LIVE REVIEW: Knocked Loose @ The Dome, London
Name one modern band that, upon getting more popular, decided the best thing to do was get heavier and weirder. Chances are, KNOCKED LOOSE are the one you thought of. 2019’s A Different Shade Of Blue might’ve made them hardcore critical darlings, but 2021’s A Tear In the Fabric Of Life got darker, nastier and landed them slots at Coachella amongst other prestigious, typically non-hardcore friendly festivals. They’re now touring in support of it and latest release the Upon Loss Singles, bringing fist-swinging, pit-inciting ferocity to The Dome in Tufnell Park ahead of sure to be historic sets at Reading & Leeds Festival over the weekend.
Naturally, the place is sold out, a 500 capacity room seeming too small for their stature and surely it’s one of the last times they’ll be in a venue so intimate. Before they run riot though, UK hardcore mob MOURNING have the task of warming up the crowd that’s filed in since doors. Fortunately for them, the crowd are more than up for it, turning the central front rows into a pit with ease. Unfortunately, mic issues constantly rear their head, sometimes cutting off most of the barked vocals and clipping any stage banter meaning the usual “who’s excited for KNOCKED LOOSE“ goes practically unheard and gets no reaction. To their credit, MOURNING aren’t deterred and tear through a short but sweet set of metallic hardcore with plenty of bite.
Rating: 7/10
THE MIDNIGHT plays over the PA before KNOCKED LOOSE come on, the sax-driven, smooth club jazz the polar opposite of the chaos that’s about to unfold. Opening with Deep In The Willow, KNOCKED LOOSE have all eyes on them immediately, its thunderous breakdown and mosh call of “KNOCKED LOOSE motherfucker” threaten to take the roof off even before the end of the first song. Following it with the incendiary God Knows is the kind of one-two punch Goku would dream of, dissonant chords only intensifying the onslaught.
The sheer level of intensity is nightmarish; their songs are already intense, but the sub bass drops and snare bombs throughout amp it to a whole new level. When you add in Bryan Garris‘ commanding presence, that he need only bark once to have people jumping over each other, it’s a recipe for carnage. The pits they incite are frankly dangerous; whirls of limbs, hardcore dancing, walls of death and more are regular occurrences, a particularly gnarly example during Belleville‘s titanic breakdown.
“I want you to move around,” Garris grins before a devastating Where Light Divides The Holler; he needn’t have have asked with the surge of bodies that happens as soon as the first note hits. He gets a sea of arms waving for By The Grave, an odd sight initially but one that illustrates the ease with which the band can command entire rooms with barely a word. Tearing through a sixteen song set, the intensity never lets up, KNOCKED LOOSE proving beyond a shadow of a doubt why they’ve ascended to the heights they have and why their reputation as a near mythical live band is deserved. KNOCKED LOOSE, motherfucker.
Rating: 10/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Ciara Wilkinson Media here:
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