The Blackout gig at Camden Roundhouse Review
This is my first attempt at writing a review for a gig, so feedback would be appreciated. Last night (6th November 2011) I went to The Blackout's gig at the Roundhouse in Camden, London with two friends — @foggface and @jonnyeyles. As it was on a weekend, we went into London fairly early to have some leisurely pre-gig drinks and get some food in our bellies. After settling at The Ice Wharf on Camden Lock — which I thoroughly recommend as one of the nicest Wetherspoons bars I have been to — we made our way to the venue in time to catch the last support band who took to the stage at 8.30pm.
The first two support bands were Page 44 and Canterbury, neither of whom I had heard of before. The final act to take the stage before The Blackout were We Are The Ocean, who I had listened to a fair bit before I even knew they were supporting. Their latest album, Go Now And Live, is a brilliant listen and their 40-minute set mostly consisted of songs from this album. Following their departure from the stage, there were repeated chants of “We! Are! The dynamite!” from the anticipating crowd (from the intro track to the band's debut album of the same name).
The Blackout didn't keep the crowd waiting too long and opened with This Is Our Time, followed by Ambition Is Critical, two crowd pleasing songs for the very eager crowd. Next was the “whoa-whoa-oh” singalong Save Our Selves (The Warning), where during the “going out, going out, going out” breakdown, the band asked the whole crowd to get down low and then jump up and go crazy when the song kicked back in. Four songs in (by which point I was already out of breath from all the aforementioned jumping and singing), they played the Ian Watkins-featuring It's High Tide Baby! from their debut album, We Are The Dynamite — though sadly without the Lostprophets frontman on this occassion. This was followed by a couple of the band's newer heavier songs, Never By Your Side and The Devil Inside. Two giant circle mosh pits had opened up either side of me and I luckily didn't get pulled into either — I'm not generally a fan of moshing, but as long as I don't get bashed into too much, I put up with them.
This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things followed with what seemed like the entire crowd singing along to the chorus. After that, there was a bit of friendly competition between vocalists Sean Smith and Gavin Butler, as they each claimed a half of the crowd to see who's side could sing the loudest during the chorus of You're Not Alone (one half singing the “you know you're not alone” and “save me”, and the other half echoing it).
One of my favourite songs by the band, Said & Done, was next. This was followed by the current single The Storm and another old song, Spread Legs, Not Lies, which was dedicated to all the ladies in the audience.
The band introduced the next song, The Last Goodbye as the one sung best by the crowds from this tour. The London crowd did nothing but confirm this.
With a brief serious (and slightly cheesy) speech about chasing your hopes and dreams, the band jumped into another song from their latest album, Hope (Scream It Out Loud) followed by Children Of The Night, another — like so many of the Welsh five-piece's songs — catchy, singalong chorus-led song... with some shouty bits.
Following the heavy middle section of the previous song, the crowd were more than ready for the fan-favourite I'm A Riot? You're A Fucking Riot!, which only appears on the band's debut self-titled EP. Probably the heaviest of all the band's songs, there certainly was a great atmosphere with the entire crowd shouting “Ri-ot! Ri-ot!’ and “Fuck you!” in unison. For the ending of the song, the band was joined on stage with the guitarists from all the previous support acts (I counted no less than 12 guitarists on the stage) for a brief guitar shred-athon, before Smith gave each of the acts a shout out met with respective cheers from the crowd.
After confirming “Yes, Mr Smith, we have plenty of energy left, thank you”, the band played one final heavy track, ShutTheFuckUppercut. This was followed by Higher & Higher, the band's popular first single from their latest album, Hope. Smith also impressively covered Hyro Da Hero's rap verse in the middle of the song. After finishing the song, the band made the spontaneous decision to play the song again, during which we made a swift exit — partially unclothed due to the heat and general sweatiness — to get out of the venue before the mad rush of everyone else leaving at the same time, leaving with ringing in our ears.
After a quick stop to the supermarket across the road to get a bottle of water to rehydrate, we made our way back to the tube station, having a childish water fight down Camden high street on the way back. All in all, a fun day and night. The day after however, I was nursing some sore ribs and @foggface complained of a bruised eyebrow.
The complete set lists for the night are as follows:
We Are The Ocean:
- Trouble Is Temporary, Time Is Tonic
- What It Feels Like
- These Days, I Have Nothing
- Runaway
- Nothing Good Has Happened Yet
- Overtime is a Crime
- Confessions
- The Waiting Room
The Blackout:
- This Is Our Time
- Ambition Is Critical
- Save Our Selves (The Warning)
- It's High Tide Baby!
- Never By Your Side
- The Devil Inside
- This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
- You're Not Alone
- Said & Done
- The Storm
- Spread Legs, Not Lies
- The Last Goodbye
- Hope (Scream It Out Loud)
- Children Of The Night
- I'm A Riot? You're A Fucking Riot!
- ShutTheFuckUppercut
- Higher & Higher
- Higher & Higher
