SMASH UP - LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM 18/03/2014
Smash Up bring the house down with a 90 minute opening night set!
Since announcing their reformation in November last year, Smash Up have released one single, played one show, and had one in-depth interview about life as a new band. Although details of their new album, which isn't released for another month yet have been announced, the idea of the "new Smash Up" is still a vague one.
Has that stopped a sold out UK tour? Not a chance! The Welsh quintet are clearly as popular as ever, now armed with an arsenal of five albums and the option of premiering new songs from their forthcoming sixth full-length release, it's an exciting time for the band and the fans knowing that the band can literally play anything, they have no need to fill their set with new material, it's up to them, not that it never was, but the feeling of being obliged to play certain songs is lower than usual.
9:15pm and the lights go down, right on time with no technical difficulties, Sinigaro and On The Horizon were a great warm up to the main event. an ambient and somewhat haunting piano plays over the venues PA system and a buzz of excitement quickly spreads across the room.
The two new boys James Holloway and Chris Davies are first on to stage quickly followed by Ollie Williams and Jake Symonds, and with a cliché frontman move, vocalist Dan Servente makes his was on stage, met by high pitched screams and camera flashes, he's not the pretty poster-boy with hair that Kai Rollins would envy anymore, he's now a 28-year old man with a shaved head, dressed in shorts and a hoodie, maybe a little premature on the summer wear!
As the drums lead the way into opening track Tomorrow We Die, energy levels quickly rise as mosh pits open across the venue, over 3800 fans begin to bounce around a sing along to the title track of 2008's second release, the band don't stop there with the old material either, as they roll in to "Moron", the first single that the band ever released, a real treat for the bands long standing and dedicated fan base, some of whom have clearly been seeing Smash Up live since the early days of Blame God For This, maybe even a little earlier! The nostalgia bomb that the band have opened with doesn't linger for too long however, as the band play the title track to 2010's The Concept, followed by I'll Just Forget, another song from that album.
Ollie Williams and Dan Servente back in the swing of things
Chris getting to grips with life on stageAs the final notes of I'll Just Forget ring out, vocalist Dan Servente takes a breath and addresses the crowd.
"Aw man Birmingham, I can't tell you how much I've missed this shit!" he smiles.
"Honestly man, we went on this tour and we didn't know how it was going to go down, a lot of people are still doubting the return of this band, but I think it's clear that fact there are almost four fucking thousand of you here proves that this band still has the best fans in the world, thank you for that. I'm going to stop talking now and get on with it, this song is called Bloody Mary!"It's fact that the band aren't as young as they were back in 2008 when they released the single, and a lot has changed. The maturity levels have clearly risen dramatically but the fun side of the band still shines through, the band genuinely look like they're enjoying themselves, Servente was once a suspect of a vocalist that tried to show off how "brutal" he could be, with deafening high pitched screams and gut-wrenching lows, although still present, now being overshadowed by what can only be described as a ferocious roar in every song, they're a band that can play the same song six years on and still have it sound as fresh as ever.
As one of the heaviest songs that the late 00's witnessed comes to an end, Smash Up's short-lived lighter side comes to show in the most dramatic change of contrast possible as the chords to the lead single of Smash Up's sophomore album "Yours" are played, it's something that seems to both please and disappoint fans, yes it's a song many of the bands fans were hoping to hear, but many could be excused for feeling like the heavily pop-punk influenced song was a little bit of an anti-climax.
Ollie is quick to address the issue.
"I think that's what you call a curveball" the bassist laughs.
"Dan?""Yeah I think so, we probably should have warned you about that!" Dan replies.
"I could see the faces of all my buddies in the pit drop a little, but I'll tell you what we'll do, we're going to make up for it now. Because we're going to play you a song which is so aggressive it makes me a little angry when we play and practice it!" He says as what seems to mainly the male section of the audience screaming back at him.
" Oh yeah, and it's a new song!" he says before the crowd go in to a little bit of a frenzy at the prospect of hearing material from the bands 6th album before it's released.
"If you were at the London show last month, or own a device that can access Youtube, you'll have heard this before, it's called The Wolf!" As James counts in, the speed of the two and a half minute song (which sounds like what you'd imagine the baby of The Sex Pistols, Brand New, and Anti-Flag would sound like) instantly inspires a circle pit which by the end of it grows to the size of around half the room, something Servente described as "utter carnage"
"We're not going to be one of those bands that take twenty minutes of their set to talk about those that aren't with us anymore, but we're not going to be one of those bands that forgets that we had a man behind the drums for seven years that shared every high and every fucking low with us" Dan begins, "These next songs are for you, Luke, you were there for every one of them. Highs and lows mate." As the crowd applaud the frontman's speech, there's a moment of silence on stage before the band begin to swerve in and out of era's for the next three songs. Take What You Want and Leave (taken from 2010's The Concept) is first up, before 2007's Hospital (taken from Blame God For This) and finally Hearts On Fire, the only song that band play from 2009's Pieces is played to a mixed reaction, which is the norm for anything played from the album which not only disappointed fans and critics alike, but also disappointed the band (famously 2010's interview in which Dan Servente called it the worst album of the 21st century).
