Pleasure Seekers
With the Prodigy on the main stage the turn out for The Bronx isn’t what it might have been but there are still a good few hundred in the Lock Up tent to witness the return of the Californian noise merchants.
It’s an electrifying start as they burst straight into ‘Shitty Future’, vocalist Matt Caughthran sporting a broad grin as he bounds around the stage. If anything the sound is a little too loud but the effect is to make The Bronx sound immensely powerful. Now we’re no strangers to Caughthran going into the crowd during the set and he duly does after a couple of songs but we’re not prepared for what follows! He climbs up the central tent stanchion, a good ten feet or more off the ground at least, asks the crowd if they’ll catch him and then forward flips into the crowd! It’s inspired and brilliant and just puts the edge on the band’s performance. Everyone is smiling and it sets the standard for the rest of the set. The whole band are in fine form and they deliver a crushing set of high energy rock and roll that is as visually compelling gas it is to listen to.
The Bronx are hard, heavy and intense but they know the value of a good tune and of those they have many. Probably the only band here this weekend to match the Prodigy for sheer intensity of performance and in a straight race there wouldn’t be much in it. Quite simply one of the sets of the weekend.