Taking Northampton By Storm
From the outside it looks like your average English pub on a summer’s night. There’s no lines winding down the streets, no teens squealing with pre-gig delight whilst their bored parent looks on from afar, in fact there’s no indication at all to suggest that anything but a pint is being offered behind the red painted walls. Yep, Northampton hadn’t exactly come out to support Aiden in their masses but once you step inside the sweatbox that is The Racehorse pub, into the dingy microscopic back room, there is some hint that at the very least, the weekly pub quiz is postponed for the evening.
Having played to a sold out London crowd the previous evening, tonight’s turn out must have seemed pitiful for Seattle’s Aiden and yet the four piece never let this deter them from putting their hearts fully into the performance. Having to clamber over the crowd just to reach the stage, Aiden quickly proceed to transform the room into a sauna, raging through a vigorous burst of ‘Last Sunrise’ that merged into the athemic gusto of ‘Die Romantic’ with ease as Wil Francis energetically commanded the stage, niftily sidestepping in time for bassist Nick Wiggins and guitarist Angel Ibarra to zoom back and forth across the tiny platform. With their latest single ‘Scavengers Of The Damned’ instantly inviting a mass sing along, it was left to the anger fuelled rage of ‘Crusification’ to gain added intensity within the smaller venue as Francis snarled his religious views out for all, its raw aggression standing in stark contrast to the almost buoyant ‘Teenage Queen’ and darkly delicious ‘We Sleep Forever’.
Coming to the conclusion that it would be more hassle than it was worth to attempt to leave the stage before an encore, Francis informed all that the band would simply go through their whole set, not taking a break. With the heat stifling, the sweat dripping and Francis’ eyeliner mimicking that of every girl in the crowd and melting down his face, Aiden chose to ignore the elements, ploughing through a strangely intimate and yet invigorating ‘Asylum’ complete with contempt filled lyrics bouncing off the crowd back to the band, before bringing things to a traditional close. Paying little attention to the size of the room or the crowd, Francis refused to have his games spoiled tonight, orchestrating the now customary Aiden wall of death. Sure, it may not go down as the biggest collision of bodies in history, but it certainly had enthusiasm as Jake Davison’s drums heralded a surge of bodies, eagerly watched on by Francis as ‘I Set My Friends On Fire’ brought the set to a fittingly vigorous climax, leaving Francis and his band the mere simple task of trying to prise their way back off the stage and through the crowd once more.
Whether you sugar coat it as the media friendly ‘credit crunch’ or brandish the almost blasphemous name of ‘recession’ about, the truth is the economy is wrecked, and so it’s hard to figure out how any band can tour their own country, let alone go abroad, and actually make money. For an American band to be playing a Northampton sweat box (the original venue had to close due to money problems ironically enough) without actually selling it out, you can only assume that these four guys are in it entirely for the love of music, and with the haters only too willing to stick the knives in their backs, Seattle’s Aiden are most definitely here because they love what they do. With everyone quick to preach that Armageddon is here, it looks like we’re all going to hell; oh well, at least with Aiden leading the charge we’ll have some raging tunes and seasoned tour guides to show us the ropes. Northampton may not have ventured out to welcome them with open arms but Aiden certainly let those willing to brave the heat know that they are still here to take the world by storm.