Well, this is a packed bill and with a venue to match given that it was sold out. I snuck down the stairs not long after Senna had started their set and managed to get near the front as, with the early start, Slay wasn’t as busy as it was going to get later on.
That’s not to say that it wasn’t busy, and Senna found themselves opening to a decent crowd. They earned the respect of that crowd as well, playing barely non-stop for their thirty minute slot with only small gaps to encourage the crowd into moving closer, bouncing, getting a circle pit going and so on… you know, the usual stuff that a headliner manages. But they were doing it with a half-full venue, most of whom I doubt knew their material.
Again, I have to shout out to the Glasgow crowd for giving an opening band more than just the time of day, and Senna very much deserved their attention. Stringing together six songs, the highlight was likely “Drunk Dial Anthem”. Or maybe “Rain”. Both were quality tracks hitting a great balance between metalcore (sound) and emo (lyrical content) and I genuinely mean it when I say that I’m checking this band out. I mean it. I’m at home typing up this review and listening to them. All this and they were missing a drummer (get well soon, Viktor!)
Next up were a band who weren’t even meant to be on this tour. Covering for SeeYouSpaceCowboy who dropped out of the lineup at short notice, Melbourne mayhem merchants Ocean Grove didn’t waste any time in making the most of the additional audience and things somehow got more rowdy. I mean, come on – two bands in and we have a wall of death? Leave something for the headline act, lads! At least we still have the crowdsurfing in reserve. Phew.
Ocean Grove were superb. Ploughing through their own thirty minute set, they took no prisoners and acted like they were headlining (hell, the same could be said of all three acts). Absolute professionals, they stirred the crowd up with songs like the catchy “Raindrop” and crushing “My Disaster”. Definitely ones to watch for when they’re back over here.
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The main slot was taken by Kingdom of Giants who warned us that the next forty minutes belonged to them, and who then proceeded to damn well own that timeslot. By now the venue was rammed, and KoG may as well have been topping the bill. By the time we were halfway through their set, drips were visibly coming from the ceiling – the result of the cold ambient temperature and the hot bodies of those going mad on the dancefloor.
“Night Shift”, “Wasted Space” and the awesome “Wayfinder” amongst others had the crowd going mental. A warm up band? These guys would have worn out any other audience, but the Glasgow Massive took it all in their stride and even started flinging themselves overhead with the final song at the band’s insistence, leaving absolutely nothing for the headliners to ask of the crowd. I mean, how selfish.
But the headliners were The Devil Wears Prada and somehow they managed to raise the energy levels in a room where, by all rights, the floor should by now have been covered in bodies in the recovery position. “Mammoth” led into “Watchtower”, and despite Mike Hranica falling on his arse (honestly it looked like quite a bump, I thought he might have been out for a moment) there was no stopping them.
Credit to the sound team all evening for getting everything completely on point, and when you’re dealing with a six-piece headliner it must be even more tricky. The bass may have been just a touch too pronounced for a while, but overall and as always the sound at Slay was top notch as TDWP rattled brains with the amazing “Ritual” and a superb cover of “Reasons”.
Of course they encouraged the walls of death, circle pits and crowdsurfing that the opening bands had already done… but these were definitely bigger. Phones were held aloft for one of the songs (sorry I lost track of which one!), at which point – as had been done for one of the bands earlier – the house lights came up. Dear Lighting Person. If there’s a time in a set to turn the lights down it’s when people are waving little torches about. It looks so much better if you can see them and not the people holding them. Kthxbye.
Lighting glitch aside, the band ran rampant through “Termination”, during which Jeremy took a little stroll to the bar through the crowd. As you do mid-song. Well, you do if you’re Jeremy. This was followed by “Escape” and “Dez Moines” before the final three songs arrived. No encore as such, just an announcement that there were three songs to go. The band were introduced, and a shout out given to local lads Bleed From Within (did anyone else spot at least one of the band in the audience?) before the final assault.
“Chemical” and “Sacrifice” saw bodies hurled forwards and the temperature in the venue finally get above “tepid”, before the chaos was brought to a peak with “Hey John, What’s Your Name Again?”. The sweat continued to drip from the ceiling as TDWP bade the crowd a fond farewell and the now-warm audience started to file out into the cold Glasgow night and turn into little metalcore ice cubes.
Less than £25 for four bands, and over three hours of live music between them. You don’t need to spend hundreds for a night’s entertainment. You simply need to look to these smaller venues and the incredible range of artists playing them on a regular basis. We’ll be back for more and I’m sure the other 548 people there tonight will be as well.
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Header image by Imani Givertz
