KERRANG! TOUR 2010
Great Hall, Cardiff University Students Union
Fri 29 Jan
words HOLLY MORRIS photos SAM SMITH
On arriving at the Students’ Union I was hit by a blast from the past of back-combed manes and panda eyes. I was ready to ‘rawk’, per se, as was the hardcore 57-year-old bloke I got chatting to in the lobby.
First up, My Passion. After having decided it wasn’t my scene and sticking my indie nose up at the fringe-flicking moshpits before me, I relented – you have to hand it to them, these boys can create one hell of an atmosphere. Theatrical electro-punk with metal influences, Crazy And Me proved a tidy number amongst the disappointing Hadouken-crossed generic rasping of their other numbers, namely Vultures Are People Too.
Next up, alternative rockers Young Guns. To borrow one of their own songtitles, lead vocalist Gustav was certainly bearing the Weight Of The World on his shoulders, Young Guns having been labelled one of the stars of 2009’s rock scene. Heavy guitars accompanied by unspecific lyrics: ‘nuff said.
Coughing up their lungs with new haircuts, teen obsession Sean Smith lead me down a peroxide-blonde memory lane with The Blackout. The skinny jean-clad ‘no-good boyos’ belted out a series of haughty mini-anthems. Their new material’s increasingly testosterone-soaked (cf. such beefy ‘choons’ as Save Our Selves), but It’s High Tide Baby in all its catchy nonsense got the tears jerking. Just kidding, but it’s a nostalgic number.
Headliners All Time Low finished us off with some much-needed frothy buzzy pop-punk. Dear Maria, Count Me In, an account of hazy lust-slash-love under ‘cute’ hairstyles, is teen love-rock for this year’s generation of boppy hairflippers, ending what started of as an impressive display of significantly heavier stomp-rock. As with the comment sections on their MySpace page, All Time Low’s sweaty audience ladle the air with “incredible”s and “awesome”s as the set concludes.
