A Rather Good Read
I confess to not having heard Story of The Year before prior to tonight so I come with an open mind, when the Star Wars theme music signals their intro I am still blissfully unaware of what's to follow!
The intro music dies and Story of The Year literally explode onto the stage with unbridled energy, they fly all over the stage (by virtue of radio packs) right from the off and for the first few seconds you just don't know where to look. This is high octane stuff, the songs are fast and furious but with enough melody to prevent the band coming across as pure thrash merchants.
The packed crowd are with the band from the start and no more so than when during the second song one of the guitarists climbs up onto the top of the speaker stack. It's wild, it's frantic and it's highly entertaining but it doesn't stop there, oh no. There is literally no let up in their energy or the intense nature of the songs, by the third or fourth song they must have covered every inch of the stage already, at times it's like watching ants on speed!
On the rare occasions when things do slow down a little, such as on the single 'We Don't Care Anymore', some good vocal harmonies and a crunching riff mean it comes across no less effective than the faster numbers. The middle eight provides about 20 seconds of respite for the band and crowd before bursting back into full flow. What follows just has to be seen to be believed, the two guitarists launch their guitars across to the opposite sides of the stage before climbing on top of the (smaller) speaker stack and simultaneously back flipping down onto the stage! What the ... ? This is all done mid song by the way and they pick up their guitars and carry on as if nothing had happened, very amusing, highly entertaining if not a little choreographed.
The final song rounds proceedings off as they began with 100mph punk fuelled insanity! The circle pit is as wild as the band and it's really no surprise when the bass player launches himself into the crowd at the end. Story of The Year are in danger of stealing the show tonight, a rather stunning performance indeed.