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| Caleb Shomo - Vocals Birmingham O2 Academy 2 - 28/10/2015 Photo Credit: Nick Neuenhaus Photography @nickneuenhaus |
When Download
Festival released tickets without a line-up earlier this year, there was no way
in hell they were pulling me in. As one of my Facebook friends very eloquently
put it “You could put Little Mix up there for all I know.”
But yesterday morning I finally gave in and spent all of my
pennies (SERIOUSLY GUYS, PLEASE SEND CASH) on my 5 night camping ticket. Why?
Well now I’ve seen Beartooth.
Back in May I was desperately trying to see Beartooth the night
before another amazing but incredibly disparate gig. Unfortunately, logistics
are hard and we couldn’t make it, so when I heard that the “really loud” Ohio
rock squad were heading to my old haunt of the Midlands, I was all about it.
From the very beginning, with opening track The Lines, not one single scrap was held
back. The perfect opener for last year’s Disgusting
(the band’s first full length album) proved to be a belter of a live intro
too.
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| Oshie Bichar - Bass Birmingham O2 Academy 2 - 28/10/2015 Photo Credit: Nick Neuenhaus Photography @nickneuenhaus |
So with the inexorable tone for the night set and the early
mosh pits already kicked up, we were pulled through one of the most energetic
performances I have ever seen. Ignorance
Is Bliss, In Between, Keep Your American Dream the whole night was all rise
and no fall.
Whilst that tone no doubt comes from the metalcore vein that
runs through everything Beartooth make, that energy is all punk rock, and so
are those crowd-involved lyrics. As hybrid’s go, it’s a great one to carry
through.
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| Kamron Bradbury - Rhythm Guitar Birmingham O2 Academy 2 - 28/10/2015 Photo Credit: Nick Neuenhaus Photography @nickneuenhaus |
Three years is hardly a long time for a band to be together,
especially with member changes spattered over the past 18 months or so. That,
and the fact that there’s just the one full length Beartooth album at the
moment justifies the short set (because trust me, everyone in that building could
have kept the energy up for a 2 hour show).
But what they have done in that time is used their extensive
and broad musical experience from previous bands to secure definitive anthems
and tour the hell out of them with all of the right people. There’s been a
steady and well deserved rise in recognition for Beartooth, and that has put
them in the exact right environment for their new material to be unleashed
into.
Of course they know that, and before they closed up their
main set with Beaten In Lips vocalist
Caleb Shomo took a moment to recognise the fact that this belter has made a
huge contribution to their career.
I am so stoked that I got to see Beartooth on the last night
of this UK run and have sky high hopes for the new music. I’m crossing my devil
horns that it’s out before Download, but either way you’ll see me in the mosh pit.
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| Oshie Bichar - Bass Birmingham O2 Academy 2 - 28/10/2015 Photo Credit: Nick Neuenhaus Photography @nickneuenhaus |
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