If you didn't know big takeover put on arguably the best hardcore punk shows around and in London, usually in squats and underground venues and big takeover 5 did not fail to please! first ill start with the venue that was situated in hackney. from the outside it looked like some sort of catholic church style building and as I entered I was even more impressed, A huge floor, no stage and lots of different kinds of people. you'd think by the huge space (about four fully sized basketball courts) that it wouldn't make for ever good crowd to band communication and reaction but you'd be completely wrong! from crusties to arty kids to punks to usual London hardcore show-goers it featured a lot of different faces and a awesome mix of different types of people.
The bands!
CLEAN SLATE
so I think this was their first show, new band featuring Dirty moneys vocalist. Admittedly I did catch these guys halfway through their first song but I caught the rest of the set, they bought a very surprising sound. a mix of old school think negative approach mixed with pissed off angry mid tempo beats. Front man Graham Delivers an energetic angry performance that gets you Just as involved emotionally I found myself clenching my fist and nodding furiously without realising, keep an eye on them.
DEAL WITH IT
After a break Deal with it started and the regular London hardcore show-goers as I mentioned above started moving a lot to their set which was easy to understand. catchy melody's with lots of funky rock n roll chords. lots of moshy nyhc style beats and sing melodic singing a lot like cro mag's alpha - omega. As it happens they also cover World peace by cro-mags in their set which gets at least 70% of the room moving and singing along which was great, a good set
ARK OF THE COVENANT
Ark of the covenant Are the third band up And bring a type of music I haven't seen before - a mixed sound of 90's hardcore and death metal mix unbroken and disembodied and you'd have a similar sound to this band, there from Wales and there pretty recently formed expect to see new things from them soon, people are reacting to the band well. kids are throwing fists and feet in every direction they can, its violent and heavy and I think they do it well. they also did an arch angel cover to finish off.
NOWHERE FAST
Finally its nowhere fasts turn to say goodbye to London as its their last show down south. I have to say that this set in particular was maybe one of the best sets I've witnessed a hardcore band play ever. its in the top 5 at least! the band take no time in setting up and get straight to playing their angry straight to the point 80's influenced hardcore. The crowd are responsive in a mad chaotic blur or kids flying about, shouting lyrics back to the band. they include three songs in their set, ss decontrol - boiling point , minor threat - I don't wana hear it and void - my rules. each of these covers adds to the anger and energy you only get with that 80's hardcore sound, the drums are falling apart, the singers red in the face with anger, frustrated and pissed of kids are just as involved with the band as the band is involved with the kids, I looked around at the venue im in, the band playing and the kids here and I realised that this was truly a hardcore punk show. the real deal, no bullshit, straight from the 80's. Amazing.
In general I loved this show, make sure you get to future Big takeover shows they are not to be missed! http://www.bigtakeover.co.uk/
Voorhee's reunion show was at the well in Leeds. I had seen Braindead a long time ago in high Wycombe and decided I had to make it for the last show, Also it had a great line up and I was still stoked from nowhere fast's set the day before, this was to be their last show as well so I wasn't missing it!
The bands!
TORN APART
I had seen torn apart only a few weeks ago in high Wycombe and was impressed then as I was again this time, delivering ultra fast power violence with screaming vocals the crowd looked bewildered and confused as a wave of pure anger and hatred washed over them but they had some guys at the very front liking it and head banging Their set was tight, super fast and aggressive Judging by the night that followed I think the crowd might of been a little more responsive but that's the curse of being the opening band, but they pull of a good set and I'm left with the same positive thoughts about them I came in with.
NOWHERE FAST
Nowhere fast were awesome, again bringing the 80's fast paced 3 - chord play as fast as you can energy as the night before. the crowd were a lot less into it compared to last night and with that in comparison it wasn't as good to me personally. But don't get me wrong they were still excellent. once again bringing out the ssd, minor threat and void covers they put on a good show and it was a good send off for the band. the singer and guitarist has a new project called amateur video so look out for them!
DEAL WITH IT
Once again deal with it give us a entertaining and good set. they got lots of kids moving and singing along. again they covered world peace by cro-mags half way in their set which once again got the majority of the room moving and singing. I also found the front man entertaining, gyrating his hips and slagging off art students. its good to see a band have fun on stage when playing serious sounding music.
MOB RULES
I hear a lot of good things about this band so I was keen to watch their set. they started their set with a collection of pissed off and very dark sounding songs with aggressive low tone vocals. the lead singer seemed to be extremely angry as he told camera men to fuck off while pacing around the stage like a tiger in a cage. I don't blame him the cameramen at this show where just shoving their lenses in bands face's.
they then, halfway through their set played a song that lasted for about 8-9 minutes which varied stuff up a bit, reminded me of black flag, it was a slow song littered with chaotic solos and chords. At the end of this song the sound engineer decided to add a little strobe lights and the whole band stopped. the front man shouted abuse at the sound man and then the band continued . overall their set was a dark angry powerful set and also entertaining. sucks to be that sound man!
BRAINDEAD
Braindead hadn't been playing for a year or two admittedly and their snare drum was also stolen by an idiot but that didn't stop them from being what I thought the best band of the night. Their whole set was an awesome rush of blast beats and doom-y riffs. the crowd were as violent as the music and I was impressed how this band pulled off such a good set after not playing for so long, they also included a DYS song which was awesome. A great last show for a great Uk band
THE HORROR
I didn't catch all of the horror's set but I heard the majority of it, They play a fast paced angry hardcore type of hardcore with a few rock n roll chords chucked in as well. I don't know if it was from me being tired from the trip to leeds or whatever but I wasn't into this band as much as most other bands of the night, never the less they played a good set and it wasn't bad at all
VOORHEES
Voorhees took a long time setting up and I was getting really tired But everyone was sticking it out to see them. They had a mixed audience of young and old as this band had been going since the 90's. Closures bassist was filling in on bass for them at this show. so they started playing but only slightly, the drummer played a beat on the lower tom for a long time, about 2 minutes and then a guitar riff was played a long with it for about 2 more minutes then the vocalist appears from somewhere and they begin their set. the set is fast, a lot like negative fx, they had a very old school sound with elements of power violence as well personally I wasn't that amazed and I also heard the singer smashed a beer out of a guys hand into his face which is kind of stupid but yeh everyone goes nuts for them and they have a good reunion full of angry kids singing along.
PEACE AND THANKS!
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