Architects: O2 Academy, Glasgow (17th January 2019)
with Beartooth and Polaris
It was always uncertain whether Architects would continue touring in the wake of guitarist and primary songwriter Tom Searle's death in 2016, but thankfully they have decided to keep going. I'd not previously seen Architects so I was really keen to get myself to this gig in Glasgow.
Due to a lengthy wait in the queue (the O2 Academy has switched the lines for priority and standard tickets since I'd last been there), I only managed to catch the last song or two from the first support band Polaris. I had only listened to this band a little bit in the run up to this gig, and from what I could gather, on record, they sounded like pretty average metalcore. In the live environment, Polaris exuded more energy than I expected, and genuinely seemed buzzed to be on the stage. Maybe this was a combination of being the band's first tour in the UK, or perhaps sharing a large stage with two big bands within the scene, or maybe they're always this enthusiastic live. Either way, from what I caught of Polaris, they seemed to be having a good time and managed to get a small dedicated section of the crowd moving, singing along and, in the case of two hardcore dancers, doing flips in the relatively open pit space. I may need to go back and listen to this band again at some point, since they were better live than they seemed on record.
The relatively open space in the venue got busier for when Beartooth took the stage. Having just released their latest album, Disease a few months ago, much of their set consisted of songs from this album. Although I haven't been keen on much of what Beartooth have done since their debut album, the crowd generally seemed to be into this new material, and crucially the band tended not to play too many of these newer songs in a row. The songs from their debut, perhaps unsurprisingly, captured the excitement of the audience the most, with pits opening up for several of these breakdown heavy tunes. The charisma of frontman Caleb Shomo ensured that the energy barely dropped for much of the rest of this set however, and there was an impressive amount of crowd interaction for some of the band's newer material. Beartooth's set was not entirely flawless in my opinion however, as I found that the energy dipped in the middle of their performance. I'm not the biggest fan of drum solos at the best of times, so Beartooth having one while being a support act made me sigh a little bit. I didn't really think it was all that impressive either, and although it was only a couple of minutes long, I did feel that the time could have been better utilised with another song. After this, the band played two songs in a row from the newest album, which didn't really help that sense of lethargy.
Perhaps unfairly to the band, but still having a significant impact on my enjoyment of their set was the fact that by this point, the crowd had gotten quite packed and I was surrounded by people who were distracting me from the band (the guy in front of me was drunkenly shouting and swaggering, and the group behind me were having a shouted conversation and bumping into me throughout the full set). So much so that when Caleb was (presumably) talking about struggles with depression before launching into their last song, I could barely hear a word he was saying. Baring all of this in mind though, I still thought Beartooth were pretty decent on the night, particularly with those songs from Disgusting. Undeniable live. Although I'm less keen on their newer stuff, their live set did go to show that Beartooth are one of the better bands in the melodic hardcore genre live.
Check out one of my videos from their set at the bottom of the page.
Having moved away from the area I was standing in, I thought I would be in a better position to enjoy Architects than before. It became clear quite early on however, that there was going to be very little room to do anything. I'm not sure whether most of the people who were standing up at the bar area had all crammed themselves onto the standing area or whether the venue had oversold their tickets, but it felt quite claustrophobic no matter where you stood for the entirety of this set. This may be one of the only gripes I had with this performance however. Largely consisting of songs from their newest album, Holy Hell, this gig felt like catharsis for both the band and the audience. The level of enthusiasm throughout highlights the level of emotional connection Architects have with people, and generally, I found that the more melodic songs from Holy Hell tended to get the largest responses of the entire night. That is some achievement from any band, let alone one with such a strong run of albums. Speaking of which, the setlist for this gig was very much focused on the last four albums of Architects back catalogue, and the gig was all the better for it. As a live act, the band felt both technically proficient, musically tight and full of emotional energy. Sam Carter's vocals in particular, were out of this world live, and really made all of the songs in the set burst with emotion. The scale of the songs was supported by a visual show which is one of the more impressive I've seen at the O2 Academy. The use of fire and CO2 made particular moments within the set pop even more than they already would have, all without overusing these elements to the point where they become less impactful. Every time they were used felt like a massive event. The same could be said with the lighting, which was similarly impressive. Alongside the exceptional light display, the simple yet effective backdrop had moving images projected onto them, which emphasised the frantic, heavy nature of the songs really well. A particularly strong moment here was when, towards the set, the initials of Tom Searle were projected onto the screen against a black background.
Overall, I couldn't say there was a dip at all within this set, and the level of enthusiasm from the audience was particularly heartwarming for a band that has had such a tough time of late. The appreciation from the band was quite obvious to see, as well, with Sam Carter describing his love for Scotland increasing over the last year or so, having stayed both in Glasgow and Edinburgh for considerable amounts of time of late. The show certainly felt like an occasion, and from the quality of the songs in the live environment to the dedication of the crowd to the stepping up of the visual elements. Although the packed nature of the crowd was a bit of dampener to the gig for me personally, it would be difficult to argue that it was all a result of this dedication to a band that deserves to be at the top of most music festivals in this country, and are far and away one of the best live bands in the UK at the moment. Period. An incredible experience that I won't forget any time soon.
