First onstage is Stapleton, a Scottish emo indie/rock group. Initially they appear a little less than confident, and extremely aware of the fact that the room is full of people who are not present for them. Once they begin to play, they take on whole new personas, enjoying the music they are creating and pumping out numerous emotion-packed musical anecdotes. Thick layers of heavy bass are softened with glittery, scintillating guitar lines and jazz influenced drumming to create a superb end result, which unfortunately seems to go straight over the heads of the totally unreactive crowd.
Next up are American rockers, Errortype:11. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn that this was the headlining act. Tonight, they seem totally out of place as a support act, playing such a tiny venue, putting so much effort into warming up a mostly lifeless, unresponsive group of people. They bound onstage and give a show fit for an arena full of adoring fans, pumping out several typical American grunge/rock tunes with strong influences from the likes of Pearl Jam and Nirvana shining through. This is a rock ‘n’ roll band fitting every definition of the term.
The arrival onstage of lead singer, Colin Doran and his illustrious crazy hair, sends a blast of electricity through the audience, who for the first time this evening, show signs of life and a small mosh forms at the feet of Hundred Reasons. The band have an extremely relaxed, informal stage presence, contrasting with the large-scale rock star presence of previous act, Errortype:11, Hundred Reasons give out the impression of being far more down-to-earth. When they’re not pelting out assorted emo-rock tunes, the band natter with the audience - even pausing play at one point, concerned with the health of a young crowd surfer who is violently thrust onto the stage - a key factor providing an interactive quality and ultimately more united atmosphere within the room. Putting in excessive amounts of effort despite illness, the band run through a fairly predictable set, including 'I’ll Find You' taken from the recent top 40 hit, EPThree before finishing with a stage dive from Colin and an informal signing session.
I wasn’t particularly impressed with the venue, nor the cold, unreceptive audience, but this was far overshadowed by the outstanding quality of performances I experienced tonight. A small selection of unarguably talented bands giving it their all, spilling out their guts and displaying the highest level of gratitude for the support offered by their fans – it is implausibly hard not to admire any of these three fantastic acts.
