While She Sleeps 7.20 - 7.50
letlive 8.00-8.30
The Blackout 8.40 - 9.30
New Found Glory 9.50 - 10.50
The night opened with While She Sleeps, a metal/hardcore band from Sheffield. Not many in the audience seemed to know their music, but the ones who did made themselves known with a lot of movement and singing along at the top of their voices. The band themselves were energetic and interacted with the crowd, and although they were perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, they got the night off to a very good start.
Next up were Americans letlive, one of Kerrang!'s favourite bands right now. Supposedly Glaswegian frontman Jason is a bit of an odd one, reminding us a little of MSI's Jimmy Urine but not quite getting it right. They seem to have acquired a following nonetheless, with a large pit and many a person singing along. The most impressive part of their set was the final song, with the audience rushing to surf Jason from the stage to the bar and back again.
The Blackout were replacing Sum41, who had pulled out due to singer Deryck's injured back. They came on stage to Elton John's Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word, and simply stated, "sorry we're not Sum41!" Unfortunately, even with the apologies and excellent cover of Sum41's Fat Lip, the post-hardcore band did not receive a warm welcome from those in the crowd hoping for a pop-punk face off. The Blackout soldiered on regardless, singing favourites It's High Tide Baby! and Children of the Night which got the fans in the crowd bouncing. They were not afraid to banter with the crowd, with frontman Sean wearing a Susan Boyle t-shirt and trying the accent, and telling the haters to "F**k off" or put their iPod's in and dance away to something else until they were off stage. The best band of the night in my opinion.
New Found Glory were last on stage, and the audience were finally united. The pop-punk kings were on top form, hitting out favourites All Downhill From Here, Head On Collision and Dressed to Kill along with popular cover Kiss Me and Green Day's Basket Case. They had brilliant rapport with the crowd, particularly when joining in the popular Glaswegian chant "Here We" and changing the words, and when slagging Sum41 for their appearance at the Grammy's but not the tour.
The Kerrang! tour, as always, offered a variety of merchandise for each band, along with free t-shirts, skip caps, bags and posters to those who found the stall ran by a very nice group of Brighton lads. Although it was not quite the nostalgic pop-punk line-up many were hoping for, it was good mix of bands with something for everyone, and as New Found Glory quite rightly said, it's nice to open people's eyes to a variety rather than always listen to the same old.
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