30 Seconds to Mars at NIA Birmingham 1st December 2010

Weather Forecast: Heavy snow with chances of a ‘Hurricane’

The US rockers 30 Seconds to Mars cause a storm at the Birmingham NIA, 1^st December 2010.

The band has had a mammoth year with two world tours, a Download festival performance, winning a MTV EMA award for Best Rock Band and a MTV VMA award for Best Rock Video.  Nothing could have stopped 30 Seconds to Mars in their attempt to make 2010 year of the Echelon, and the biggest year of their musical career. Was it just one step too far?

First band of the evening was a trio from California, Funeral Party. The indie/ rock band were not originally on the bill to support 30 Seconds to Mars; therefore a surprise to most of the audience. Funeral Party had a similar sound to 30 Seconds to Mars but lacked in on-stage personality affecting the reception they received from the still spectators. Being an unknown and unexpected addition to the line-up, the band did not receive the positive response they were hoping for.

The next band was the announced support which, by the greeting they received, was very popular with the Birmingham crowd. Enter Shikari (ΣΠΤΣR SHΦΚΔRΦ), post-Hardcore rock ravers from St Albans took the NIA stage, strobe lighting and techno beats at the ready. Stirring mosh-pits as they played tracks such as, ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ and their newest single, ‘Destabilise’.  Vocalist, Roughton 'Rou' Reynolds, climbed up the lighting stand at the side of the stage and ran around like a man possessed as the band truly warmed the crowd which, he himself claimed, was their job.  Enter Shikari played earlier this year at the Reading and Leeds festivals managing to fill the NME tents; therefore they were certainly able to play before an arena sized crowd, keeping their charisma whilst performing. With adrenaline pumping through their veins, the audience was now ready for 30 Seconds to Mars.

After the long interval the ‘cult’ were ready for their leaders to arrive on stage. Intense drumming could be heard from behind the white curtain complemented by flashing lights darting around the hidden stage. This wait seemed to drag on longer than needed; the anticipation in the arena was already high without this added delay. Finally the curtain was pulled down, revealing an electric blue haired Jared Leto to the hungry crowd. ‘Escape’ opened the set followed by ‘Night of the Hunter’ two tracks off their most recent album ‘This is War’. Those who had not seen the band tour earlier this year would perhaps not have noticed that Jared’s vocals were slightly off when it came to the next song, ‘A Beautiful Lie’, the title track of their second album. It was clear, however, to those who had seen them previously, that a year of none stop touring has affected Leto’s voice; the normally hair-raising notes were not being reached. It also seemed that the audience were asked to do the bulk of the singing, giving Leto time to recover. Jared’s voice had either been temporarily damaged by illness or touring fatigue, nevertheless he turned up and performed to his fans which some lead singers would not have done.

For what he lacked, that night, in vocal ability he made up for in onstage personality; acting as a true leader, commanding the seated to stand and the standing to go crazy. As part of Jared’s get fit scheme he made the entire audience jump to every song, adding in the occasional pumping of fists to work the arms.

The drumming from Shannon Leto was as impressive as it always has been; his passion visible through his art. Shannon was able to give the ordered audience something to jump to.  Tomo Miličević gave a great performance on lead guitar, sometimes joined by Jared to produce the classic and new riffs of 30 Seconds to Mars.

Later in the set Jared took to the stage solo, playing some of the older 30 Seconds to Mars tunes acoustically, ‘Echelon’ and ‘Capricorn (A Brand New Name)’ both tracks from their self-titled album.  He then went off on a tangent playing Lady GaGa’s ‘Bad Romance’ acoustically, encouraging all to join in with the cover; Jared achieved inspiring vocal diversity when singing this chart hit.

A patchy ‘The Fantasy’ ended the set before the encore;  Leto stopping many times to tell the crowd to go crazy, whilst sounding slightly out of breath when performing the track. At the end he stood center stage under a spotlight, acting as a volume switch to the audience’s screams. Raising his arms made them louder and lowering his arms made them quieter. Leto then had fun with this power rapidly waving his arms up and down, screams distorted as he exited the stage.

