Sunlight Through A Straw: man overboard

Showing posts with label man overboard. Show all posts

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Take Me Back: Mayday Parade (03/02/14)*

Mayday Parade / Man Overboard / Decade / Divided By Friday

Cardiff, Solus

03/02/14

Review Here.

Sunday, 9 February 2014

Take Me Back: Mayday Parade (03/02/14)

Almost a year and a half since Mayday Parade's last UK headline tour - where I managed to convince the 'rents to part way with money for meet and greet tickets - the Tallahassee quintet returned to our flooded shores for another run of shows.

Arriving just in time to miss the majority of the queue and escape the worst of the rain we secured a good spot for the first band of the night Divided By Friday. Unfamiliar with their music beforehand it didn't take long to get into their infectious tunes and with frontman Jose Villanueva clad in a suit it was impossible not to think of Panic! At The Disco. Playing with genre boundaries their music was pop enough to land a radio spot one day, whilst not seeming out of place amongst pop-punk Decade who were next to take to the stage.

Jolt magazine's first ever cover band did not disappoint. Playing a set mostly consisting of tracks from their new album Good Luck, their energy was full of enthusiasm and although the mostly pre-teen crowd weren't entirely taken with the heavier side to pop-punk it was impossible for everyone not to join in jumping around. Younger crowds are not easy to get on your side but Decade managed it proving that they are more than capable of becoming leaders of the pop-punk scene and should be on everyone's watch list.

The last band before the long awaited headliners were Man Overboard. Eagerly waiting for this moment for months now I could barely contain my excitement at just the thought of finally seeing them live after so many failed attempts in the past. Quickly the floor became rowdy with barely any pre-teens in sight as guys flocked to form a mosh pit. Pop-punk singalongs were had with all too relevant 'Atlas' and 'Dead End Dreams' whilst newer tracks like 'White Lies' saw the pits let loose. One of the highlights of the night was of course witnessing one of the greatest acoustic songs live - 'Love Your Friends, Die Laughing.' With a near perfect set list - playing pretty much all my favourite songs - Man Overboard well and truly ensured we were warmed up and ready for Mayday Parade.

Opening with 'Ghosts' the crowd bellowed back the lyrics before going wild when the music kicked in. In typical Mayday Parade fashion their set was an emotional roller coaster that started on the ground and kept on plummeting into the earth. 'When You See My Friends' was followed on by the stunning '12 Through 15' and just when I was starting to think I couldn't handle anymore of the emotional battering, the pace switched upbeat for the poppy 'Girls' and 'Black Cat' with it's work-out of a chorus.

Desperately needing a breather the set took a welcome slowing down for sob inducing triple threat of 'Miserable At Best,' 'Stay' and 'Hold Onto Me.' Even playing the saddest songs in their repertoire the guys' grins were unstoppable at the pure delight at playing and seeing the crowds' passionate response to their music. Their happiness contagious, the band finished the night with the first song they ever wrote together 'Three Cheers For Five Years' and 'Oh Well, Oh Well' before disappearing off stage. The "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" chant began almost immediately and not long after they returned for the real last song of the night 'Jersey.'

Overall, it was a fantastic night of pop, punk and pop-punk perfection with set lists and performances from all four bands that didn't let anyone down. Here's hoping it's not long before they're all back again gracing our stages.

Friday, 31 January 2014

Top Tunes: January

Man Overboard - Wide Awake

"It starts with another day alone in your room, I wish I had the time to stay but it's something I have to do"

VERSA - Illusion

"No matter what you say I won't stay I'll find a way. Promise you won't say a word"

We Are The In Crowd - Windows In Heaven

"Seems like a dream, awaken before it was done, how could this be?"

You Me At Six - Wild Ones

"I guess we're lost, I feel so lost in my own skin, it might take a sign, it might take faith"

The Wonder Years - There, There

"I know how it seems when i'm always staring off into nothing, i'm lost in my head again"

YOUTUBE PLAYLIST

Sunday, 2 June 2013

Take Me Back: Slam Dunk Wales

My dad's atrocious timekeeping and typical British weather (a hella lot of rain) meant my brother and I arrived at Slam Dunk really, really late. We were wandering around the front of the university in pouring rain trying to work out where we were meant to go when Dan from Four Year Strong let us through a door. After 10 minutes and all we'd seen are band members and a back door that takes you to the buses we eventually worked out that we were backstage. Oops. So there we were - 2 hours late, soaking wet and still no closer to finding the actual entrance. Before security noticed we high tailed it out of there and crossed the bridge to the smaller room and hurrah we're in the right place. Wristbands on and ID checked we looked at the stage times and at that point my dad was very lucky he skipped out on this gig. We had missed Man Overboard. Unimpressed doesn't even cover it. With an hour to wait before The Wonder Years we went to the bar and got seriously overpriced drinks and caught the first 15 minutes of The Early November's set.

