Gig Review: Alkaline Trio / lowlives – Rock City, Nottingham (23rd July 2024)

I don’t know what to expect as I make my way down to Nottingham. An iconic band of the scene…only two bands on the roster…midweek gig…colour me surprised with the amount of people packing Rock City out before the support has even come on. All ages and genders present. All here to catch the legendary punks, Alkaline Trio.

lowlives (c) Jayne Slater

lowlives are a 4-piece, made up of experienced artists [we interviewed Luke Johnson recently – part 1 / part 2]. They take to the stage as our opener on this tour. This gave the band an impressive 10-song-40-minute slot. They come on stage with the presence of a band that knows what they’re doing. It doesn’t take much interaction to get the crowd vibing with the songs. Whilst I’m a bit green to lowlives, members of the crowd most definitely aren’t.

The band performed at Download this year and since then I don’t think they’ve stopped. Now they embark on this tour ’til the start of August. A busy Summer for them, for sure. The crowd is thirsty for it. The barrier was lined with people banging their heads and when the singer would pass off the mic, fans would fill in the blanks. It would’ve been great to have just a touch more crowd interaction for the people who weren’t introduced to the band yet. I feel like one of the key factors that get new fans into a support band is the personality. The music sounded great but, without that conversation, it’s hard to gauge the people playing the instruments and what kind of band they are.

The singer’s gritty vocals were cutting through the sound of any other instrument. Really powerful vocals and an experienced voice. The guitarists would be moshing back and forth on their spots. In rock, what else is long hair good for, if not to whip around in circles? I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the guitarists had whiplash after this, with how hard they would go. I loved watching the drummer too, his facial expressions making me wish the film Inside Out was real, so I could see what emotion is driving those gaping mouths.

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I love having a browse at what merch the crowd is wearing to see what other music they listen to. We got Blink-182 being repped, My Chemical Romance and some classic Nirvana shirts on the go. I’ve never really sat down fully to listen to Alkaline Trio, so I’m hoping I’ll have another The Devil Wears Prada moment where I gain some self loathing for not checking them out sooner because their live set blew me away.

Alkaline Trio (c) Jayne Slater

The lights dim and the crowd goes wild. Alkaline Trio take their places on the stage and get straight into their 20-song set. The first song being “Hot for Preacher”. The crowd showed an energy they haven’t exuded all night. We actually got our first crowd surfers too, making the security manically go from side to side. It looks like some of the crowd are struggling too, as they seem to be asking for help from the barrier. Perhaps it’s too hot? The heat you feel immediately as you get deeper into the crowd is almost suffocating.

The band started in the early 90s and have maintained quite a healthy fan base since. The crowd interaction is a good indication as to how. The two vocalists would be asking questions between every song, earning “woos” from the pit, before commencing the next one. At one point, I’m sure one of them referred to Nottingham as Sheffield before swiftly correcting themselves… As far as I’m aware, there isn’t even a Sheffield date, so maybe that’s karma because it seems no band plays there nowadays.

I always love when bands have the stage design in mind. The two front men donning suits the whole show and the lights were going mental. Perfectly timed to each song and drop. It just shows how the band wants the live set to be an experience for the fans and not just another band on stage. Great to see. Often it can be forgotten and we just get people in polo shirts and jeans for 1.5 hours, when the fans below probably agonized over their clothing and look for weeks.

Alkaline Trio have a busy summer ahead as they trek Europe and America until September on this current tour promoting their newest EP, Blood, Hair and Eyeballs. LOWLIVES have a few performances til the end of the year and have recently released their latest album FREAKING OUT. Both bands will be on the road for some time yet, marking a great time for punk.

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Photos by JSM Slater Films

Alkaline Trio: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube

lowlives: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify | youtube

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