One Last Run & The Gig From Hell
Manchester hard rock quintet One Last Run are an exciting combination of heavy riffs and overwhelming drums, completed by the wonderful soaring vocals of lead singer Becky Roberts. Somehow, in the show that turned out to be any band’s nightmare, One Last Run have come out just fine.
The Shed is Leicester’s answer to the crappy, disgusting DIY alternative venue that every city has. The main room is absolutely fine, with very little worth mentioning, but the basement stage is an entirely different story.
The first of One Last Run’s troubles quite literally slaps everyone in the face as soon as they open the door to the ~50 capacity room; the stage is located approximately half a metre away from what are possibly the most rancid gents toilets in a 300 mile radius. Hilariously, the door is broken, so the smell of piss, shit, beer and regret freely engulf the room and require at least 15 minutes for the average nose to adjust to.
Logistical issues aside, the band kicked into their set with a riff that gets everyone pumped in seconds, before the set’s major problem revealed itself – ongoing ‘technical difficulties’ with Becky’s mic – removing a key component of the band’s music.
Normally, spending ten minutes fiddling with wires and eventually switching to a different mic would work, but like some cruel joke, the sound glitches plagued the entire set and multiple mics were rendered out of action.
However, all is not bad. Becky sang mic-less at various, dire points of the set with a voice so impressively powerful that it can be heard through the slamming guitars and the bashing of the drums. The music sounded perfect throughout – heavy, gritty and loud, and the people present clearly enjoyed themselves, taking example from the band’s surprisingly high spirits.
One Last Run took the chance to showcase new material in the form of a blistering unreleased track called “Unbreakable” – the fastest and heaviest song of the night, hopefully paving the way for the band’s most feral release to date.
When all is said and done, One Last Run have definitely made the best of a bad situation. Short of the building falling down and crushing everyone, pretty much everything went wrong, but the important thing to note is that everyone present left with a smile on their face, and if that new track is anything to go by, this band is definitely one to look out for.
