Fall Out Boy live review

Fall out BoyWith support: Twenty One Pilots

O2 Academy, Glasgow, Scotland

Saturday 24^th August 2013

After high anticipation Fall Out Boy are back in the UK for the first time since February 2013. The band played an intimate gig at Camden Underworld before embarking on a tour of U.S.A. This time however they are returning for Reading and Leeds festival with just one sold out gig in Glasgow playing at the O2 Academy to a capacity of just 2,500 people. The Chicago based quartet went on hiatus in November 2009 to pursue other projects. With new album ‘Save Rock And Roll’ it seems as if they never spent time apart.

First up is Twenty One Pilots, an American based duo from Columbia, Ohio. The band are playing their first ever gig in Scotland. On stage is just a Piano, a synthesiser and a drum set. Throughout the 40 minutes on stage there are numerous amounts of backflips from the piano, thrashing beats and catchy choruses. They finish off a spectacular energising set with a drum off/ensemble, give their thanks then leave the crowd waiting for FOB. Watch out for them in the near future, they’re on the way to great things.

Entering with hit 'Thriller' Fall Out Boy stroll onto the stage to nothing but screams from the crowd. The audience gathers a mixture of youngsters, there to see the band for the first time and elders wanting to relieve teenage memories. The pop punk legends have returned. The days of big hair and eye-liner have been replaced by four grown up men with an almighty stage presence.

Patrick Stump proves himself as more of a front-man than he ever was. Self-expression throughout performance and proficiency shines through. It just goes to show that four years away from FOB has done a lot of good. His vocal performance is electric like ever before, having toured his solo album during hiatus he has learnt to work the crowd with new found confidence. This time around he shares song breaks with bassist Pete Wentz, who was previously renowned for interacting with the crowd whilst Stump shied away. It’s hard to tell this is just their 3^rd UK show since 2009.

Given that it’s the only night away from Reading and Leeds festival FOB can have as much fun as they want. Wentz brings out a T-Shirt gun for some freebies but with two failed attempts he merely shrugs and the band head straight into ‘Death Valley’. 'We just wrote a record called Save Rock and Roll' declares Wentz, 'But from the looks of it rock and roll is just fine in Glasgow'

The room is as vibrant as ever whilst classic tracks ‘Grand Theft Autumn’, ‘Dance, Dance’ and ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’ erupt from the stage. The set is so far everything that FOB are expected to be, catchy, tight, bold and in every way, sensational.

The band return to the stage for the encore to chants of ‘here we go, here we fucking go’, a norm for gigs in Glasgow. Settling himself down to the piano, Stump cuts into self-titled song ‘Save Rock Rock And Roll.’ The encore is followed by hit 'Thnks Fr The Mmrs' and finishes with none other than definitive pop punk anthem, ‘Saturday.’

Understandably seven tracks from the most recent album ‘Save Rock And Roll’ are played.  However with a mixture of hits and particular favourites the set list cannot be faulted. After five hours of being squashed like sardines in a can, fans leave the venue with grins spread across their face and sodden T Shirts. Fall Out Boy’s return seems to be back for good, this time with a more mature approach to their live performances. 

1. Thriller
2. I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me.
3. A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More ''Touch Me''
4. Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes
5. The Phoenix
6. Just One Yesterday
7. This Aint A Scene It's An Arms Race
8.Alone Together
9.What A Catch Donnie
10. Death Valley
11. Hum Hallelujah
12. Grand Theft Autumn/ Where Is Your Boy
13. Sugar We're Going Down
14.Young Volcanoes
15. Dance, Dance
16. I Don't Care
17. My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up)
encore
1. Save Rock And Roll
2. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs
3. Saturday

Bring Me the Horizon. Live review.

Support from Empress and Crossfaith

Manchester Academy 2

29^th April 2013

With their 4^th studio album ‘Sempiternal’ being leaked two months prior to actual release our initial thoughts were that the Bring Me the Horizon were in for the rough earlier this year. It turns out things couldn’t have gone any better. ‘Sempiternal’ got pushed forward a month and made its debut at #3 in the UK album charts. To say that they achieved that when their album had been streamed illegally shows that fans really do remain faithful.

Hailing from Yorkshire, the band set out on a number of small dates to promote new album prior to this current tour. Bmth could easily sell out a big venue anywhere in Britain. It seems however, smaller ones bring out the more intimate atmosphere. Manchester Academy 2 has the pleasure of starting off the tour.