Since we were at the main stage in the small room of the uni venue we were confused as to where the second stage was going to be, and so in fear of missing yet another band we came for, we went in search of stage number two. Following the signs we were led to a queue in part of the uni neither of us had ever been and when we were let through it turns out we were in a room not much bigger than my bedroom full of guys twice my size. And let me tell you at this point in time there wasn't even anyone playing and the heat was insane.

For nearly seven years we had both been dying to see The Wonder Years live but there was always something preventing it but finally there they were. Well, I couldn't actually see them since there was about 200 bodies packed into a space big enough for 50. The moment they stepped out on the tiny stage playing "Passing Through a Screen Door" the crowd went wild and didn't calm down - this was going to be a show like no other, that much was already apparent. Their set was crammed with their very best anthemic songs like "Logan Circle" and "Came Out Swinging" causing the most passionate fist thrusting, lyric screaming crowd I have ever been a part of. It was madness, a desperate scramble to reach the band and shout as loud as we can the words that define our lives.

Somewhere in the craziness I lost my brother and ended up at the front, right in the firing line of all the crowd surfers - and there must have been about 100. Halfway through the set the band stopped and Soupy said if they have to stop playing because it's getting too hot and dangerous for us out there then they won't be upset they want us to have a good time but not at our expense. A ruckus of yells were fed back to him. Stop? No way. Carrying on with "Don't Let Me Cave In" they stopped once more to check we were all okay. We all yelled back before Soupy realised it was better to tell us all to shh and yell if you're not okay. One guy decided to yell jokingly and was swiftly told to shut up by Soupy. We were the craziest crowd they've ever played to and the hottest. Dozens of water bottles were handed out and the security poured jugs of water over us and then 10 minutes later, satisfied we were all alright, they finished their set with everyone just as enthusiastic as before - just not near passing out.

I bit through my lip, trapped muscles in my neck and had more than enough feet kick me in the head but it was more than worth it to see these pop-punk gods destroy every expectation I had of them and raise the bar unreachably high for bands in the future.

Reunited with my brother - who had somehow managed to keep hold of his glasses in the frenzy - we bought merch (which I lost) and headed back to the main stage and saw the last 20 minutes of our little sisters favourite band Pierce The Veil who also said we were the best crowd they had ever played to. With 4 minutes left to play the choice was ours - "Bulls In The Bronx" or "King For A Day" and with equally matched yells it was a good job they were allowed to play both.

Securing us a spot at the front for Four Year Strong we waited and waited and waited until they eventually came out nearly half an hour late. Last time I saw Four Year Strong I had just turned 14 so now being not far from 19 I was more than ready to hear songs like "Tonight We Feel Alive" and "Wasting Time" live. With more room I managed to avoid most of the crowd surfers apart from a couple of girls who were failing miserably at it and nearly broke my neck but with Four Year Strong blasting out classics such as "Bada Bing! Wit' A Pipe" and "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die" it was more than worth it. The air conditioning was appreciated more than anyone will ever know and so was the slowing (kind of) down of the set with "One Step At A Time" as by this point exhaustion was hitting me hard. Unsure as to if they were going to be able to play their encore, as it was past the venues curfew, everyone was buzzing from having seen their incredible performance but gutted we wouldn't see "It Must Really Suck..." or "Wasting Time" when out they came and closed Slam Dunk 2013 for good with two intense tracks from Enemy of the World that we were all ecstatic to get to hear. Curfew? What curfew.

Sunday, 31 March 2013

Top Tunes: March

We Came As Romans - Hope

"You can change, you can become selfless. You're not set in stone. You will wade through mistakes that we all make, but just hold on"

The Story So Far - Empty Space

"All that I know is your space is empty, it's buried below the stress and the envy"

Tonight Alive - Breakdown

"There's nothing left here to fight about or cry about so don't misunderstand me, i'm giving up"

City And Colour - Of Space And Time

"Something is eating away at my brain, there's an elephant in the back of the room and it's standing in plain view, everyone can see that it looks just like me"

Man Overboard - White Lies

"What is it that everyone else has? A spine. A mind. And i'm just not like them. They've got pretty eyes and white lies and real friends"

Bastille - Bad Blood

"If we're only ever looking back we will drive ourselves insane, as the friendship goes resentment grows, we will walk our different ways. But those are the days that bind us together, forever"

Paramore - Still Into You

"You felt the weight of the world fall off your shoulder and to your favourite song we sang along to start of forever"

Fall Out Boy - The Phoenix

"You are a brick tied to me that's dragging me down, strike a match and i'll burn you to the ground"

The Wonder Years - Passing Through A Screen Door
"I'm terrified like a kid in the sixties, staring at the sky waiting for the bomb to fall. It's all a lie, what they say about stability. It scares me sometimes, the emptiness I see in my eyes"