Tremonti Graduate The Academy With Renowned Prowess
A light drizzle fell over Bristol and the O2 Academy on the 15th December as a reasonably sized queue formed outside the front doors. A litter of ages attended the show, from matured (and alternatively dressed) young adults to the more senior rock connoisseurs, but no attendees younger than eighteen it seems.
The lights dimmed and on came Wearing Scars. Halfway through the set, the audience could have sworn they were already two bands in with the level of quality and note precision that emanated from the group. Ending on “Butterfly”, the highlights included Chris Clancy’s vast vocal range and Andy James’s ability to shred the living Jesus out of his guitar.
Melodic Metalheads, The Raven Age, were next to enter the multi-floor venue and considering their epic show history to date, the vigour seemed to diminish slightly through their set. Although the breakdowns and chunky riff introductions did not have the immediate impact that was expected, the English group did play with confidence and supplied a more than sufficient quantity of stage presence.
By the time the first American act of the night had graced the stage, the floor seemed to have received a surge of spectators in the space of ten to fifteen minutes. The hard rocking progressive Chicagoans known as Man the Mighty, powered through their tracks with slabs of nu-metal intensity thrown in with melodic singing.
The lights darkened once more, leaving rich blue smog for Tremonti to make their entrance through. The venue erupted with the usual applause and high pitched squeals that any headlining act should expect from their crowd. The four high-hat strikes counted down straight into their first song, “Cauterize”.
With one of their more wickedly energetic songs opening their performance, the majority standing on the main floor threw their arms sky high, whether to give an early salute to the quartet with a committed devil horns or to simply reach out in admiration to the bands ability to pump life into the venue from great use of alternate picking, consistent foot pedal work and one infectious chorus.
Their collection drove through a series of various reactions throughout the night, dipping between material from their two song-titled albums ‘All I Was’ and ‘Cauterize’. Choosing a pinnacle point between tracks such as the chugging hurricane named “Radical Change”, the bone-crunching adrenaline ride entitled “All I was”, the unfathomable vastness of “Decay” or the slow, swaying euphoria of “Flying Monkeys” and “Dark Trip”, is almost too much to bear.
The quick-fingered Eric friedman revealed his burning charisma and was unrelenting in not only his ability to entertain the crowd, but also to stay on track with the rest of the group. Garrett Whitlock appeared from a quick observation to have limbs moving independently from his body, but from a more studied examination, it is apparent that the drummer is an experienced musician who knows exactly how much time he has between beats to simply enjoy his craft.
Tanner Keegan, stepping in as a replacement, lived up to his reputation by nearly head banging his brain into submission as he plucked a ferociously strong bass line to accompany the entourage. Lastly the mighty Mark Tremonti supplied nothing but satisfaction with his renowned prowess and cool-guy persona, leading the super band into full speed. Half-way through the show, they even treated their crowd to an ear-raising short solo-off mid-section which grew more and more impressive with each passing turn.
Ending the concert (and their eighty minute set) on a quite literal bruise covered bang, the group felt that “Wish you well” deserved something a little more, so they decided to separate the throng and split the floor to make sufficient room for the only mosh pit of the entire show.
If you consider this night a failure, “don’t claim that you know me”.
COMMENTS
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Totally loved all the bands and the energy given in there performance and the amazing tremonti of course were on top of there game and great review
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Cheers dude! I was very happy meeting him and realising what a nice guy he really is
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Same with Eric as well, really took me back