It’s 8:00pm and Yorkshire based band Empress are here to get the night going. The room is still filling out and luckily people stay to listen. There isn’t much interaction built amongst the crowd. However, It isn’t the worst set a band can play live, just a little wobbly here and there.

Techno-Metalcore band Crossfaith are a great choice to have as support. Having arrived all the way from Osaka, Japan the band are keen to get the crowd stomping. Pits appear as soon as it kicks into their first song and they don’t slow down for the next half an hour. They play a cover of The Prodigy’s ‘Omen’ and the room is filled with boundless energy.

Bring Me the Horizon enter with ‘Shadow Moses’, pits start to build up and cries of ‘This is Sandpit Turtle’ echo around the building. It seems like the band won’t be able to get rid of the lyrical joke any time soon.

Unfortunately three songs in during ‘Alligator Blood’ there are technical difficulties. The band play without realising most of the crowd can’t hear them. The momentum is rebooted once the difficulties are rectified and ‘Go to Hell for Heaven’s Sake’ gets the mosh pit erupting once more.

Towards the end of the set, singer Oli Sykes gets the crowd up on each other’s shoulders for angry ballad, ‘Blessed with a Curse’. The set list tonight shows that Oli Sykes can still provide both the screaming vocals and a melodic voice without the help of ex-guitarist Jona’s backing vocals.

The encore brought a wall of death whilst finishing with single from new album ‘Antivist’ Not the usual song to finish with but played live it creates aggression in the room. No feet are on the ground and middle fingers are up in dedication to the lyrics.

Despite the slight technical difficulties, Bmth put on a faultless performance. To say they are no longer playing with ex-guitarist Jona Weinhofen they still play a tight and detailed set with replacement Jordan Fish. At previous gigs and festivals, Aussie born Weinhofen was known to climb scaffolding and speakers. This time there is less craziness but the adrenaline still pumps around the room. Proof from their live set still remains that they are, at this moment in time one of the most influential modern metal bands in the UK.

The future of Fall Out Boy starts now.

Well It‘s official, Fall Out Boy are back. In late 2009 the band shocked fans with the announcement that they were on a hiatus in order to pursue side projects. Rumours of a reunion have been passed around over the web since October last year when they all got together for singer, Patrick Stumps wedding. However on the 4th February the band released a statement on their official website and Twitter with a photo of themselves stating,

''The future of Fall Out Boy starts now. Save Rock And Roll.’’

Fall Out Boy announced a series of intimate tour dates on the same day. The tour kicked off in their home town of Chicago. The only UK dates to take place are held at Camden Underworld on the 25th February and Leeds & Reading in August. Tickets for The Underworld sold out when tickets apparently went on sale three minutes before they were supposed to. This left fans outraged, even more so when websites such as Viagogo placed tickets on-line later in the day for £300.

The Underworld holds a capacity of 500 people and a few lucky fans will get to experience the intimate concert a few months before the new album Save Rock And Roll is even released. The band also announced last week that they were pushing the album forward a month. The release date is now being released on April 15th. The statement from their official website reads,

'So when we got this all rolling we didn't expect it to be so crazy. But we weren't kidding when we said we had the album done – so why wait? It means the world to us the way you have welcomed us back.’’

So with five albums under their belt and new hit single ‘My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark,’ lets expect big things on the horizon.

my cultural diary

we had to do a cultural diary based on an interview with an interesting person and write it as if it's them writing it using quotes. I did mine about my friend Declan O'Mara.

My Dad got me into Ice Hockey. We lived in Nuneaton not too far away from Coventry and heard that ice hockey was starting and the new season began. We went down to the ice rink to watch a game against Solihull. It was all pretty new, junior hockey was starting as a development. I was aged eight by the time I started playing.

If it wasn’t for hockey I definitely wouldn’t have visited all the places I have been to. The chance to go to about five countries in the same year is mind blowing when you think about it. Each place we went to was a new experience.

The best place I got to visit playing hockey was Hong Kong. I played for GB in the world inline championships. It was unreal to travel across the world to play a sport I learned in Coventry as a child. Another amazing place I went to was Detroit, this was my first encounter with the AAU Junior Olympics For the first time I played against Canada and USA. We came 4^th in the whole tournament. Whilst I was there I entered a skills competition to win fastest skater. I found myself in the final against a guy from the Czech Republic which I won.

I quit hockey for a few reasons. First was the fact I lived so far away from a team that competed at a high enough level. Also Lincoln University doesn’t offer Ice/Inline Hockey as a society.

