LIVE REVIEW: Sleeping With Sirens @ SWX, Bristol
Halloween is over, the fireworks are soon to disappear from display in supermarkets and both Mariah Carey and Michael Buble are preparing to come out of hibernation in time for the festive season, but for rock and metal the touring cycles of the bands who came over in the summer are fully in motion. The queue of excited teenagers that snakes around the corner from SWX for SLEEPING WITH SIRENS tonight shows that just as well, an expectant buzz flowing through each of them. Who was is that said rock was dead, again?
Digressions aside, there’s a three band gig to stage this evening and, whilst BRING ME THE HORIZON might have said this year that “everybody knows we’ve got bounce” SHVPES are proving it. They take a while to win a crowd over that clearly only care about the headliners but by the end of it everyone is moving and dancing along thanks to the energy and swagger of Someone Else, Renegades and a thumping rendition of Counterfeit. In Griff Dickinson they have one of the best young frontmen in the UK today, a dynamic man that doesn’t stop running and giving everything he can to bring about a fun performance to warm everyone up from the cold outside. It pays off, and by the time they leave there is a crackle in the air that only grows as the night goes on.
Rating: 7/10
PALISADES have been up against it before they even started the tour – on the day they started it was announced that vocalist Lou Miceli Jr would not be joining them due to ongoing issues with his voice that needed addressing. In his place, bassist and backing-vocalist Brand Elger has stepped away from his instrument to stand alone at the front and, despite a slightly hesitant start, grows into the role brilliantly. Again, there’s little movement from the crowd in the early stages but the catchy choruses in the likes of Vendetta and Better Chemicals get them roused again, helped out by SWX’s excellent sound system that means the band sound absolutely massive. Even more inspired, however, is the cover of LINKIN PARK’s One Step Closer which has absolutely no right to be as good as it actually is and takes the energy up another few notches. For a band who started the night with odds not in their favour, they overturn them in impressive fashion.
Rating: 7/10
The screams that greet the appearance of SLEEPING WITH SIRENS onstage says everything about how this set is going to go, and so it proves. Where SHVPES and PALISADES had to work hard to get things moving, the Florida outfit immediately have the audience in the palm of their hand and, despite new album How It Feels to Be Lost being a couple of months old, the singalong that Leave It All Behind incites is biblical in nature. The momentum isn’t let up from thereon in, through the newer songs of Agree to Disagree and Ghost to fan favourites like Better off Dead and Tally It Up: Settle the Score. In the middle is a well-placed acoustic interlude, unique to tonight in the sense that the three songs played will be different to all other shows. Bristol gets Scene 2: Roger Rabbit, Empire to Ashes and a cover of THE GOO GOO DOLLS’ Iris, all of which garner the same response as before. By the time they come on for an encore of If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn and If You Can’t Hang, they’re virtually untouchable.
What is a bit of a disappointment tonight, however, is that they’re almost too good. Naturally, the main thing is that everybody is having an absolute blast, but SLEEPING WITH SIRENS could do with a bit more grit and snarl about them. The squeaky clean nature of their songs and guitar tones borders on the saccharine at times and it becomes a little overbearing; if there was more distortion involved, they could be genuine world-beaters. As it is, there’s a sense that playing to packed academies and large clubs is as high as they’re ever likely to go in the UK, the next level of headlining something like Wembley Arena forever out of their reach. Of course, in this day and age, merely being able to tour and write albums for a living is a huge achievement in itself and for that the band may not care if they never make the heights of venues with thousands inside than hundreds as long as they don’t have to go back to the day job. Nevertheless, it leaves a bitter taste in the air that people are witnessing a band who have plateaued, destined to remain here and not progress further.
Rating: 7/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Leeds from Serena Hill Photography here:
