Silverstein

support Blessthefall + Vincent Black Shadow
author TL date 12/12/07 venue Lille Vega, Copenhagen, DEN

Okay so Wednesday the 12th of December is a day I've been waiting for a looong time, and judging from the amount of kids who seem to have taken the whole emo fashion just a few steps too far, crowding outside of Vega, some even having been there in the cold since our interview 2½ hours prior to the show, I was far from the only one. Few who have taste for the emo/screamo/post-hardcore genres can honestly deny having fallen for some of Silverstein's contagiously catchy songs, in spite of their well over the top stab-stab-stabbety-dagger-in-my-bleeding-heart lyrics, and tonight is the first chance to catch them live on our shores since way back in 2005? And this time you don't even have to stand Simple Plan after their set - Does it get any better than this? Sure it does, because the upstarts from Blessthefall are supporting, filling the role of that cool 'new' band all the hipsters claiming to have lost their taste for Silverstein, can use as an excuse to show up anyway. So basically the vast majority of people here are effin' stoked for the show, and further motivated by the biting cold, the crowd surges in as the doors open.

Some photos by Bright Side Of Murder Photography

Vincent Black Shadow

Now it seemed that no one had been in a hurry to check if Vincent Black Shadow is actually on the bill on this leg of the tour as well as they'd been in the UK one. It turns out they are - and now I don't wan't to seem too harsh but do you notice how I left out the word "fortunately" in the beginning of this sentence? Okay fair enough, the sound guys seem to be taking the first set off, as the music of these guys comes across from the stage about as clean as a festival toilet. This however does not conceal the fact that there seems to be no sense in this band being on this tour. I have no idea what to call the music that Vincent Black Shadow plays except boring. It sure as hell hasn't got any resemblance to any of the other bands tonight, it won't make any lasting impression on me whatsoever and while I might be wrong, what this band showed me tonight is that they're yet another band with the only noteworthy thing about them being having a female vocalist.

3

Blessthefall

While the rest of the crowd is now getting stoked to see Blessthefall, I'm trying to keep my expectations low. An interview with Jared and Matt has earlier revealed to me that vocalist Craig has had to leave the tour due to family matters, leaving the other guys to play reduced shows with the reduced lineup. So as honourable as their attempt is, Blessthefall's set does not come near the one on the UK tour described by AP a couple of weeks ago. Jared has put down his bass and makes a courageous effort with the vocals but with a setlist of only a handful of songs and the sound people seemingly still vacationing somewhere it's an uphill battle. There's still a compassionate crowd response to a song like "Higinia" but honestly it's only from the fans who came devoted to the show no matter how it would've turned out. An A for effort but for the overall result it can be little more than

Silverstein

Thus it's left for the headliners to save the night and to some extent they actually do. I have happily forgotten the setlist somewhere in the intense moshpit that began when the first tones of "Sound Of The Sun" emerged from the speakers and didn't stop till the show was over. Judging from the way well over half of the crowd is behaving, Silverstein seems to have a special place in the "hall of classics" in their scene-music loving hearts. However, a couple of songs in, I start thinking that it must be time to send a search party after those people who're supposed to manage the mixing table, because the sound is just as crap as it's been all night. Most of the crowd happily ignore this though. They get to hear "Your Sword Vs. My Dagger" and "Smile In Your Sleep" live and if not enough to make them happy, it's at least enough to make them mosh - or rather keep them doing so. Meanwhile Silverstein's behaviour on stage is exactly what you'd imagine. In fact maybe a bit too much so, as it doesn't take many seconds observing them from behind the moshpit to spot the seeming gap between the band and it's crowd. Sure there's running around, sure there's brandishing of guitars - it all just seems strangely tired, and though it might just be the impression from their last album "Arrivals And Departures" that's still with me, I can't quite shake the feeling of this being "just another day at the office" for the Silverstein guys. Sure there's an encore but it seems as planned ahead as any encore ever has, and while the crowd kept at it with dedication to the very end and made this gig fun to attend, it was all in spite of the rather lackluster performance of tonights bands. And here at Rockfreaks.net we don't rate the crowds.

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