I run my own production company called ‘Dead Skull Films’. We specialize in making any form of video content. It tends to range from filming music videos to promos for bands. I started it around a year ago. I got an email reply one day from a club night called ‘Detonate’ in Nottingham. I filmed for free and gradually got paid small amounts. It just blew up and everything turned out how it is today. Companies I have worked for include Ram Records and UFK Dub step. I have worked for artists such as Skrillex, Enter Shikari and DJ Fresh.

When I go to gigs to enjoy myself I usually feel like I have to be doing something. It’s strange being in the crowd when you have seen behind the scenes and know the bands you are watching as your friends.

I don’t really have many hobbies because filming is just like a hobby to me. I would say DJing is another hobby but it’s nothing serious.

My favourite film of all time is Back to the Future. Other than that I don’t really watch many Hollywood blockbuster films and pay more attention to the indie scene of films. I would recommend the film Rubber to people; it is about a serial killer who is reincarnated as a tyre.

I’m an Xbox 360 kinda guy. I have the usual games such as Fifa 13, Call of Duty and NHL 13 They’re all pretty much games I can play online with my friends.

I have too many favourite bands to name but I would say it’s a mixture of Bring me the Horizon, Enter Shikari and Chase & Status. I think the reasons I like this kind of music is because of my childhood friends. One half of them loved Drum & Bass and the other half liked metal/rock music so I have the best of both worlds.

Music tech night review

Not my best review but it's ok.

Music Tech night presents…

Beware wolf, Soul Burn, Paper Plane, The Mcques.

Huddersfield Student Union

 It’s 9:00pm which seems late for a gig. With 4 bands on the bill tonight it is not likely to end till midnight but that isn’t stopping people staying to see their favourite bands play. There is a good turn out tonight and about half an hour after being seated the DJ Dale Johnson introduces the first band.

By the time Beware wolf arrive Huddersfield SU is more or less full. The 3 piece alternative band dive straight into their first song. The rhythm is in sync and vocals are clear. After a few songs the singer announces their drummer is in fact standing in for the usual drummer who couldn’t make it. The music is almost Biffy Clyro influenced with the amount of pauses and heavy riffs being used. The band show true talent, in fact if they hadn’t have mentioned they had a stand in drummer I don’t think anyone in the audience would have known.

Soul Burn seem to take it in turns to play slow and fast songs. Two guitars dominate the mere 30 minute set. The use of pedal effects and broken chords creates a chilled out atmosphere and the use of breakdowns grabs audience attention. The band work well together as the slow melodic melodies build up to great crescendos towards the last few songs. Unfortunately it’s hard to hear the singer’s lyrics over the volume of the instruments.

Although they’re not the headliners Paper Plane is probably the most anticipated band on the Bill tonight. The 3 piece rock band are the battle of the bands 2012 runners up and have a lot to live up to. Vocalist Jack Bennet hasn’t lost his touch, vocals are perfection and all 3 seem lost in the music. They are the first band to interact with the audience properly taking some time out between songs.  The set is led by heavy chords, varied tempos and use of instrumental breakdowns. They play harder, faster and louder than the other bands so far. The strobe lights seem to appear whenever they feel like it, mistake or not it definitely boosts the atmosphere in the room. Many guitar spins, screaming vocals and air jumps later they bring the set to an end. ‘’And in the end, I’ll build a time machine,’’ is a worthy finish bringing an orchestral backing track to the finale. It doesn’t look hard for them to be able to follow up their 2011 album ‘Draw your own holes.’

It must be hard to finish off the night as the main headliners. However, The Mcques seem to be pulling it off. The bass takes the prominent lead creating an upbeat, bouncy rhythm. Half way into the 3^rd song they take the risk mixing an old 90’s dance song with one of their own but it works well. They play almost stiff like throughout the set but it’s uncertain whether that’s a trademark or if they’re just not used to bigger crowds. By no fault of their own, half way through people are looking tired and start to head home. Although they play well together it’s clear they have only been together for a year, not that the music is bad but there is minimal interaction with the audience. The Mcques play a simple set with not much lighting but it ends the night on a high.

 

Tyler Douglas profile piece

In class for an assignment we had to do a profile piece. We had to get a transcrcibed interview and make a piece out of questions and answers. The guy I chose was Tyler Douglas a man I met in America when I was doing a hockey tournament. Working time zones out was difficult but here is my finished piece.

Tyler Douglas, Profile Piece.

