FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES / BLACKHOLE / CREEPER | LIVE REVIEW

Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wed 28 Oct

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes have not only managed to draw a committed crowd tonight, they’ve sold out Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach in advance. Support comes from Southampton’s Creeper, who do a fair job of getting things going with their upbeat pop-punk, but it’s Blackhole that lead the night down a much heavier path and really whip things into a hardcore frenzy, despite being sans bassist due to illness.

Expectations are high, with the Rattlesnakes’ debut album Blossom having been released only two months prior and rumours of a request for a 50-metre mic lead for Carter making the rounds. Before a single word is sung, the frontman makes it clear the night’s going to be an anything-goes type of affair: “This stage is your stage Cardiff. Do you know what that means?” It’s fairly obvious they do. As soon as the band launch into opener Primary Explosive, those in attendance use the stage as a springboard to launch themselves into the seething crowd.

Carter’s voice is filled with venom yet tonally perfect, backed by The Rattlesnakes, whose guitarist brims with intensity throughout the set. The real show-stopping moment – literally – is an acoustic rendition of Beautiful Death, where Carter splits the crowd down the middle, asks for the house lights to be turned off and for everyone to put on the torches on their phones. The intimate and heartfelt performance shows how versatile a performer he is.

Having played every song from Blossom flawlessly, plus a new song, and treating fans to his trademark stagediving acrobatics, the words sung along to album closer and the final song of the night, I Hate You, could not be further from this crowd’s opinion of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes. Tonight was a show at which, in years to come, many will look back and say with pride “I was there!”

words LAURA JOHNSON photos TIM ALBAN