Monumental?
A Day to Remember complete the trio of bands appearing on the second stage from the Road to Download tour and prove to be the pick of the bunch. They get the biggest crowd of the day so far as a steady stream of people make their way to the stage before the band come on and they get a good reception as they take the stage.
A Day to remember deal in post hardcore but where they have the advantage over their touring partners is that you can actually pick out the tune most of the time! It’s hard and heavy but the vocals are clean and this makes a big difference when the sound on this stage isn’t so great. The machine gunning riffs are tightly executed and they give a full on and energetic performance that results in the first crowd surfers of the day.
Mid way through they throw in a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since U Been Gone’ and it’s safe to say that they absolutely murder it! At times it’s barely recognisable and generally it’s awful but it’s good fun all the same. Of their own material we get ‘A Shot in the Dark’, ‘Monument’, ’You Should Have Killed Me When You Had the Chance’ and a new song, the amusingly titled ‘Why Walk on Water When We Got Boats?’ amongst others. At times they are reminiscent of early Rise Against although in the main they are much harder.
A solid showing and certainly the best of the hardcore bands on this stage today.