The band returned to perform two songs for their encore, the first was ‘Hurricane’, before which Jared mentioned the banning of the highly controversial new video for the song, comparing it to the news which shows explicit scenes every day. The last song of the evening was the popular ‘Kings and Queens’. Jared invited several members of the audience to join the band onstage to create the unity the song reflects.

Although this gig seemed like a puddle reflection of the tour earlier this year, the band did well with creating an exceptional atmosphere. The lighting effects used added to the dramatic appearance of the set, which also included a giant model of their triangle ‘This is War’ symbol.  Nothing has changed Leto’s charisma and audience interaction; however a break for the band is well overdue.

Words By: Gemma Harling  Photographs by: The NIA Birmingham

Photos available from the NIA Birmingham's Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/niabirmingham

The NIA Birmingham Official page:
http://www.thenia.co.uk/

EXPLICIT CONTENT: The content of this article may be offensive to some and unsuitable for those under the age of 18. View at your own discretion

Lucy Longlegs as scary clown



_{Red Light Burlesque Present Freakshow Follies}


Declared to be a night of bizarre acts ranging from the weird to the unbelievable; Red Light Burlesque at The Firebug, Leicester, hyped up its last show of the year to be a spectacular Goregasmic climax. Not recommended for the weak hearted.

Paramore at the LG Arena Birmingham 16th November

No ‘Pressure’ for Paramore at the LG Arena

They claim to be in the business of misery, but there was nothing but hyped up electricity at the LG Arena 16^th November when American super stars Paramore dropped in.
The audience at a Paramore gig seem to have a million times more drive than any other crowd; the seated blocks doing a Mexican wave to burn excess energy, while Paramore set their stage behind a black curtain. The occasional ‘We love you Hayley!’ being shouted from all directions and sporadic upsurge of screams for no reason. It was obvious that it was going to be one hell of a night.

No mathematician, scientist or genius could figure out or explain the choice of supports. Their sounds were completely different from Paramore’s and each other’s. The first support was Fun, an American indie-pop band based in New York. They were slow to provoke anything from the crowd they were so desperately prodding with their unknown tunes; however there was only so long people could sit/stand still without surrendering to their lively attitude and charming charisma. The lead singer, Nate Ruess, had a vocal pitch worthy of a west end star, pulling off an impressive cover of Queen’s ‘Radio GaGa’. All in all they did well to raise the attention of the crowd after a slow-moving start, even though they didn’t fit into the same genre as Paramore.

The next support would have been more random if it wasn’t for his and Hayley’s number 1 collaboration recently. Stage name B.O.B, the alternative, R’n’B, hip-hop artist also known to some as Bobby Ray. Entering the stage with his entourage including two backing dancers and harmonists, it was hard to concentrate on this circus amount of performers. B.O.B mixed some slightly less familiar tracks with the massively popular ‘Magic’, ‘Nothin’ on you’ and the fan favourite ‘Airplanes’. Miss Hayley Williams, sporting yet another vibrant hair colour, pink, different from the orange we are familiar with, graced the stage with her presence for this duet which sent the fans wild.

More pumped than ever the crowd screeched the three syllables ‘Pa’ ‘Ra’ ‘More’ until the tension was at its peak; then as if my magic, the curtain dropped revealing the band.  The set had an interesting layout with screens at the back, a festival size screen at the side and light-bulbs hanging in an ‘Ignorance’ video style, which was their opening song.

A ‘tickled pink’ Hayley Williams claims the crowd as Paramore’s when comparing their upcoming set to the Reading and Leeds festival. Saying: ‘You belong to us’ which to a room full of obsessed fans seems like the best thing ever. Basically because the attention wasn’t spilt between several bands, as it is at a festival, it was going to be a more focused epic rock-out with Paramore.

The band mixed the moods by playing fast tracks, getting the blood pumping, and then slowing it down with a mini acoustic session. Playing ‘Where the Lines Overlap and ‘Misguided Ghosts’ among others; Hayley borrowing a fan’s tambourine to accompany her gentle vocals and the soft instrumentals.

