Music

Tonight was to be another first for me as I was attending my first seated concert, only due to the fact I was going with my dad. We arrived 5 minutes before the doors opened, knowing that we had our seats secured already and not wanting to stand in the cold for half an hour. Upon arrival and joining the queue, we were already moving towards the doors of the Manchester Apollo, where we would be seeing Lostprophets. After venturing through the Ex-cinema’s atrium and wandering up the stairs, we found the bar and after purchasing alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for my father and I respectively we took our seats shortly before Sharks took to the stage. Sharks are a relatively unknown band, from the UK who specialise in dirty, borderline hardcore rock. I hadn’t previously heard of them but I felt they were in the wrong place, their heavier rock not really tickling the taste buds of many of the on-lookers who had come to see Lostprophets’.

You can buy Sharks’ two latest singles Capital Youth and Common Grounds here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/common-grounds-single/id347556627 and here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/capital-youth-single/id347556218

After a quick trip to the merchandise stand, I swiftly returned to my seat, just in time to see Kids in Glass Houses taking to the stage and opening with Youngblood (Let It Out). The Welsh quintets’ pop tinged rock was much more to the crowds fancy and having toured with Lostprophets frequently before, had built up quite a following amongst Lostprophets fans up and down the country. They belted out older and newer hits, including new single Matters At All off their upcoming album Dirt, which is out at the end of this month. Kids in Glass Houses impressed my dad and I so much that we have booked tickets for their headline tour in May, at Manchester Academy 2 so keep an eye out for the review of that soon afterward in May.

You can buy Kids in Glass Houses’ last album, Smart Casual, here http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/smart-casual/id280608870 and keep your eyes peeled for their new album, Dirt, out on 29th March.

After what felt like an age, the lights dimmed and the dramatic and hectic opening drum beats of If It Wasn’t For Hate, We’d Be Dead By Now started. A single spotlight cast down onto drummer, Mike Chiplin, who was putting in his heart and soul, even before Ian Watkins had taken to the stage. Then as the guitars came in, Ian Watkins took to centre stage, kicking off the gig. Straight after It’s Not The End Of The World, the first single off their latest album, came The Betrayed. Then came Burn Burn, which was the first song that really got the floor moving with a circle pit opening like a black hole in the room. The came old favourite, To Hell We Ride before following it up with two new songs, The Darkest Blue and A Better Nothing. Following this, Lostprophets decided to spice things up with a cover of The Prodigy’s Omen which turned the place into a full-on rave with a laser and light show to rival the best in the world, before launching straight into Start Something. Now at the mid-point, we experienced the first reasonable chunk of crowd interaction, conversing with various members on the floor as well as cracking jokes and chatting generally. Then as the opening guitar notes of Can’t Catch Tomorrow resounded throughout the room, I knew the second half had started and could barely contain my excitement. Following Can’t Catch Tomorrow, they played Last Summer, then For He’s A Jolly Good Felon and then A Town Called Hypocrisy before briefly breaking to instruct the crowd on the next song, and when the song kicked in, boy did the crowd live up to expectations. The song was Last Train Home and the scene on the floor was very similar to that of Rock Am Ring 2004. After that came Where We Belong, the second single off of The Betrayed. Then came the final two songs before the encore and they were absolute anthems. First came Rooftops, the song popularised by Guitar Hero so of course, nearly everyone in the crowd new the words so the song developed into a massive sing-along. Then, everyone knew what was coming. One crucial song hadn’t been played yet. Of course, that was Shinobi Vs Dragon Ninja. At this point, I’d like to point out that if you experience from any form of epilepsy, always leave a Lostprophets concert before they play Shinobi. The light show that accompanied this massive song was truly staggering, like standing in a lightening storm while the paparazzi are taking hundreds of photos per second. As the notes faded, many people exited, a general sense of that they had seen what they had come to see and needed no more. But then Lostprophets returned for a rather uninspiring encore of The Light That Burns Twice As Bright, a song based solely around vocals, a song strongly overshadowed by the monstrous Shinobi just moments before. That was the sense I got from the whole thing. If you weren’t standing, down there on the floor, in the thick of it then the concert was fairly lack lustre. Don’t get me wrong, Lostprophets are an amazing live band and the music was truly fantastic, but the seats really put a dampener on things, and the fact that crowd interaction was minimal made the fact that you were in seats, seem like you were watching on a TV, with the volume on overdrive and a smell-o-vision of beer. A good night, but the seats detracted from things. My advice, get into the thick of it, get into the pit and go beserk.

Buy Lostprophets’ latest album, The Betrayed, here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-betrayed/id344088959

Here is a link to my Youtube account, with footage from this concert, amongst others here: http://www.youtube.com/user/BurysLover