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Source: Gemma Bell
Every single year the Kerrang! Tour brings with it a line-up full of polar opposites with generally two types of bands covered. This year we get some pop-punk in the form of fast risers Roam and nostalgic headliners Sum 41, and to finish the line up Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes are thrown in, who need no introduction, alongside straight up rock and rollers, The Biters.
Punk rock refuses to die and it seems that over the past year the genre has exploded in such a way that it can not be escaped. As Roam bound onto stage, sadly poor sound hampers the start of their set as frontman pocket rocket Alex Costello’s voice warbles behind the sound of heavier instruments, but they handle the situation like complete pro’s and a song or so in the sound levels and the crowd well and truly get into the bouncy happiness of their music. For a band who are in the same slot as Bury Tomorrow last year though, it feels a little lacklustre.
Source: Gemma Bell
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes came onto the Kerrang! Tour to do one thing… to steal the show; and, as he keeps repeating, make them everyone’s “new favourite band”. Frank Carter has pulled all of the best aspects of his previous bands, and the best aspects of his endearing personality, to create The Rattlesnakes. Yes he’s still an angry ginger man, but he isn’t as over the top as he has been in the past, and his vocals have grown more than we ever thought possible. They thrive on being the underdogs and pushing themselves to be fan favourites as they prove every time Frank jumps in with the fans and screams whilst whirring through the crowd. As they near the end, Frank demands the crowd to sit on the floor as he performs an emotional rendition of ‘Beautiful Death’ dedicated to his late father-in-law.
The set is such a flurry of angry music, circle pits, walls of knee sliding (don’t ask) and complete happiness, we failed to see anyone who didn’t have a smile plastered on their face.
It’s been a long tricky road for Sum 41 with frontman Deryck’s road to recovery but it is fantastic to see the band back on the road, back on form and back with all the old songs which most of the crowd have grown up listening to. The nostalgia filled set brings memories flooding back of the good days of 2000’s pop punk. Opening with ‘Motivation’ and ‘Over My Head (Better Off Dead)’ the Canadian’s rattle through hit after hit which brings about a bigger reaction in the crowd than we’ve seen in a long time. ‘Makes No Difference’ gets a huge reaction while the bands short cover of Queens’ ‘We Will Rock You’ brings about a mass sing along, but this has nothing on their own tracks. A testament to the bands twenty year career.
Apart from when the band stop to bring up a handful of lucky die-hard fans to watch the show from side stage, they don’t talk all that much. There’s not enough time when you have iconic tracks from five albums to flow your way through. Despite the dividing opinion of the album, ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’ goes down a right treat while the performance of ‘Summer’ is a tick on most our musical bucket lists.
Sum 41 lock their entire audience in a pop-punk time machine but we don’t reach the height of it until pre-encore closer ‘In Too Deep’ propels through the venue and understandably the crowd go crazy in the way you only do when you’re drunk in a club and your favourite song comes on. As expected the night ends on ‘Fat Lip’ which makes us feel like teenagers again, performed with the same power and enthusiasm as it was back in 2001.
The return of Sum 41 marks the beginning of new punk-rock era and the only thing we’re sad about it how old we feel remembering it first time round.
Check out our gallery of the night below! [/tps_header]
Source: Gemma Bell
