The Kasbah in Coventry is packed with people of all ages (well under 40), to see Welsh hardcore band The Blackout. But first there is another band to get through, Revoker.
Revoker are metal and along for the ride, blasting straight into their catalogue they resemble Bullet For My Valentine in some ways, but they’re doing their own thing too.
They get the crowd moving with circle pits and want to know if Coventry is a place for rock. Well, the best well known band from Coventry is The Specials so, probably not. Revoker put on an amazing show and are definitely one to look out for.
On to the main attraction and the lead track from “We are the dynamite” blasts from the speakers, the crowd follows and repeats the words back to the empty stage, the band take their places and Sean Smith shouts the same back to the crowd. Girls scream, guys cheer and they are off.
One of the best things about seeing this band live is the banter that comes from vocalist Sean Smith, a genius when it comes to on stage comedy. He says the front row is “the ugliest front row” he’s ever seen, and demands a girl to put her “udders” away before someone comes and milks them.
Half-way through the set Gavin and Sean (the lead singers) demand that after every song they want to be boo’d and told to “f*ck off” the crowd obliges which makes every song even more fantastic.
With such hits as This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, Ambition is Critical and Spread Legs, Not Lies it’s no wonder that this show was so brilliant. In the past the band have taken a popular idea from other bands and asked people to get down on the floor. During Save Ourselves (The Warning) , they oblige without even being asked, the band looked amazed, the crowd go insane, and the beat drops.
“Do you like to party?” Sean Smith asks, sweat dripping off his vest and jeans (poor guy). “Do you like to party soft?” he asks as the band do a rendition of Andrew WK’s Party Hard, Sean attempts to run (literally) through the whole song, but gets stitch half way through and cannot carry on.
Final song Higher and Higher was a Kerrang! Favourite in 2011, it’s also a favourite of everyone in the Kasbah and while Hryo Da Hero usually takes care of the rap, Sean Smith performs the vocal duties nicely.
This was supposedly one of the final Blackout shows there will be for a while I don’t think we’ve seen the last of them and I can’t wait for them to come back.