In interviews the band claims that it was nearly the end of them after their massive album ‘Riot!’ the other band members apparently getting sick of being in Hayley’s shadow or that is what some have suggested. This is why in the middle of the set for no real purpose, with a fan crowd like this, they introduced each other; vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarists Josh Farro and Taylor York, drummer Zac Farro, bassist Jeremy Davis and tour guitarist, tambourine player and keyboardist John Howard.
They played classics from their first album ‘All We Know is Falling’, their popular ‘Riot!’ album and the newest piece to the collection ‘Brand New Eyes’. Hayley becoming a pink blur as she ran round the stage, jumping manically and head banging in the fashion she is known for. The other band members took a more static position, hardly moving throughout the entire set. The audience literally buzzing, some attempted mosh pits but Paramore is not the gig for such brutality.

Ending the official set with ‘The Only Exception’, everyone raising their lighters or mobiles to create an artificial starry night which turned out to be visually remarkable.

Those that have been to gigs before knew that Paramore would not leave it like that and of course they didn’t, running back to complete the night with the ‘Brand New Eyes’ single ‘Brick by boring Brick’. Finishing with what many would consider their ultimate single, ‘Misery Business’. Hayley called out to the audience for help to sing the epic track, picking the ‘Tambourine guy’ accompanied by a girl from the barrier. Each looked genuinely amazed to be picked and be in front of a full audience. Explosions of orange confetti drowned the front of the arena as the band said their final farewells.

Energy fed the adrenaline junkies from Tennessee, USA, to put on an incredible show which for some fans was their first, but probably not last, Paramore gig.

Photos and words by: Gemma Harling

Linkin Park Birmingham LG Arena 9th November

Not ‘Forgotten’ but ‘One Step Closer’

Take over at the LG Arena as nu-metal giants Linkin Park storm in for their world tour following the release of their new album ‘A Thousand Suns’.

After the release of their new album ‘A Thousand Suns’ Linkin Park were faced with mixed reviews. People claiming they were desperately trying to create a new genre or that it didn’t sound like them. Making everyone nervous about their tour; many were afraid they wouldn’t play material from their old incredible nu-metal albums as the songs wouldn’t mesh with the new.  Linkin Park also had the added pressure of having won the 2010 EMA award for ‘Best Live Band’; their reputation was hanging on this tour.

The support act for Linkin Park was ‘Does it offend you, yeah?’, an electro, rock, punk, dance band from Reading. Judging by the crowd they were not ‘well received’, to be polite. Their set consisted of what they dared call ‘Punk’, an insult to legends of punk such as ‘The Sex Pistols’, which translated to the audience as nothing other than noise. They had screeching that replicated a train’s brakes on a cold day, lyrics which were inaudible and just caused discomfort when listening. The stage was very dimly lit with strobe lighting blinding the audience, adding the effect of a night club not a world tour for a monster band like Linkin Park. ‘Does it Offend you, yeah?’ failed to provoke a small mosh pit, even from boredom, it seemed as if the audience were asleep where they stood/ sat. From their set it is obvious that they belonged in a ‘rave’ at a club and not in an arena.

After this sluggish start Linkin Park could not have come sooner. As the arena darkened the eerie voice heard on ‘The Requiem’ echoed from the sound system running straight into a video with the start of ‘Wretches and Kings’; a wave of screams followed as members of the band came on one by one.  Chester Bennington knocked out track after track, hardly coming up for air.  Everyone soaking up the energy the band was continuously throwing at them; the audience had definitely recovered from the fatigue the support had caused.

The band shot down the rumours that they wouldn’t play their older material, mixing tracks from their three older albums, ‘Hybrid theory’, ‘Meteora’ and ‘Minutes to midnight’ with the new. ‘Faint’ and ‘Numb’ being just two of the songs that got the crowd going. To break up the endless reeling out of songs, Chester asked the audience if anyone could play the guitar to the tracks on ‘Hybrid Theory’. Many screamed and raised hands with probably only half telling the truth, one being the lucky Christopher who joined the band on stage to play ‘Crawling’. All of Linkin Park welcomed Christopher on stage as if he were one of their own; funnily he was wearing the same shoes as Mike Shinoda. Christopher was the ultimate fan, who got a once in a lifetime opportunity and didn’t disappoint with his performance.

