Airbourne bid farewell to the UK with a heavy heart.
Airbourne ended their UK wide tour with their second London date which saw them supported by Ontario based Sound & Fury and from Darkness fame; Stone Gods.
The Astoria was heaving by the time Airbourne were due on, While the crowd waited impatiently for them to take to the stage, an army of roadies appeared to undertake the enormous task of setting up for the guys. Out comes the ‘red’ carpet, and the sheets, that were barely disguising the 8 Marshall stack amps, are removed. The wall of Marshall’s acted as a literal hint at the wall of noise that was about to hit us.
They start the set off with the opening track from their second album, ‘Stand up for Rock ‘N’ Roll’, which saw Joel O’Keeffe and David Roads armed with their iconic Gibson Explorers, rocking out using every inch of the stage. Laying down thick heavy riffs for the crowds listening pleasure.
Once the guys had worked up a sweat, while launching into ‘Fat City’, they treated the photographers to a drenching as they doused themselves with water before wind milling like mad.
‘Diamonds in the Rough’ provided the crowd with some classic dirty rock riffs and a foot stomping rhythm. Whilst Justin Street and David Roads indulged in some duel Gibson SG wielding, which momentarily took the crowds attention away from the front man.
As they played their last few songs of the night, Joel jumped down into the pit, in an attempt to fill another gap between songs, and got mauled by the fans in the front row in the process, he then treated the crowd to a solo before launching into ‘Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast’ at full speed.
The set closed to an exstatic reaction but what band can resist an encore? While Ryan O’Keefe displays his talents with a drum solo, he is gradually joined onstage by his fellow band mates for a two song encore of ‘Runnin’ Wild’ followed by ‘Blackjack’. Between the last two songs Joel expresses that it is with a heavy heart they leave the UK and the Astoria especially, he voiced his objections to a sacred home of rock being pulled down. But one has to question his sanity as he then proceeded to smash a can of beer against his head until it bursts soaking the security and some of the front row, as well as himself.
Anyone who saw their performance earlier this year at Download festival may have been disappointed that tonight there would not be a repeat performance of Joel’s epic climb up the stage rigging to fly the Aussie flag. However there was no need for such antics, as Joel is a natural front man who commands the audience’s undivided attention, no matter what else is going on, on stage. The sound was spot on and with great timing; it was comparable to the album. There is no denying these guys have talent and just incase they thought you might forget it, they made sure that they left you with their catchy rock riffs ringing in your ears for days.