Saturday 7 February 2015

Neck Deep at the Electric Ballroom, Camden (06/02/2015)


Neck Deep
Support: Trophy Eyes, Seaway, Knuckle Puck
06/02/2015



Themed tours are not something that often work well, but ‘The Intercontinental Championships Tour’ worked perfectly. Four pop-punk bands from four different countries, plus hundreds of foam hands and cheesy intro music lead to a ten-date UK tour filled with happy fans and energetic musicians. 

Opening the tour for the last time were Trophy Eyes (7/10), a five-piece Australian punk band. One of the most notable aspects of their performance was their pure energy and passion: it was easy to see how excited they were to be playing on a sold-out stage at the Electric Ballroom. The venue was packed out to the brim and vocalist John knew exactly how to engage with the crowd. Their catchy riffs and hard-hitting vocals made it almost impossible to stand still during their set and they left the stage with fans eagerly awaiting more.

Canadian pop-punk five-piece Seaway (8/10) proved their brilliance before they even arrived onto stage due to their opening song ‘Blame Canada’ from comedy television show South Park. Lead singer Ryan Locke spoke about how humbled they were to play in the UK for the first time and he genuinely seemed astounded at how many people were singing his lyrics back at him. One of the songs that the crowd seemed to engage with the most was ‘Alberta’, a slow paced pop-punk song which was full of angst and well-written lyrics. they informed the audience that they were filming a music video during their set, which seemed to increase the already-full energy levels of the crowd. 

Chicago-based punk-rock five piece Knuckle Puck (7/10) were next on the bill, walking onto stage to Van Halen’s classic hit ‘Jump’. Vocalist John Siorek was full of energy as constantly jumping around the stage and encouraging fans to move along with him. Playing songs such as ‘Your Back Porch’, ‘Stuck' and ‘No Good’, they were able to keep the crowd momentum high. The mixture of screaming and melodic backing vocals worked as well live as it does on their records, creating beautiful harmonies that worked well alongside their emotion-filled lyrical style.

“We thought we would do a wrestling tour because it would be funny!” Wrexham-based pop-punk heroes Neck Deep (9/10) graced the stage for the final time of this tour, and it is safe to say that they left it with a bang. Opening with ‘Losing Teeth’ they instantly made the crowd putty in their hands: there were mosh pits taking over most of the venue. Ben Barlow’s vocals were on top form and sounded even more powerful live. The happy-go-lucky band impressed crowds with songs such as ‘Damsel In Distress’, ‘Crushing Grief (No Remedy)' and ‘Sweet Nothings’. It is easy to see just how far that Neck Deep have come in just a year: “A year ago we were playing to two hundred people at The Barfly, today we are playing to 1000 people!” Their popularity has not only been increased by social networking websites, but also the hard-work and dedication that they put into each and every live show. One of the most memorable moments of the evening was their acoustic rendition of ballad ‘A Part Of Me’, with Laura Whiteside joining Ben on stage to create a beautiful and harmony-filled performance. Despite the curfew being at 9.45pm, Neck Deep managed to play an impressive seventeen songs and left the crowd feeling satisfied and impressed by such raw and passionate music. They may call themselves generic pop-punk, but their performance was anything but ordinary. 

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