Venomous Rattlesnakes Tear Into Sheffield
Published
12 hours before Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes come onstage in Sheffield, tickets for their show at London’s Dingwalls go on sale. 11 hours before they come on stage, those tickets are all gone. The show will take place November 30th, a month after this almost entirely sold out UK tour wraps up, and just before the band go on a European tour supporting The Bronx.
This is Frank Carter’s return. Expectation is heavy on his shoulders, but as he enters the stage to a packed-to-the-rafters Leadmill he seems to bear none of the weight of it. And there’s no real reason why he should, this tour coming off the back of rave reviews of a debut album and Reading and Leeds appearance, the crowd hungry for mayhem.
Sure enough, he wastes no time ripping into Primary Explosive, and it's not long before he proclaims the stage to belong to the audience. While there's a barrier to hinder a bigger stage invasion, a number of the crowd make the attempt.
One stage simply isn’t enough for Frank Carter, and after a few songs he’s moved over to the bar, again calling for fans to join him-with the caveat that they not jump over to impede the bar staff (who look more than a little shocked at the suggestion). After another few songs from Blossom, he’s off again, stage diving into the welcoming crowd, gripping onto his microphone and singing/screaming with the skill of someone well used to being mauled by fans.
This is a show of spectacle, as well as skill. Frank and the Rattlesnakes work seamlessly together, regardless of their respective positions to each other and the lack of body language cues this entails. But while the backing band are tight, this is of course all Carter. The crowdsurfing, the pits, the sending of half the audience to the larger room next door to start a circle pit of their own, these are all integral parts of the gig that unite the crowd and band, and all are the result of Frank Carter’s showmanship.
A reflection of the album, Frank closes the gig with I Hate You. As the song progresses it feels like the entire concert has been building to this moment, and it seemed there wasn’t a single mouth in the room not screaming those three words back to Carter. He suggested early on in the show that this project of his, this third attempt at finding the right sound and place for him, is the right one. As bitter and angry as ever, the Rattlesnakes’ first visit to Sheffield will not soon be forgotten by those who witnessed it.
COMMENTS
-
Had bruises for weeks after this one!
