Avenged Sevenfold / Disturbed / In Flames- SSE Hydro (10th January 2017)

After nearly seeing them for the last time around 3 years ago, it was time for me to come back to my teenage years with Avenged Sevenfold. They missed out on playing a Glasgow show during the Hail To The King Tour, so the hype for tonight was very present. Six very long queues of fans surrounded the walls of the Hydro in a terrible cold wind, building the excitement all the more. I must say, while I was an eager fan of their 2013 release Hail To The King, their newest album The Stage did not grab me in the very least, so I was quite apprehensive of tonight. But nonetheless went in and saw..

In Flames

From the announcement of the tour I found it very odd to see In Flames as an opener for Avenged Sevenfold as the opposite would make much more sense to me. I am myself not entirely familiar with In Flames’ music but have been giving them a bit of a listen in the run up to tonight’s show.

Even though I did not know most songs played tonight, I could always tell whether they were playing an older song (post A Sense Of Purpose) or a newer one which was confirmed to me as I looked at the setlist later on. A lack of energy and power through the riffs was felt during new tracks and was a little disappointing at times. Still “Cloud Connected” and “Bullet Ride” were so enjoyable, going through the newer tracks was more than worth it. (6/10)

Disturbed

Disturbed (courtesy of Down The Barrel Photography)

I do admit if it wasn’t for Disturbed supporting I probably wouldn’t have attended this tour, especially after hearing the new Avenged Sevenfold album. However, I can never help but be in total admiration of David Draiman – his powerful voice, his stage presence, and his passion (never forget the snake bites!).

I must say Disturbed’s set was absolutely brilliant, a good enough mix of the new tracks such as “Vengeful One” and “Immortalised” as well as a choice pick of the good old school classics such as “Animal” and “Stricken”, though I still await the day I will experience “Shout 2000” ah, wishful thinking… Disturbed were amazing as always, bringing powerful emotional moments such as during “The Sound of Silence” and awesome mad moments as they did when closing with the well known and loved “Down With the Sickness”.

Disturbed have no doubt stolen the show for me tonight and I am very eager for their headline tour! (10/10)

Avenged Sevenfold

I found myself torn in two when needing to review this show. As I mentioned earlier I was left very disappointed with A7X’s new album and tonight was going to be half new album and half older ones… And as much as I tried, I could not get into the songs from The Stage. There was a lack of energy, originality, technicality and flow in the music, so I will not be talking about the new songs played from this album. I will focus on the rest of the show, because new songs apart, Avenged Sevenfold gave a pretty good setlist with songs many wanted to hear.

Bringing back songs such as “Chapter Four” from the old classics took me to a whole new dimension of nostalgia. I was also rather happy that songs from Nightmare had been left to the side a little, to bring more tunes in from their self titled album. The best one being for me; “A Little Piece of Heaven” which was my introduction to the band and still to this day one of my favourite songs. Hearing it for the first time live was quite an experience and probably the best of Avenged I have had.

I was a little disappointed by the audience reception throughout the set. I had not heard much during In Flames’ and Disturbed’s sets and simply assumed most people were surprisingly only here for A7X. However, the lack of singing even during the headliner was somewhat disturbing compared to what I had heard a crowd could be like from the Wembley Arena show in 2013 or even Hellfest 2014. Apart from the obvious “It’s your fucking nightmare!” and “Hail!” the crowd gave very little participation which was a shame as A7X are at their best with a singing crowd.

Nonetheless, the show was still very enjoyable given the band’s energy (excluding…well…you know which album!) and a very big surprise came to me at the end of the set before the encore with a performance of “Acid Rain”. I must say, I did not expect this song to be played. Not only was it there, but this song brought so much emotion and power to the venue. This performance is now right up there with “Sound Of Silence” in my mind.

A true passion was felt from all the members and the sound being pitch perfect for ballads in the Hydro – I can still feel it echoing in my stomach. (7/10)

Overall a really good show which has now given me a lot more appreciation for In Flames. Another review will be posted soon from our crew in Birmingham, stay tuned!

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