They finished for a 20 minute interval before coming back to do the ‘encore’ which was long enough to be a second half. Stresses of performing showed when Chester got some of the words wrong to ‘Leave out all the rest’ even though he had the lyrics printed out and stuck on the stage beneath him.  This aside the whole band gave an electric performance that did not fail to impress. Some could complain that the hour and a half set was too short for the price of the ticket (£44.50), nevertheless the decibels of screams in that arena proved that everyone had an epic time.
Words and Photographs: Gemma Harling



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Avenged Sevenfold/ Stone Sour Birmingham NIA 28th October

No Sour Notes From These Bands

Birmingham NIA was invaded Thursday 28^th October by two of the soft metal greats of this century; causing moshing mayhem amongst their fans.

BRUISES and circle pits were inevitable when Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour announced their joint headline tour. It was promised to be brutal night fuelled by adrenaline, kept alive by face melting rock. And it was.

The crowd were given a taster of the pandemonium to come when the support band ‘Hell Yeah’ took to the stage. The self-confessed alcoholic heavy metal rockers blasted their tunes whilst drinking and encouraging the crowd to do the same. Though they set the tone, nothing could compare to the next bands performance.

Avenged Sevenfold were the second band to grace the stage; a curtain covered the set before the much anticipated drop, revealing the elaborate, somewhat creepy, setting of fire podiums and an oversized gate. M. Shadows opened the set with a massive roar of ‘Nightmare’ which the crowd eagerly joined in with. The atmosphere of the NIA was immediately cranked up to maximum as the Californian metal band set the stage alight with tracks from new and old albums. Smoke drifted over the stage, reminiscent of an eerie graveyard making their set look similar to the artwork of their newest album ‘Nightmare’.

Tragedy hit the band last December when they lost their drummer and dear friend, Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan. Emotions were high as M. Shadows stopped to say a few words of respect for Jimmy, accompanied by a chanting crowd who harmoniously shouted the drummers name ‘Jimmy’ as a farewell to the much beloved band member.

The band were joined by the former ‘Dream Theater’ drummer Mike Portnoy, a musician The Rev respected. Mike was given a warm welcome by the fans of Avenged, who knew that he wasn’t there to take the place of The Rev, but was there to help the rest of the band continue to rock with Jimmy in their memories. Overall he gave an amazing performance, full of character and passion.

Synyster Gates and  Zacky Vengeance shredded the much loved riffs and solos of ‘Beast and the Harlot’ and ‘Buried Alive’ with Johnny Christ on bass, brewing up a storm of a circle pit, usually seen in the festival size arenas. The band even awarded the crowd for this epic pit, the choice of the last song; which, after much screaming, was ‘Bat Country’.

Avenged gave a Pyrotechnic blasting, face melting, ear bursting and presumably bone breaking performance;  and  it was clear by the enormity of the crowd that this was a gig long overdue.

The stage was once again covered while the last band ‘Stone Sour’ set up for what would be the crescendo of the night. Though Corey Taylor’s other band ‘Slipknot’ is more widely known it did not stop the fans from pouring in, by the time they came on stage not one inch of the NIA floor was empty.
The band played tracks from all three of their albums including their newest edition ‘Audio Secrecy’ which was released in September this year. There was a partial split of the audience, those who mainly came to see Avenged and those who came to see Stone Sour, but it seemed that almost everyone was enjoying the clear rock and roll being projected from this band.

Corey Taylor’s energy is second to none; he took full control of the audience of the NIA, splitting the crowd into circle pits as if he were some biblical figure. He would silence the crowd and cause uproar at a wave of his hand. From this performance it seems that Mr Corey Taylor is on his way to becoming a rock God, but he still has a little way to go.

The guitar thrashing from Jim Root and Josh Rand gave intense backing to Corey’s vocals, capable of sending goosebumps down the spine of many rock fans. With Shawn Economaki on bass and Roy Mayorga on drums, Stone sour were a force to be reckoned with.

To offset the full-on hardcore rock, Corey belted out the powerful ballads ‘Bother’ and ‘Through the Glass’, which balanced their set, but didn’t calm the crowd. Mosh pits were still visible through these slow tracks. It was either the alcohol or pure love for heavy metal driving these moshers to continue.

After the death of ‘Slipknot’ member and friend Paul Gray earlier this year, there were many doubts that Corey and Jim would be able to give a steady performance with Stone Sour, but like Avenged they were empowered by the spirit of their friend to carry the rock on. Gray however was not mentioned in their set, something they will leave for the ‘Slipknot’ tour.

