LIVE REVIEW: Deez Nuts & Comeback Kid @ O2 Academy Islington, London

The coming together of DEEZ NUTS and COMEBACK KID for the You Are Part of This tour was always going to be carnage and on a cold, rain soaked night in Islington, they certainly delivered. Flanked by REALITY SLAP, GET THE SHOT, FIRST BLOOD and HELLIONS, this tour had a packed bill with hardcore bands from all over the world.

First up was REALITY SLAP and the boys from Lisbon gave everyone that had come down to the venue early exactly what they expected. REALITY SLAP gave us heavy, bouncing and fun hardcore but their performance didn’t come close to what was coming up. Whilst not as tight as tonight’s headliners, they were a fine start to proceedings.

Rating: 6/10

GET THE SHOT came on next and really put on a blistering performance. They hammered through their set at such pace it was almost difficult to keep up. This really was one of the performances of the night. GET THE SHOT have blended hardcore and thrash metal perfectly and it’s clear that the band take influence from the likes of SLAYER and ANTHRAX. Cold Hearted is an aptly named song and you can hear the fury in the voice of vocalist J-P as he spits the words out to the crowd. These are definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Rating: 7/10

Following GET THE SHOT was always going to be difficult, however FIRST BLOOD didn’t let up and gave us arguably the heaviest and biggest beatdowns of the evening. With band members from all over the globe, they have created a tight knit unit of guys that want to stomp around delivering straight up hardcore to the masses and with tracks off of their new album Rules receiving a great reception, FIRST BLOOD really delivered on that mantra.

Rating: 7/10

HELLIONS are making waves in the hardcore scene and after tonight’s set, it is clear why. Frontman Dre is the heart and soul of this group and the way that he bounces around whilst performing keeps the energy levels sky high. There were plenty of HELLIONS fans in the Islington Academy and they definitely made a few more by the time the set had finished. From side to side the crowd were shouting lyrics back at the boys as well as jumping around at HELLIONS‘ instruction. This was a great set and with a UK tour looming, the Australian outfit certainly will be seeing a few faces from tonight’s show again.

Rating: 8/10

Now it was time for one of the headliners and absolutely everyone in the venue was buzzing with anticipation waiting for COMEBACK KID. COMEBACK KID have been around for 17 years now and they don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. 2014’s Die Knowing is arguably the band’s best release and hearing songs from 2000 being played alongside the newer material really shows that COMEBACK KID are one of hardcore’s most underrated bands. The Canadian’s had easily the biggest crowd of the night and when Wasted Arrows kicked in, everybody on the floor was throwing themselves around, shouting back at the band and losing their minds. This was by far the performance of the night and just goes to show that bands can stay true to their hardcore roots and progress as a band, 17 years in to a career.

Rating: 9/10

After a no holds barred set by COMEBACK KID, DEEZ NUTS had the difficult task of headlining a show full of people that had used all of their energy just 15 minutes before them, however the Australian punks gave it their best shot. Opening with hardcore anthem Band of Brothers was a great way to kick off the set, as everyone remaining in the Islington Academy sung every word of the chorus back to the obviously jubilant JJ Peters. From then onwards the set was full of DEEZ NUTS biggest tracks, in particular What’s Good, What I Gotta Do and Face This On My Own gave the crowd exactly what they wanted, straight up hardcore. The band lapped up the praise they got and it was good to see plenty of crowd surfers despite the dwindling energy levels, nobody will have left tonight’s show disappointed. Your Mother Should Have Swallowed You helped everyone get that last little bit of aggression they had left in them out, and hearing so many people shouting those words back to the band really is something special. Tonight really showed that hardcore lives and that hardcore can still mean everything it did 20 years ago. Despite some brilliant new hardcore bands emerging, COMEBACK KID and DEEZ NUTS just proved that they’ve still got plenty to offer in 2017.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Black Lotus Photography here: