Faster than a speeding bullet
With the crowd singing every guitar riff and head banging to every drum crash of the intro tape, its clear the Dragonforce gig isn't going to be tame. For a band whose stage introduction proudly proclaims itself as being the fastest band in the world (amidst a lot of bad language, which isn't big or clever), the intensity and passion kicks in from the very start.
The immediate impression, particularly to a non Heavy metal fan, is that it is exactly what you would imagine an Iron Maiden or a New Wave of British Heavy Metal revival show to be like. The speed of the guitars, the ear splitting volume of the drums and the melodic and far-reaching vocals all create a sound similar to what has gone before.
Before anyone takes this as a criticism, it has to be remembered that in all genres at the moment, retro action is what works. The Kaiser Chiefs ape Blur, The Strokes sound like Television so if Dragonforce are reminiscent of classic Maiden, there is clearly a market for it. Fans of one genre may dislike other genres but deep down, there are so many similarities that any differences become pointless.
The only time the high riffage stopped was to allow in some cheesy 80s synth fills, some call and response crowd interaction and handclaps. It was all very stadium rock but the entire set was based upon giving the crowd what they wanted. The posing, the constant running from side to side, every hand gesture and signal was lapped up by the bands adoring public and was given straight back to them.
For all that Dragonforce do what they do very well, they don't deviate much from the plan. It was 40 minutes into the set before lead singer ZP Theart came out wearing a cowboy hat, signalling it was time for the band to slow it down and launch into a relaxed number. It sounded like the natural conclusion to a dalliance between The Scorpions and Bonnie Tylers 'Total Eclipse of The Heart.' The Academy crowd signalled their approval by waving lighters whilst others checked their ticket stubs to ensure that the year wasn't 1986. The few fans in the crowd who had a girlfriend present were frantically snogging away to this track.
This lighter track was followed by a keyboard solo, which had to be seen to be believed. If Rick Wakeman had taken ecstasy and ketamine as opposed to acid and cannabis, he would only have reached half of the far out tomfoolery displayed on it. When you hear the Simpsons theme tune being casually slipped into a solo, theres little else to do but smile.
And from here on it, Dragonforce rampaged and pillaged as though their lives depended on it, and for their fans, it probably did. If the set had faults it was the lack of variety in the songs and the extended guitar freak-outs but that's probably what draws followers to the band in the first place.
Dragonforce aren't for everyone and perform a specialised type of music but they give everything during a set and there probably wasn't one fan that didn't have a brilliant night. And if you don't think that's enough in music these days then you're going to be disappointed more often than not.