Silverstein

support Lapko + Today Forever
author TL date 27/05/08 venue Lille Vega, Copenhagen, DEN

Like it can be read in the interview which currently shines on our front page, I was severely delayed in my attempt to interview Silverstein. In the end I managed to grab a hold of the band as they were going to eat, and while the doors of Vega opened, I sat down in the restaurant on the other side of the road to talk to the guys for about twenty minutes or so. However, getting in and out of there took some more time and then having to hand in stuff in the wardrobe furthered my delay so much that, in the end I only managed to see the last song of first support band Lapko's set. This was much to my dismay, because judging from the song "Funerals And Parties", Lapko is a pretty cool band, and while I encourage you all to check out their Myspace I also hope that I will get a chance to see them play again at a later time.

Today Forever

It did not take long for the second support band, the german hardcore outfit Today Forever, to take the stage after Lapko had left. To begin with, the band seems to play some pretty straightforward hardcore, but it quickly becomes clear that they also have a more melodic side to them, speaking both in terms of guitar work but also of vocalist Christian's cleaner breaks from the typical screaming style. The cleaner and more accessible parts make a nice contrast to the more classical hardcore ones, and it's clear that this is a band that wants to invite their audience into their sound and their genre - not only from the music but also from the very positive and sympathic attitude Christian displays when addressing the crowd before taking time to jump off stage and get the pit going. Towards the end, the band also includes a cover of a Get Up Kids song. Shamefully I must admit that I do not know that bands catalogue enough to recognize it, but I still have to give props for reminding the present scene about its roots. Overall a good effort by a band it seems to be worth catching.

Silverstein

Silverstein open their set with a song I never managed to recognise, instantly making me fear that the sound would not only be as bad as last time they played Lille Vega, but even worse. During this first song, no vocals were audible at any time, but thankfully, the sound guy manages to salvage the situation for the following "Sound Of The Sun", the improved sound of which starts the show for real. There's still a bit too much echo on Shane's voice but a few songs later, it's nowhere to be heard, and the show is already by leaps and bounds more enjoyable than the last one I saw. It's a shame that the young guys that make up tonight's majority seem to wrongfully think that appreciating a band means throwing yourself against the even younger girls already being pinned to the front of the stage. During "Defend You", the band tries to get the crowd to start a circle pit, but it seems that most of the people here don't even know what that is, and instead a couple of fools display their feeble kung fu skills in the pit. I hate to take focus off the performance but there really is no limit to how ridiculous and misguided karate-moshing is, and I feel that I must stress that flailing your arms around like a retard and hurting people in the process never had anything to do with music. I mean, do you ever see ANYONE in ANY bands do stuff like that? [Ed. note: Gallows, The Wonder Years, to name a few...]

That being said, none of this seems to bother the band as they're consistently treating us to hit upon hit from their catalogue, to which many sing along passionately. "My Heroine" and "Your Sword Vs. My Dagger" are some of the songs representing "Discovering The Waterfront" while we get to hear "My Disaster" and "Bodies And Words" respectively from "Arrivals And Departures". Now my phone ran out of battery during the show, so my written down setlist is incomplete (will be fixed as soon as I get a hold of our photographer Jill's version), but if memory serves, the band closed their regular set with "Smashed Into Pieces", during which some fans climbed on stage to hug some of the bandmembers. A stunt that would probably have been pretty cool if it hadn't been for the fact that they didn't seem to dare to crowdsurf away again, and instead climbed cautiously back down the edge of the stage. Not so rock'n'roll is it?

After the band leaves, my girlfriend barely has time to whisper "I'm not leaving till they play Smile In Your Sleep!" before they come back on, launching into a two song encore. Even more fans are encouraged to storm on stage and the band is only baffled momentarily before Shane invites everyone up to dance around with the band for the performance of - you guessed it - "Smile In Your Sleep". Thus the band successfully handles a pretty awkward situation in a pretty smooth way, giving many of the young fans an experience for life. In conclusion, it could be argued that the crowd could have been better, the sound quality more consistent and the set a bit longer, but those are details compared to the fact that this time around Silverstein seemed much happier and eager to connect with the audience, while playing in a manner that lives up to the best of their material.

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