The ice cold wind blew up a storm on a cold Wednesday night outside the O2 Academy in Glasgow. However, this served to deter very few of the punters that eagerly awaited one of this year’s most anticipated tours. After having a nice chat with Justin from KSE (Coming soon!), I made my way over to the entrance and ventured onwards into the cavernous room that is Glasgow’s academy…
First up on the stage were American metallers, Cane Hill(6). When chatting with our very own Pit Troll before the show, he spoke very highly of them and as a result I was expecting good things from them. Whilst they did display great energy on stage and had a good percentage of the crowd headbanging along to their music, they didn’t really do it for me. Whether it was the lack of a second guitarist covering the mid-ranges or the interesting choice of lighting, I can’t really say. Musically however, they were tight and they did deliver a good performance to the rapidly growing crowd.
Next up on the stage were the band that most of the crowd, myself included, were there to see. “Hello! We’re Killswitch Engage(10)” remarked guitarist Adam D to a thunderous roar louder than any I’ve heard from crowd in a long time. Opening with “Alone I Stand” from this years Incarnate, the crowd exploded into life and unleashed the crowd-surfers. And boy, were there a lot of them!
Upon looking out at the crowd between one of their songs, Jesse noticed what can only be described as a towering giant wearing a bane mask. Jesse then issued somewhat of a challenge to him saying that he should start the pit for the next song. Which he did, before getting crowd-surfed himself multiple times during the rest of their set!
Finishing their set with “Strength of the Mind”, the band left both the venue and crowd gasping for air and feeling extremely happy and delighted that they had witnessed what was one of the best shows Killswitch have ever done.
It was then time for the headliners, Bullet For My Valentine(7) to come to the stage. Contrary to what would have made sense, the band elected not to play The Poison in full and instead go with a set comprised of both classics and more modern tracks. Coming on stage to “No Way Out” from 2015’s Venom, the crowd gave an almost girly sounding cheer. Whether this was because a lot of the lads that were present for Killswitch had left is something that can’t be determined.
Whilst the band did have a tight sound and Guitarist Michael and bassist James seemed to be having a great time, the same cannot be said for frontman Matt. His vocals were slightly cringe inducing and every time I looked over at the stage, not once did he smile at the crowd. Now there could be a number of factors at play here, some which can be explained simply and others that cannot. However they did leave me feeling a little luke-warm which was a huge shame as I was looking forward to seeing them live for the first time.
Photos by Bukavac Photography
Bullet For My Valentine: official | facebook | twitter | youtube | instagram
Killswitch Engage: official | facebook | twitter
Cane Hill: facebook