Even with all the tragedy that both bands have faced, they came, they saw and they blew the roof off the NIA in Birmingham.

My Chemical Romance Hammersmith Review

Definitely Not ‘Dead!’
The Killjoys of the UK made some noise for the comeback of My Chemical Romance in the first of their three UK dates on their ‘sample’ European tour.
Screams erupted from the eager crowd of the Hammersmith Apollo as My Chemical Romance stormed the stage for the first show in the UK for three years; and it could not have come sooner. The band kicked off their ‘mini European tour’ in London, Saturday 23^rd October. Some fans queued outside the venue for a massive thirty-six hours for a chance of being at the barrier of this sell out show.
  

 Controversy surrounded the American band after their 2006 concept album; ‘The Black Parade’ brought negative connotations to their music, MCR being called a ‘Suicide Cult’ by the national newspaper ‘The Daily Mail’, this causing the band to take a break from the whirlwind that had become their lives and reassess what rock meant to them. In an interview with ‘Kerrang!’ lead singer Gerard Way says “There was something in the back of my head asking, ‘Is this going to happen again? Are we done?’.” and thank the Gods of rock they weren’t. The New Jersey rockers hit back with more vengeance than ever, banishing the dark costumes and themes, trading them for new, colourful comic book personas.
   

The support was the Scottish pop punk band, Twin Atlantic, who gave a lively performance and were a great warm up for the main attraction that everyone was waiting for.
   

At 9pm the anticipation of the crowd was at a peak, a few minutes later the house lights went down and the walls of the Apollo shook. My Chemical Romance ran on stage, starting the show with their new single ‘Na Na Na’, which was barely audible through the ear-piercing screeching from the mainly female audience. Gerard Way smiled at the response of the crowd and seemed genuinely humbled. He gave a truly remarkable performance, his electrifying vocals brightened up the entire venue, joined by a chorus of over 4000 fans, as the band punched out old and new tunes. As promised, MCR played songs from all four of their albums (the fourth not yet released). Reeling out favourites such as ‘Our lady of sorrows’, ‘Helena’, ‘I’m not Okay’ and ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’, just some of the nearly 2 hours’ worth of songs performed. For the track ‘Honey, this mirror isn’t big enough for the two of us’, Way asked for a fan to come on stage and assist with the vocals; he was joined by twins who looked as if they had won the lottery with this opportunity, though they were slightly over enthusiastic hugging and grabbing all the members of the band whilst on stage. But what fan wouldn’t?
  

Guitarist, Frank Iero, appeared to have lost his onstage personality from earlier years, as he took a ‘Kurt Cobain’ like stance for the entirety of the set, saying just one word. Still, he was able to shred the guitar riffs he is known for, with Ray Toro blasting the hair raising solos with an avid excitement at the other side of the stage. The amalgamation of the guitars and drums pounding riled up the crowd to form brutal mosh pits to the older tracks played, fans sharing sweat in this energetic frenzy the band had created.
  

During songs Gerard Way flirtatiously played to female audience members by licking his hand several times and blowing kisses, showing the playful side he has always displayed and being a father and husband hasn’t changed. Gerard’s brother, Mikey, took a confident position with his bass next to the singer during the set, he too being a favourite amongst the female fans.
    

Four tracks from the new album were unleashed on the crowd during the gig, two making their world debut, ‘Planetary (go!)’ and ‘The Kids From Yesterday’ were incredibly upbeat but different to what the fans are used to; they were also only the tracks that the audience gave their full attention to as no one knew the lyrics. The other two ‘new tracks’ being the already epic ‘Na Na Na’ and ‘The Only Hope  For Me Is You’, both very diverse from each other, but equally as crowd rousing.

Although the set was long, being approximately an hour and fifty minutes, the band didn’t lose energy for one moment, making the long wait worthwhile. Gerard Way saying “we’ll be back very soon” and “we always come back for more”, during the gig, are promising indications of a bigger tour next year, and some more eccentric shows from the colossal My Chemical Romance.

My Chemical Romance’s fourth album ‘Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys’ comes out November 22^nd.
Words and Photographs by Gemma Harling