Periphery - Rock City, Nottingham
Posted by Nade on Sun, 13 Feb 2011.
Despite a plague of health problems, Periphery were going to let nothing stop them in their quest to raise the roof at Nottingham’s Rock City.. Not bad for a band on their first tour of the UK. With supporting sets from “Monuments” and “TesseracT” setting the tone of the night, the crowd was treated to a night of face-melting metal.
Periphery guitarist Jake Bowen, suffering from a broken finger, was replaced by a stand-in guitarist for the night, while vocalist Spencer Sotelo, suffering from bronchitis, had been advised by doctors not to play the show. Advice he duly ignored, instead pulling off an amazing performance, matched by the intensity from the rest of the band.
For those Periphery fans who couldn’t make the gig (and there were quite a few - we witnessed several hopeful gig-goers attempting to buy tickets on the doors, who were turned away due to the room being over-capacity), the show was being streamed live over the internet. While watching a gig online doesn’t involve the same live feeling, it demonstrates how Periphery have managed to attract such a following (guitarist and song writer Misha “Bulb” Mansoor is well-known on several guitarist online forums and has used these audiences to his advantage, growing the Periphery fanbase, leading to the full house tonight).
Playing material from their recent, self titled album, Periphery didn’t let the size of the room or the stage hinder their show. Turning the volume all the way up to eleven, even the barstaff weren’t safe from the melodic onslaught as Mansoor climbed up onto the counter to get a better view of the room and psyche the crowd up.
Launching into Icarus Lives, a firm favourite, incited a wild flurry of ferocious headbanging in the centre of the room, and before everyone knew it, the set was over, far too soon for the crowd’s liking. Leaving the crowd on a high with fan favourite, The Walk, during the encore, Periphery went out on a bang, ensuring that everyone went away with a smile on their face. The perfect end to a fantastic night.