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On a
cold night down the seafront that could be accurately described as
'Bitter And Then Some' , Converge brought the last show of their UK
tour to Concorde 2. Upon taking the stage vocalist Jake Bannon posed
the questions “Are you
ready? Are you sure?”. Nobody
was.
Before
any of this, though, was support act Touché
Amoré.
The Los Angeles post-hardcore group have built a huge following in
recent years and have played three previous Brighton shows, all in a
sweaty and packed-to-the-rafters Hydrant before its unfortunate
demise. Despite their being a vast amount of people that have come to
see them, there is still a feeling that this is a band that suit
smaller venues with no crowd barrier, allowing for stage-diving and
some proper screamo carnage. This doesn't stop anybody from having
fun though as we witness huge pile-ons at the front. People scramble
forwards for the mic to join in with the vocalist during songs such
as 'Home Away From Here' and 'Honest Sleep', and it feels as if we
have been blown away enough already tonight.
Listening
to Converge records you can hear how their style has changed over the
years, in favour of big heavy riffs and vocals that are more 'shouty'
than they are 'screamy', although we're sure to a lot of people
that'll make no sense and we'd be met with a response along the lines
of “It's all just
noise” or
“How are you
meant to understand what he's saying?”.
However, the Converge live engine is a wholly different experience
altogether. What we get is a full-on assault on the senses as they
dip into the speedy hardcore sound of 2003 album 'Jane Doe' followed
up with tracks from the heavy as hell 'Axe To Fall', released in
2009. But the new release 'All We Love We Leave Behind' is the reason
they are here tonight , and the reason why a packed out Concorde's
worth of minions have come to join the party.
Converge thrash
out a kind of half-metal half-hardcore that shifts between fast and
violent to just downright heavy, but it'd be one hell of an insult to
call them 'metalcore'. They are more like genre-defying legends of
almost every heavy rock based scene. Whether you are a fan of
hardcore, emo, metal, punk or grind, Converge have a little something
in their music for you and a fan base that consists of a whole mix of
people that might usually closer associate themselves with any of the
'subcultures' aforementioned.
Reviewing this was
difficult because it was hard to find somewhere to stand where you
weren't dragged into the pit, but could still appreciate their set
and write half-drunken notes in your phone without it getting knocked
out of your hand. The pit was hyperactive and vicious as Bannon flew
around the stage like an excited child belting out songs including
'The Broken Vow', 'Aimless Arrow' and 'Concubine', often throwing the
mic out into the crowd for someone else to have a go whilst the
others stood at their posts and fire out hardcore style backing
vocals.
Converge may have
won and lost fans over the years but one thing is sure, the power and
aggression of their music is still very much alive. We are left with
ringing in our ears and a sense that we may have just witnessed one
of the craziest gigs of the year.
Words by Chris Biggs
Sticky Mike's Frog Bar, Wednesday 20th March
