LIVE REVIEW: As December Falls @ The Fleece, Bristol

As the days tick round to a time affectionately known in the alternative community as ‘Goth Christmas’, the weather has fully embraced the spooky season; the rain is falling softly in Bristol as hoods are pulled over heads and jackets tightened. However, there will always be a warm reception inside The Fleece, one of the city’s most loved venues and always a place where you can find a friendly face, a decent pint and, most importantly, some decent music. Tonight brings AS DECEMBER FALLS.

Said music is provided first by LED BY LANTERNS, a four-piece from Birmingham whose riff-filled hard rock is an excellent starting point for the evening, in the same vein as THOSE DAMN CROWS and STONE BROKEN. They’ve got a healthy crowd in front of them too, many of whom are singing back to the likes of Six Feet Down and Time Bomb, although that’s not exactly hard given how infectious their choruses are, and vocalist Shaun Hill has his audience jumping at every opportunity especially during a rousing Catacombs. The rest of the band are full of energy and spunk throughout their half hour set too, a performance that finishes with the excellent Criminal. Give it a few months and they’ll be getting regular airplay on primetime Planet Rock; they’ve got that much potential.

Rating: 8/10

Following LED BY LANTERNS are THE TYNE, a cross-country three-piece who have amassed a seriously impressive 400,000 followers on TikTok to date. Bounding on stage in matching grey outfits, the trio immediately age a lot of their audience by a good 15 years given their status as members of Generation Z; their youth means that they have an abundance of vigour and they’re also not short on confidence as they play through the only five songs to their name right now, from Sewn Shut through to Jessica. However, their pop-orientated rock, whilst largely inoffensive and somewhat catchy, leaves The Fleece largely unmoved and they’re unable to match or even surpass the level set by LED BY LANTERNS, an abject lesson in how a large digital presence shouldn’t always translate into a position on a live bill. Do THE TYNE have a place in the alternative world? Absolutely – along with bands such as 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER and BUSTED, they’re an excellent gateway band and will be pivotal for many born this side of 2010 getting into rock music. Should they have been main support, however? Not at all.

Rating: 5/10

For AS DECEMBER FALLS, this show marks another rise in stature; on every occasion they’ve come to Bristol, the venue they’ve headlined has grown and this is their fourth venture to the city, which is no mean feat. Opening with most recent single Go Away, the response is instant; this room is immediately in the palm of their collective hands and remains that way for the next hour and a half. Afterglow is an obvious following song, being the opening track from last year’s Happier album, but then AS DECEMBER FALLS throw out a massive curveball, covering MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE’s I’m Not Okay (I Promise) to rapturous applause.

Musically, there isn’t much to write home about – given I Don’t Feel Like Feeling Great has a touch of Brick By Boring Brick about it, there’s a lot here that can be easily paralleled to the works of PARAMORE and not on the same level as the seminal rockers from Tennessee, but what makes this set a triumph is the crowd; the participation is incredible from those in attendance, making what could have been quite an average set into an excellent one; the singalong and phone lights during Happier is a real sight to behold. It might not be a unique sound and others may have done it better, but you can’t deny that AS DECEMBER FALLS are a force to be reckoned with on the live circuit, and that’s – obviously so – all that matters here.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Bristol from Courtney White here: 

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