Drug Church aren’t the stereotypical choice for The Story So Far support, the crowd seem less than unsure until vocalist Patrick Kindlon says “If you’re unsure whether this is cool or not, I can asure you it is.” If that doesn’t indicate this is a love it or hate it band then what does. While some of the audience seems reluctant to be interested, Kindlon makes up for the lack of energy with his own, and most the members seem to be statues, he is all over the place in comparison. His spoken word verses are interesting but it’s Work Shy that offers the most diverse work and yet still easily accessible to this audience.
Hardcore quintet Turnstile seem like the band who prefer a show to not have a barrier, and to be as far away from the crowd as they are is probably not ideal and vocalist Brendan Yates spent the most time stood on the barrier in front of a now very boisterous crowd. Even if Hardcore isn’t your thing, and if its dance moves are definitely not your thing, it’s not hard to get lost in what Turnstile do, their stomping aggressive instrumentals are enough to get anyone moving, even if it’s just banging your head.
The Story So Far aren’t a theatrical band, they don’t need the special effects or the fancy lighting. They let their music speak for its worth and my how loud it speaks. Empty Space, Nerve and Things I Can’t Change are executed with slick precision, and the band make churning out aggressive, raw and anthemic pop punk tracks look easy. Heavy Gloom introduced by Kelen Capener’s groovy, trudging bass notes doesn’t fall short despite being one of the newer tracks. Even so, some new tracks like Distaste and Solo seem to lack the same punch that the tracks on earlier albums have. With that being said the crowd are still anxious to ram into each other no matter the track playing.
Clairvoyant, whilst being in total contrast to the rest of the set, is a potent track that gets the warmest reception. Frontman Parker Cannon may not have the best designed voice for the slow tempo songs but this track seems to be held dearly by many of the fans in the audience. Every track apart from Clairvoyant played has resulted in endless chaos in the centre of the crowd, its Quicksand that’s the life of the party and as expected, a sea of bodies falling on top of bodies arrives as crowd surfers began to make their way to the front of the stage. Before ending the set completely on what is the last show of their UK tour, Cannon proceeds to say how much fun they’re having to not play another and High Regard ends the set with a very high note indeed.
