BOWLING

FOR SOUP
SUPPORT: THE LEFTOVERS, MC
LARS & ZEBRAHEAD
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
26.10.09
ALICE IN
It’s a family reunion of sorts

CHAINS
tonight, as all bands on the bill
are connected in some way,
whether it be through record la-
bels, or the fact that they’re all
just good friends! The Leftovers
for example are a part of BFS’s
Jaret Reddick’s ‘Crappy
Records’ and waste no time in
spreading their infectious tunes,
with the highlight being the an-
noyingly catchy ‘Telephone Op-
erator’. The Portland pop-rock
outfit leave the crowd smiling as
MC Lars storms through a set
filled with everything; from a
mixture of punk rock to hip hop
SUPPORT: LITTLE FISH
and even computer games!
Even rapping along to Iggy
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
Pop’s ‘The Passenger’ earns a 14.11.09
well deserved applause. Next
up is Zebrahead, whose bratty
sounding songs unfortunately
SEATTLE GRUNGE HEROES RETURN
left me irritated throughout their AFTER 15 YEARS AWAY

40 minutes on stage. Giving the
devil his due they do manage to
captivate the majority of the
crowd, even with several bottles
thrown their way they still keep
their composure. One odd
setlist moment had to be when
they tore into their cover of Avril
Lavigne’s ‘Girlfriend’. Impres-
sively getting a crowd of 3000
people in unison to shout
‘minge’ is nothing short of im-
pressive.
After a short video interlude is
played they come to the stage
and kick things off with ‘The
Bitch Song’ before unleashing
the hilarious ‘I’m Gay!’. It’s obvi-
ous that the singles are the
main focus for tonight (although
BFS are known to NEVER have
a setlist) there is still time for a
humorous cover of Katy Perry’s
‘Hot N Cold’ and some on stage
banter that has the crowd in
stitches, including an attempt to
insert an inflated condom in a
certain bassist. Several tracks
from latest album ‘Sorry For
Partying’ get a look in (My
Wena, No Hablo Ingles) before
sure enough they hit out with
‘Girl All the Bad Guys Want’ to a
room of screams before ending
on a high note with ‘Hooray For
Beer’ and ‘1985’ before wishing
the crowd a good night!
O
xford duo Little Fish respectably show no signs of
fear towards the sold out crowd in Manchester.
Suporting an iconic band is no easy feat to
achieve but female singer Juju and drummer Nez hold
their own. Their indie rock may not be for everyone but
lets face it; it’s better than the Ting Tings. What seems
like forever since Alice in Chains have toured properly it
feels like they never left. Their arrival is so overantici-
pated an exploded amp delays them by fifteen extra min-
utes. One individual in the crowd causes unnecessary
uproar but is shot down by the surrounding crowd, as
tonight is shaping up to be a special night.
Walking onstage to deafening cheers the grunge
legends launch straight into the opening chords of ‘It Ain’t
Like That’ from the classic Facelift album. Only this time it
is sung by latest lead singer William Duvall, who more
than does justice to the ‘classic’ Alice in Chains. Duvall
captivates the audience with his stage presence, shout-
ing “the louder you are the louder WE are!” as they shred
through ‘Them Bones’. By the time recent single ‘Your
Decision’ kicks in the crowd has built up such a frenzy
you’d think that they’d be tired... but there’s still a huge
set left to play!
To bring the energy back, the upbeat ‘No Ex-
cuses’ is unleashed shortly before the crowd is off again
like a tidlewave to the modern classic ‘Check My Brain’.
The only complaint here would be the lighting during the
chorus, which temporarily blinded everyone. Mid-way
through the set we are treated to a little unplugged per-
formance, beginning with ‘Heaven Beside You’. It is the
haunting ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’ that gets the most
applause, accompanied by video footage of the de-
ceased Staley. Jerry signs off with “we miss and love you
very much brother” before the crowd is launched into a
moshing frenzy to ‘Angry Chair’ and ‘Man in The Box’.
Ending on ‘Would’ and ‘Rooster’ Duvall declares that
“this is only the beginning for us” but it is safe to say that
there is lots more to come
from Alice in Chains
 MASTODON
SUPPORT: TO
TOMOSHI
ACADEMY
DEVILDRIVER
SUPPORT: MALEFICE, TRIGGER THE
BLOODSHED, SUICIDE SILENCE &
BEHEMOTH

