recent years after hosting shows by the likes of Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Skid Row, We Came As Romans and co. set up to rock the roof off the small club venue which is strangely situated in the middle of a shopping centre on Islington‘s fashionable Upper Street.

Credit: Rhian Westbury

First on to the stage was Palm Reader, who hail from Woking, Surrey, making them the only British band on the lineup. The half an hour they played was enough to energize the crowd, which started breaking in to circle pits from the get-go, but the fact that their set was so short had you wondering what more they could do to impress if they were to headline a show. Despite playing to a crowd that mostly hadn’t listened to them before, Palm Reader seemed to have an affect on the audience that undoubtedly created them a bit of a new following.

Credit: Rhian Westbury

Next up: The Color Morale. From Illinois, USA, at first glance you wouldn’t think that this is a band who have three albums under their belts, but their set proved that they are more than capable of winning over crowds. Having created quite a buzz in the UK recently with their performance at Warped Tour UK, it’s clear they’ve already made an impact on British hardcore fans judging by the way the audience received the band. Frontman Garret Rapp‘s appearance on We Came As Romans track ‘Present, Future and Past‘ meant there was already a hype surrounding the band before they even graced the stage – and when they eventually did, they certainly managed to win the audience over with their well thought-out set which was rounded off by the crowd-pleasing single ‘Strange Comfort’.

Credit: Rhian Westbury

The main support for the night came in the form of Parisian Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, who seemed like kind of a misfit at first in the middle of a hardcore lineup. The pop punkers soon proved their worth however and showcased that they definitely know how to rock out and get the crowd jumping; invigorated in preparation for the headline act. Their setlist, which was packed with fan favourites such as ‘Taking Chances‘ and ‘In Friends We Trust‘ also included the band’s cover of pop princess Ke$ha‘s ‘We R Who We R‘ which featured on Punk Goes Pop 4. One of Fearless Records‘ brightest stars right now, Chunk were able to keep the die hard We Came As Romans fans entertained while also pleasing the people who were solely there for them, which there seemed to be an abundance of likely due to the differing genres. Despite that, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! definitely fought the good fight – and succeeded!

Credit: Rhian Westbury

Finally to enter the stage were the true stars of the evening, Michigan hardcore outfit We Came As Romans. Sometimes having as many as three bands as support proves as an issue, leaving an audience listless before the headline band has even come on, but this fortunately wasn’t one of those cases as the crowd worked up a cheer that was almost impossibly loud. The band’s mixture of both clean and unclean vocals definitely kept the audience on their toes, as they offered up new tracks from their latest album Tracing Back Roots such as ‘Ghosts‘, ‘I Survive‘ and ‘Fade Away‘, old gems like ‘To Move On Is To Grow‘ and their cover of The Wanted‘s ‘Glad You Came‘, from Punk Goes Pop 5, which seemed to go down a treat with fans and sparked a singalong like no other.

We Came As Romans have an ability that is much sought after in the world of music, to be versatile with their music so that no two songs sound the same. At no point was the audience showing signs of lethargy, in fact they were on edge, wondering what the band before them were going to do next. The Color Morale‘s Rapp made his second appearance for the evening to provide his guest vocals for the aforementioned ‘Present, Future and Past‘, helping add to what was already confirmed to be a solid set.

A few songs later and the band left the stage, returning moments later following the deafening chants from their fans begging for an encore — “We-CAR! We-CAR!”  Finishing off with one of their more well-known, newer tracks, ‘Hope‘, We Came As Romans triumphantly sealed the deal with their London fans and finished off the tour on what was no doubt a high note.

Review by: Madison Convey
Photos by: Rhian Westbury