Alexisonfire - Nottingham Rock City

There are bands that interact with their audience. Then there’s Alexisonfire. Known for their fiery stage presence, on one of the last dates of their UK tour, they played at the legendary Nottingham Rock City , which before has housed such icons as Iron Maiden and Nirvana, for 2 ½ hours of scream core rock to a packed and extremely excitable, mostly teenage, crowd. Jumping around the stage like kids that have just been let out of school on a Friday afternoon, they were so passionate, you would think that it was them who’s paid to come see the audience, not the other way round.

Supported by two relatively unknown bands, The Computers, in identical white-shirts (whose lead singer liked to use the f-word a lot and jumped enthusiastically into the mosh pit in an attempt to psyche up the newly-arrived crowd) and Leeds-based ensemble Chickenhawks, whose punk/rock/screamcore set generated a decent mosh pit in their own right, Alexisonfire was clearly the band everyone wanted to see. Opening with “Young Cardinals” from their newest Album “Old Crows/Young Cardinals”, they immediately got the crowd in the mood to mosh, with all their side-fringed skinny-jean-clad fans chanting the chorus like it was the last night of their lives.

As soon as they went on to play crowd-pleasing anthems “Old Crows” and “Pulmonary Artery”, the mosh pit was in full flow and the band was bathed in sweat from the sheer energy of their routine. The gritty, aggressive vocal of lead singer George Petit contrasted by the pure talent of Dallas Green’s piercing angelic voice and the post-hardcore melodies whipped the crowd into frenzy. As well as the amazing fire that Alexisonfire showed on stage, there was also a shock of questionable facial hair, most notably bassist Chris Steele’s Hungarian moustache, which fitted somehow appropriately with his madly staring eyes and energetic stage manner.

Despite there being no pyrotechnics in Alexisonfire’s set in the cosy but unbelievably awesome venue, the band’s sheer personality combined with their talent was infectious and wowed the audience, making it a great night. If you aren’t a massive fan of the band already, check them out and if you like screamcore, you’ll be instantly converted, just like I was.

By Lucy