Before you know it, Smash Up have just stormed through three songs from three different albums, by the end of it, bassist Ollie Williams is on his knees literally dripping with sweat, James Holloways t-shirt came off after the second song of the night, and Dan looks like he's about ready to get rid of that hoodie!
James Holloway behind his new kitShort of breath but eager to break the silence on stage, Dan grabs the attention of the crowd.
"So we've got a new album out next month" he says, met by the usual cheering from a crowd are clearly excited about the new release, but it's clear some are sceptical about the new music, even with Blood Diamond being released.
"And we thought that, as you've waited so long for this tour to come along we'd play a song from that album that we've never played before, and it took a lot of effort to decide which song to play, and we thought, it's the Crowns UK tour, isn't it? Why not? That's what we're going to do right now, this song is called, you guessed it, Crowns!"James leads the new track as the drums aid the build up to the song, Servente's aforementioned new vocal style is more present than it has been in the two songs previously heard from the album (Blood Diamond and The Wolf), it has a certain feel of aggression that the band have been lacking, which now suggests that the whole album will have this kind of vibe (that can be a good assumption anyway, now that the three songs made public of the ten have had this vibe).
A bridge breaks up the crushing breakdown and final chorus with clean guitars and Servente's famous singing coming through a treat. Say what you want about this band returning, it's not a bad attempt, they sound as tight as they did when they broke through onto the worlds metal scene six years ago.
Speaking of the breakthrough, one of the songs that very much helped them on the road to that is the next song up as feel-good, bouncy post-hardcore anthem Kicked Out is played, the catchy chorus being shouted by the crowd as loud as most of the other hit-filled set that the band have come out with tonight, the title track of the album this single was taken from, Confessions, is next up.
Towards the end of the 2008's first album, the song is slowed right down until the last note is rung out, Servente gets on one knee and addresses the crowd.
"We've never, ever done this before, so you're going to be part of Smash Up history right now Birmingham." he says, as the crowd becomes instantly curious.
"I need every single one of you down there to get on your knees right now" he shouts, still doing so himself.
"Right now. if you don't do it, it's going to be a long night because we go nowhere, and we don't play another note" he commands as feedback begins to build over the PA, most of the venue's dance floor have now crouched down.
"This is good, but what the fuck is wrong with you?" he asks, while pointing to one man in the audience who seems reluctant to get down.
"Sit the fuck down, you're delaying the fun""So I think you know what's going to happen, but just so we're clear I'll explain.", he takes a quick pause before continuing,
"I will say the word jump, and you will do so"
Jake Symonds watches as the crowd hit the deckThe feedback is stopped and there is silence in the venue, the best part of the 4000 strong crowd are now on their knees.
"Don't make me have more blood on my hands...." he begins the song collateral, but replaces the world collateral with the word. you guess it, jump!
As a venue bounces, mosh pits break out, and the bands energy levels rise on stage, "out of control" is probably the only way of accurately describing the scenes in Birmingham. At the end of the song, Smash Up walk off stage without saying anything, everyone in the room knows an encore is inevitable.
As a few minutes go by and the crowd stands exhausted in the dark chanting the bands name at the empty stage. There's no sample played over the PA, no "do you guys want more", nothing, the band simply walk back on stage before Servente screams "Mr. Dark!" and the band go in to the final single of their previous release The Concept, they then play into the opening song of said album.
Towards the end of "City Of A Million Lights" reverb on Servente's vocals bounce around the room, Smash Up build the tension with Chris, Ollie & Jake all playing palm muted strings over James Holloways toms being beaten repeatedly, the crowd know what's coming next.
"Thank you so much for tonight Birmingham it's been a fucking blast" Dan says as he gives the crowd a thumbs up, "We're going to leave you with our new single, so far we've had a great response, we want to hear you sing this shit as loud as you can!"
The band play the new song and seems surprised at how often the vocalist can hold out the mic and let the crowd do his job for him, the song has been popular, but has only been streaming for less than two weeks.
As the crowd and the vocalist sing the line "wearing blood diamonds around your neck..." together, the final few minutes of the night are special ones, it's been said in everything that Smash Up have done in the last three of four months but is as true every time, it's the start of a new era, a new chapter of Smash Up which they hope will last for years to come. Overall though, it's a very positive start for the bands first tour of many in 2014.
Setlist:Tomorrow We Die
Moron
The Concept
I'll Just Forget
Bloody Mary
Yours
The Wolf
Take What You Want and Leave
Hospital
Hearts On Fire
Crowns
- first live performanceKicked Out
Confessions
Collateral
Encore:Mr. Dark
City of a Million Lights
Blood Diamond