MANCHESTER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2
26.10.09
20.2.10 Malefice are on form tonight.
ribed as ‘The
best been desc Thrashing through a short set
Totomoshi have its clear to
m ee ts Bl ac k Sabbath’ d an they don’t disappoint, as almost
Melvi ns spired metal
playing blues in the entire floor is shaking with
see why. From ge it capti-
straight up grun circle pit after circle pit. Trigger
one minute and an a year
tonight. Less th The Bloodshed have so much
vates the crowd sh or es, potential but their signature
played these
since they last bi gg er sc reen to dis- sound unfortunately will be their
. With a
Mastodon return nta’s favourite
ing visuals, Atla downfall. With the crowd barely
play accompany ck ‘Oblivion’ able to hear any riffs or vocals
to the first tra
cavemen roar in ck th e Sk ye, THE under the over-distorted sound
nding Cra
from the outsta ha never
ve
Brann’s vocals of the drums and guitars they
album of 2009. w ould be a
rfect live and it struggle to sing and scream
sounded so pe on fu rther re- along. It’s a sad day for metal
ases to sing
shame if he ce rent that they when almost the entire crowd is
becomes appa
leases. It soon ety tonight
album in its entir here just to see Deathcore
are playing that no th ing short of atrocity Suicide Silence. Boring
year), and its
(much like last ey roll out
brief interlude th riffs with cancerous vocals is it
special. After a e albums.
m their first thre any wonder metal is often
some tracks fro ed fro m Blood ridiculed by the narrow minded
ly on e song is play t
Sa dl y on to end the nigh
hat better way majority? That and the unnec-
Mountain but w e Fi re An ts ’,
sic ‘March of Th essary stage invasion of a
than on the clas e in va si on by an overen- naked roadie goes without say-
stag
complete with a todon is ever
The cult of Mas ing. All memories of this poor
thusiastic fan? rmance it’s
m tonights perfo display are obliterated with the
growing and fro onstage arrival of black metal
get bigger
only destined to legends Behemoth. They walk
onstage captivating the crowd

SKINDRED
with their medievil gothic ap-
pearance, and a microphone
that looks like it was fashioned
by Satan himself. Rumours
where arife that Behemoth
SUPPORT: KA wanted to headline and such
RNIVOOL &
DEAD BY APR they are given a longer set at
MANCHESTER IL just under an hour. They
ACADEMY achieve in this hour what the
20.2.10 last two bands failed to achieve
Tonight marks and that is keep the crowd inter-
the UK debut of
acts, and it truly both support ested and set the pits alight with
is a treat for UK
Australia’s Karn metal fans. such songs as ‘Ov Fire And The
ivool play massi
rock and almos ve U2 prog Void’ and ‘Lucifer’ with frontman
t literally blow th
everyone. Clear e minds of Adam Darski spewing fake
ly a tight unit, fro
Kenny moves ar ntman Ian blood at every direction. After a
ound in time with
beat as if he is each eery blinding performance at this
the puppet mas
his band note fo ter conducting past summer’s Download Festi-
r note. The soun
as it comes. Be d is as epic val Devildriver take to the stage
sure to catch th
we haven’t seen em as I’m sure and the pits break out to ‘End of
the last of them
Dead By April m . Sweden’s the Line’. The last time Dev-
ay not be any m
liners Skindred atch for head- ildriver played within the con-
but they certain
close considerin ly come pretty fines of a Manchester was on
g their almost an
hell breaks loos onymity. All the Defenders of Faith tour
e as satan-tong
Jimmie Strimm ued singer back in April 2008 in the much
el demands a ci
frenzied track ‘E rcle pit to the bigger Academy, but here in the
rased’. As soon
all hell breaks lo as it kicks in Academy 2 the atmosphere
ose, with bodies
where. Skindred flying every- represents what Devildriver is
as expected give
tation are withou n their repu- all about:Being closer to their
t doubt the hero
Unlike some m es tonight. fans and putting on a good
ore commercial
need no visuals artists they show. That they do by ending
or pyro to maint
interest. Frontm ain audience the night creating a circle pit to
an Benji Webb
around to ‘Nob throws himself live staple ‘Meet The Wretched’
ody’ ‘Babylon’ an
perb cover of Ed d even a su- almost as big as the actual
die Grant’s ‘Ele
Skindred are al ctric Avenue’. venue!
l about live mus
a testament that ic and tonight is
they are the be
today st live act of