Check out a couple of videos I took from this set below.
Due to a lengthy wait in the queue (the O2 Academy has switched the lines for priority and standard tickets since I'd last been there), I only managed to catch the last song or two from the first support band Polaris. I had only listened to this band a little bit in the run up to this gig, and from what I could gather, on record, they sounded like pretty average metalcore. In the live environment, Polaris exuded more energy than I expected, and genuinely seemed buzzed to be on the stage. Maybe this was a combination of being the band's first tour in the UK, or perhaps sharing a large stage with two big bands within the scene, or maybe they're always this enthusiastic live. Either way, from what I caught of Polaris, they seemed to be having a good time and managed to get a small dedicated section of the crowd moving, singing along and, in the case of two hardcore dancers, doing flips in the relatively open pit space. I may need to go back and listen to this band again at some point, since they were better live than they seemed on record.
The relatively open space in the venue got busier for when Beartooth took the stage. Having just released their latest album, Disease a few months ago, much of their set consisted of songs from this album. Although I haven't been keen on much of what Beartooth have done since their debut album, the crowd generally seemed to be into this new material, and crucially the band tended not to play too many of these newer songs in a row. The songs from their debut, perhaps unsurprisingly, captured the excitement of the audience the most, with pits opening up for several of these breakdown heavy tunes. The charisma of frontman Caleb Shomo ensured that the energy barely dropped for much of the rest of this set however, and there was an impressive amount of crowd interaction for some of the band's newer material. Beartooth's set was not entirely flawless in my opinion however, as I found that the energy dipped in the middle of their performance. I'm not the biggest fan of drum solos at the best of times, so Beartooth having one while being a support act made me sigh a little bit. I didn't really think it was all that impressive either, and although it was only a couple of minutes long, I did feel that the time could have been better utilised with another song. After this, the band played two songs in a row from the newest album, which didn't really help that sense of lethargy.
Perhaps unfairly to the band, but still having a significant impact on my enjoyment of their set was the fact that by this point, the crowd had gotten quite packed and I was surrounded by people who were distracting me from the band (the guy in front of me was drunkenly shouting and swaggering, and the group behind me were having a shouted conversation and bumping into me throughout the full set). So much so that when Caleb was (presumably) talking about struggles with depression before launching into their last song, I could barely hear a word he was saying. Baring all of this in mind though, I still thought Beartooth were pretty decent on the night, particularly with those songs from Disgusting. Undeniable live. Although I'm less keen on their newer stuff, their live set did go to show that Beartooth are one of the better bands in the melodic hardcore genre live.
Check out one of my videos from their set at the bottom of the page.
Having moved away from the area I was standing in, I thought I would be in a better position to enjoy Architects than before. It became clear quite early on however, that there was going to be very little room to do anything. I'm not sure whether most of the people who were standing up at the bar area had all crammed themselves onto the standing area or whether the venue had oversold their tickets, but it felt quite claustrophobic no matter where you stood for the entirety of this set. This may be one of the only gripes I had with this performance however. Largely consisting of songs from their newest album, Holy Hell, this gig felt like catharsis for both the band and the audience. The level of enthusiasm throughout highlights the level of emotional connection Architects have with people, and generally, I found that the more melodic songs from Holy Hell tended to get the largest responses of the entire night. That is some achievement from any band, let alone one with such a strong run of albums. Speaking of which, the setlist for this gig was very much focused on the last four albums of Architects back catalogue, and the gig was all the better for it. As a live act, the band felt both technically proficient, musically tight and full of emotional energy. Sam Carter's vocals in particular, were out of this world live, and really made all of the songs in the set burst with emotion. The scale of the songs was supported by a visual show which is one of the more impressive I've seen at the O2 Academy. The use of fire and CO2 made particular moments within the set pop even more than they already would have, all without overusing these elements to the point where they become less impactful. Every time they were used felt like a massive event. The same could be said with the lighting, which was similarly impressive. Alongside the exceptional light display, the simple yet effective backdrop had moving images projected onto them, which emphasised the frantic, heavy nature of the songs really well. A particularly strong moment here was when, towards the set, the initials of Tom Searle were projected onto the screen against a black background.
Overall, I couldn't say there was a dip at all within this set, and the level of enthusiasm from the audience was particularly heartwarming for a band that has had such a tough time of late. The appreciation from the band was quite obvious to see, as well, with Sam Carter describing his love for Scotland increasing over the last year or so, having stayed both in Glasgow and Edinburgh for considerable amounts of time of late. The show certainly felt like an occasion, and from the quality of the songs in the live environment to the dedication of the crowd to the stepping up of the visual elements. Although the packed nature of the crowd was a bit of dampener to the gig for me personally, it would be difficult to argue that it was all a result of this dedication to a band that deserves to be at the top of most music festivals in this country, and are far and away one of the best live bands in the UK at the moment. Period. An incredible experience that I won't forget any time soon.
Check out a couple of videos I took from this set below.
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