Although this is the first awards show that
The Verdict Is Vengeance have ever played, none of the members see it as a huge event, despite playing in front of a crowd mixing with various celebrities as well as a hand full of fans who actually came to see one of the bands last ever UK performances. Minutes before the band are due onto the stage, the general manner in which they’ll perform is decided, as well as if they’ll make an attempt for crowd involvement or just get the set over and done with. This could be because of the busy schedule that the band have, recording their third album wasn’t happening as quickly as they anticipated and so each members, and most noticeably Sam Maine have become increasingly stressed by this.
The stage lights dim, as Matthew Norris sits behind his drums, and Lee Sanders, Connor James, and Robert Williams position themselves, ready to perform the bands new introduction song from the new album Anchors. As smoke blows across the stage, Matt begins to play the crashing drums, added with the distorted guitars and thundering bass for the first minute of the song, before Sam Maine runs onto the stage and screams “We are The Verdict Is Vengeance, and this new song is called
MMXI”, before screaming the only vocals of the song “Welcome to the beginning of the end, sinking ships and a blackened sky, this is the year 2011 BITCH”, on the word ‘bitch’ the whole band jumps at the same time, and the song continues in the same format, with chanting from the rest of the band chanting the same lines from the song. Sam head bangs and gets the crowd motivated shouting “jump“ repeatedly, whilst the song finishes.
Lee Sanders and Sam MaineAs the song comes to a close, Sam briefly talks to the crowd. “Thank you for actually having us play, it’s a nice change to be on stage rather than watching from where you all are. The second song from our three song set has been our most successful to date. It’s called
Watch The Skylines Fall!”
The famous opening riff from the bands best selling single is played by Robert Williams, whilst Lee Sanders plays the piano that matches the guitar on keyboard, the remaining band members stay completely still until Matt starts to play the drums, slowly building them, which matches the movement from the band. The build up suddenly stops, and the band along with the crowd chant the famous line “Will the skyline fall with out you?” before Sam screams the same line, and Rob continues the clean vocals in the background of the song whilst the other members simultaneously head bang, and get the crowd moving. The song is shorted from the studio version, with the outro of the song being removed and instead ending with clean vocals from both Sam and Rob.
“This is last song from us is another new one, it’s called
Horizons!” shouts Sam immediately after Watch The Skylines Fall ends.
Robert Williams screaming in the background of Watch The Skylines FallA tapping on the side of Matt’s snare drum starts the song, before the music suddenly bursts in a brief fashion with one guitar being high toned, and the other low with bass drum and symbol use, before going back to the tapping sound. The band move around slightly, but only build up their stage presence during the bursts of music that occur in-between the chorus. Sam stands on the edge of the stage and sings showing his clean vocal range is almost at the same level as Robs. During the chorus the music builds into the same format as the bursts of music, although less aggressive and fairly simple with Rob and Sam both singing at the same time. The band all are more energetic after the chorus with the guitarist moving around the stage, and Sam jumping during the brief breakdown, which unlike the majority of the bands songs, is fairly simplistic. During this stage the only screams of the night from Lee are heard in the background, if this backing effect is intended then it gives an odd sound to the song. The song ends soon after the breakdown with feedback from the guitars, and Sam shouting over the sound of it “Thanks everyone, enjoy your evenings!” before the band quickly leave the stage.
Setlist:MMXI (New song)
Watch The Skylines Fall
Horizons (New song)
