Pierce The Veil / Against The Current / Carole’s Daughter
O2 Academy, Birmingham – 9/12/2022
On a bitterly cold evening the O2 staff are a little slow admitting us, so we miss the first few numbers of Carole’s Daughter. That’s a shame because they’re warming up the crowd nicely with their fusion of pop-punk and emo, and it makes for an interesting dichotomy. The buoyancy of punk and the introspection of emo are diametrically opposed and shouldn’t click, yet Carole’s Daughter mesh them perfectly and the resulting set demands our full attention. Sounding far bigger than their constituent parts, this trio make good use of sonic dynamics as quiet passages nestle next to loud, meaning tracks such as ‘Target Practice’ veritably breathe. ‘Violent’ is a shot fired across the bows, and it’s a closer that ensures they won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
New Jersey’s Against The Current became a viral phenomenon a decade ago via a series of well executed cover songs, but it didn’t take them long to blossom with their own original tunes. Tonight’s set list reads like a “greatest hits” and they’ve songs that transfer very well to the live environment with ‘That Won’t Save Us’ being a powerful opening blast. Sultry singer Christina Costanza seems to have a bad case of St Vitus Dance and covers every inch of the stage, but the whole band are on fire and, with the core of the group being in place since their inception, they lock in tightly to ensure that every beat is like a well aimed blow to the solar plexus. There’s not a second wasted with punchy song following punchy song, but here’s the rub; despite their weighty sound, this is music you can dance to (as Christina proves) with the likes of ‘Jump’ making the whole crowd ululate in unison. A cover of Taking Back Sunday’s ‘MakeDamnSure’ goes down particularly well, as does latest single ‘Blindfolded’ and with no discernible drop in energy ‘Legends Never Dies’ follows as the band depart to terrorise another town, but not before leaving a powerful rendition of ‘Weapon’ ringing in our ears.
It seems that every band tonight is trying top the other, and tonight’s headliners Pierce The Veil are no exception. Amidst plumes of smoke and swirling ticker tape this San Diego quintet hit the stage like a pack of rabid hounds and to the refrain of ‘May These Noises Startle You In Your Sleep Tonight’ begin to operate a scorched earth policy. It sets a dangerous precedent, but it’s one they’re happy to live up to as they perform the perfect one-two step with ‘Hell Above’ and ‘Pass The Nirvana’. Each band member becomes a wild coyote and watching Pierce The Veil can become a dizzying affair, but it’s bassist Jaime Preciado who takes the insanity to a whole new level and he’s what, in parochial English, would be termed a “nutter” (but in the nicest way possible). Throughout the gig he pogos constantly, jumps on and off the risers, riling the crowd and almost daring them to keep up. Such antics might be used by a lesser band to mask inadequacies, but Pierce The Veil are bang on the money and deliver a career spanning set which veers between post-hardcore, pop-punk, emo and metalcore. These shifts between genres add to the swirling maelstrom and while it could render the evening as slightly eclectic, it’s the Latino influence in every song which stitches the set together. Draining the tank, ‘I’m Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket’ brings things to a cataclysmic conclusion, but the band tap their reserves for two well-earned encores, the second of which, ‘King For A Day’ sends everyone home happy.
Review and photos by Peter Dennis