Set in Loganville GA, Skyline Recording Studios isn’t the average recording studio; it is fully equipped but is provided for local artists who can go there to record professionally for an affordable price. They know what they’re doing and Skyline Studios is slowly on its way to the top of the Music Industry and has made a big name and great reputation already. It provides an excellent environment for everyone to give their best shot at the mic and caters for artists/bands at a range of different genres from Hip-Hop to Acoustic and Metal. The studios are operated by non-other than twenty-one year old Tyler Douglas.

 

Born on October 8^th 1990 to an American/British family Tyler grew up in Atlanta GA. As a teenager he studied at Loganville High School. He became interested in sound and music whilst at school and it went from there. ‘’My favourite subject at school was Physics, I loved learning about how sound travelled and how it could be manipulated to the human ear.’’

 

From High School Tyler went on to study Audio Engineering and became a Master engineer at SAE Institute Of Technology. Here he would learn everything he needed to get a job in the music industry. He recalls ‘’I chose my career in the music industry because once I started getting involved in bands my friend had a tape recorder and we would just use that to record ourselves. I would put the songs onto the computer and mess with the sounds to make things sound better.’’

 

Tyler was born into a sporty family, whilst at High School he played for the Ice Hockey team Loganville Red Devils. During his time there his main position to play was defence. As a team they played in the State Championship and went on to win the National Championships later that year. When asked if he still played he replied ‘’I still play hockey for fun with some old friends but I don’t find the time anymore to play at high standards.’’

 

He started work in 2005 at Skyline Recording Studios while he was still at High School. He worked with a great deal of artists, mainly local and made his way up to running the studio himself where he is currently positioned. In his seven years there he has worked with the likes of Katy Perry, Usher, Drake and Justin Beiber where he got to spend time with them recording new material. ‘’Katy was my favourite person to work with she was so down to Earth.’’ He addresses her first name only which suggests they became friends while she was recording there. However Tyler’s time spent with Celebrities is kept pretty private, he is modest and not one to boast.

 

When asked if he has had any bad experiences at the Studio he seems eager to answer. ‘’I haven’t really had any bad experiences here at skyline studios. You just get those little problems every once in a while, but hey, its music business, you never know what’s going to happen. Things don’t always run smoothly, one minute it could be going perfect and next there could be a blown speaker Either that or the artist has had a bad day at the office and is giving everyone a hard time. No matter what happens Tyler is always at hand to help with the recordings. When Tyler is not working At Skyline studios he is usually found working at other studios or working for as a stage tech for Live Event Solutions, a production company that delivers professional Audio, Lighting and video.

 

One Christmas Tyler’s parents bought him some microphones for his drums so he could record demos and covers of him playing. ‘’From there I knew this is what I wanted to do, I kept building on my equipment and that’s how I got to where I am today.’’

 In fact Tyler has been in bands himself and recorded in Skyline Studios. From 2007-2010 he was in a band called Fortune Favors The Brave again playing drums. They were unsigned but released songs for listeners over music website Myspace. They gave off the sound of electronica/Pop Rock. Whilst together they recorded 15 demos and 2 EP albums before going their separate ways. ‘’My commitment to Skyline Studios and side projects means I no longer have time to commit to playing in bands anymore myself, I do miss it but me and the guys remain great friends.’’

Download Festival 2012

Last week was actually amazing. We arrived in donnington at half 7 on the weds and by the time we had pitched our tents an gazebo it had started raining so badly. We explored of the village on the Thursday and half of it got shut off for a few hours the floods and mud was that bad. The mud was awful but I didn’t let it ruin the week. My mate amber left early Fridaywithout seeing any bands. I saw so many bands and loved it my favourites were steel panther, tenacious D, Metallica and of course black sabbath. chants of Fenton, butt scratchahh and badgers and camping with 12 good mates made the week even better.

Big venues vs small venues for concerts (UK)

 We had to do a feature for Radio on anything we wanted to do with the music industry. I did a voxpop of fans outside Leeds Cockpit and Interviewed support band The Swellers.

Cue:

There has been much discussion over the years as to what size venue is best for concerts. Smaller venues suggest more intimacy between fans and the band. But some people feel a bigger venue makes the band feel more accepted and that they have finally ‘made it’. Smaller venues bring the better sound and sell tickets quicker whereas big venues allow the artist to put on more of a show as space allows them to do more on stage.

INTRO: Deaf Havana fans outside Leeds Cockpit, Bar staff in gig venues and American band The Swellers talk about their opinions on this topic.