Taste of Chaos

First, a small background, just so you know what the hell Taste of Chaos is. In brief, it’s a punk fuelled, angst ridden rock tour (sponsored by Kerrang!), which is usually promoted in the U.S. But this year, they’ve come to Manchester, Birmingham, London and Cardiff (among other venues) to blow away any sense of pretty, pointless pop music that may still be floating around in your head from when you were ten.

This review is half a review of the concert, and half my personal account of the night, and some of the main highlights. (I went with EvilFairy666 and we rocked out!!!)

The main bands performing (listed above) played their set on the main stage, and between performances, smaller, less known bands played on a tiny side stage. Seriously tiny. For the purpose of this, so as not to bore you senseless, I will not review these bands. Also, I’ve forgotten their names, how their songs went, and we went off to buy merch when they were on anyways! (meh!) Sorry dudes…

Anyway…

1. Rise Against
First up… always hard… and they only played a small set. A good job really, seeing as I would have got bored. Their performance lacked any real energy and passion as far as I’m concerned. However, I did sit up and pay attention when the spotlight focused on Tim (the front man) when he played the beautiful acoustic song “Swing Life Away.” It’s a song I love, and just the sight of all the lighters in the air was enough to make me raise my phone with pride (not very old school I know) and sing along, even though I don’t know all the words. We also got to appreciate how amazing his voice is: something which is lost on their heavier tracks.

2. Story of the Year
This was the only band in the line up, who I’d never heard of before. I was half anticipating, half dreading their arrival on stage. And when they started and the front man was jumping around screaming, I thought, “How much more of this can I take?” But I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed it. They all had so much energy, it was unbelievable. You could tell by how they moved how glad they were to be there. That alone, made me have some respect for them. The best aspect of their performance has to be the crowd surfing. Oh yes. As if kids in the audience doing it wasn’t enough, the band started joining in too. The best bit for me, was when the front man was leaning into the crowd, and you could see all these hands reaching up; it looked like they were holding him up. And he was screaming down the mic at them “NO WE WON’T STEP DOWN!!” over and over again. That stuck with me; I could almost feel these kids screaming along with him, and feel all of it in their souls. He was their voice for when they couldn’t speak.

Story of the Year also pulled off some pretty nifty stage moves. One by one, they all climbed up onto the extra staging and amps, and as the chorus crunched in, they all jumped off (bar the drummer of course) and just went insane. The only word to describe it. It was so obviously choreographed and slightly Busted-ish, but still, it made me laugh and want to jump around with them, which was presumably the desired effect. All in all, a thoroughly entertaining and passionate performance.

3. Killswitch Engage
My memory of this band is the most hazy. Perhaps it’s because it was all thundering guitar riffs: guitarist standing legs apart, head swirling round, hair… everywhere. Not to mention Howard Jones’ constant screaming. If you’re a Killswitch fan then great. But not for me. One thing that made my little heart sing though. I could only half hear what was being said anyway, (something about a friend…) next thing I know, there’s Bert McCracken on the stage. I swear that that’s what a heart attack felt like. The shock was immense and I so nearly died right then (I have a sincere love for Bert McCracken). He performed “The End of Heartache” with Killswitch, which is not a particularly fantastic song in my opinion, but Bert made it. And after that, I was insanely hyper. I hardly listened to the rest of their performance, but frankly, I don’t think I missed much.

4. The Used
Oh my God, this was one of the best moments of my life. The two bands I’d been most excited about seeing were The Used and Funeral for a Friend, and I wasn’t disappointed. They started with “Take it Away,” And what an explosive start it was too. Bert’s desperate screaming, as though his life depended on it, the chunky guitars that you could feel in the pit of your stomach, the drum beat that kept you jumping- it was all so incredibly exhilarating. That smile I wore was the biggest smile I’d had in a long time.

After an amazing “Listening,” and their new single “I Caught Fire,” through which everyone was screaming, “I’M MELTING!!”, he spoke to the crowd. Introductions, thank yous to the hardcore Used fans (yeah!!!) and he dedicated the next song to all the people who had a “sincere love for the music.” (Probably shouldn’t mention that I started screaming “That’s me!” But hey.) And “All That I’ve Got” started up, and the crowd about exploded. (Wait for it…the best part is coming up…)Once we’d all caught our breath slightly, the lights went into a hazy blue, and he announced “On My Own.” I about died (again). It’s a personal song for me anyway, I love it so much, and I never expected them to even play it. And it was the best version of it I’ve ever heard. Immediately, the soft acoustic sound reverberated through the arena, The whole song was like a surreal dream. It was so slow and quiet and beautiful. There was a moment of total silence where the crowd were singing the song at him, and then he sang it back to us. Magical. I was crying just about all the way through the song. That was one of those perfect, indescribable moments where you just float out of your body, forget who you are, and become one with the music. I was trying to explain it to my sister earlier, but I couldn’t for the tears. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

They closed the set with “Maybe Memories” not giving me much time to recover. This was my last chance to spread all the f*****g love I have for this band, and I rocked the hardest I’ve ever rocked before, still vaguely crying. All this emotion being vented…it was uplifting, incredibly uplifting. The lights had gone up after they left the stage, but I was still jumping and screaming. What did it matter?

5. Funeral for a Friend
The final act of an amazing night. They played an amazing set, full of amazing songs. “Red is the New Black,” “Streetcar,” “Roses for the Dead,” (meh!) “History,” (with a male choir you couldn’t hear) “Juneau,” “She Drove me to Daytime TV,” and “Escape Artists Never Die,” to end.

The highlight of this was during “Juneau.” There’s a moment in the middle of the song where all the music dies and Matt Davies is just singing “Yet I’m nothing more than a line in your book.” The whole crowd was singing it at the stage, and Matt was just standing, motionless, staring back at us. What must he have been feeling then?? That was a pretty emotional moment too, but nowhere near in the same league as “On My Own.” Sobs*

And so the night draws to a close but never fully leaves you. The ringing in your ears, the throbbing in your feet and arms, your sore throat… hell this is what rock is all about!!

 By Eleanor