The Fright Before Rabidfest
‘Twas the Fright before Rabidfest and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. This is because everyone was at The Jericho Tavern for an evening of metal and Halloween costumes.
Opening this Halloween night is The Village People. That’s not horrifying enough, it’s Along The Pines who decide early on that the stage is more a guide than a rule and the singer starts the show in the crowd. It’s not long before the bassist joins him. It’s fast and frenetic and great fun. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s supergirl. No, it’s Imperial Avenue who look ready to leap off the stage to save puppies. Despite the energy they remain firmly rooted to the stage, which can’t be said for the audience. It’s the Metal To The Masses winners, Ocean Planet. They’re still just as confident onstage and sounding great. There’s plenty of energy in the crowd for them as well. Confessions Of A Traitor close out the night and they’re going out in style. It’s hectic and full mosh pit worthy. The crowd pushes forward as far as they can and jump on command.
Rabidfest Day 1
RPC open and these Irish punk rockers (currently based in Bristol) aren’t leaving any prisoners behind. The lead singer may be petite but she’s got the energy and lungs of a small nuclear explosion on stage. Break Them do their best to break the stage. It’s loud and shouty thrash infused punk. It’s Oxford’s answer to folk metal as Talassum take to the stage. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone as even Saruman had his own metal album. Korrupto next and it’s loud and heavy crust punk. If anyone wants any kidney stones destroying, now’s your chance. It’s the side project of Desert Storm’s twin powerhouse, Wall. It’s doom metal at its purest. Chaplain are playing their second gig of the day and it’s not even dinner time yet. These Birmingham black metallers don’t look like they’ve been burning any candles though, they’ve still got energy to spare and get the circle pits going. Arimea are another Oxford band. It’s time for some metalcore and the room is starting to properly fill up. There’s plenty of movement in the audience and heads are banging along. Get your bingo cards ready, it’s Raised By Owls. It’s full on anarchy. Kill II This are the penultimate band of the night. There’s plenty of head-banging in the crowd, hopefully they’ll have something left for the final band. There’s no worries about a lack of energy for Raging Speedhorn. The crowd goes feral and we even get the wheelchairs into the mosh pit. There’s no more space in the venue and the room is starting to get hot and sweaty. There’s no mistaking it, it’s a Raging Speedhorn show compressed into a venue half the size that they usually play.
Best Of The Day
It can be said that if you’re the opening act for a festival you need to make an impression. RPC certainly do that. They’re exactly what you might expect from a young punk band from Ireland and they make sure their first impression counts. The band has seen some changes since starting out and now sees Ciara full time on vocal duties, a change that works well as she’s able to go wild on stage. She’s an explosive powerhouse vocally and bounces around the stage for the whole set.
Rabidfest Day 2
Mondegreen start the Sunday Sermon off with a bang. It may only be 1 o’clock in the afternoon but the Rabidfest regulars are already in attendance. Æl-Fierlen are up next. It’s certainly a change from the usual Rabidfest fare, dark and theatrical. The songs are longer than usual metal songs and filled with eerie atmospherics and soprano lyrics. If anything, they’re on too early. Very Heilung versus Epica. Liquid Dogs are Reading Metal 2 the Masses contenders. There’s certainly plenty of energy on stage. Lethal Evil are a London based 3 piece thrash metal band. It’s time for the old school head bangers. It’s Collapser’s first time in Oxford and they’ve managed to warm the crowd up nicely getting a circle pit going early on. Until 9 put on a great show, very much for the fans of System Of A Down. For a three piece they put out quite a volume. It’s time for Ribbetfest as Froglord take over for their amphibian Sunday Mass. it’s dark, dank, and gloomy, straight from the swamp. Ska-core? Ska metal? It was only a matter of time before someone mixed ska and metal together. Thankfully Redeemon do it well and with enough energy for a punk show, never mind a metal show. Seething Akira are everyone’s favourite party band and don’t disappoint. Kit spends almost as much time in the crowd as he does on stage. Red Method close out the festival in riotous manner.
Best Of The Day
It takes a lot to knock everyone’s favourite party band off the top slot, but Red Method do exactly that to take the crown from Seething Akira for the day. Jeremy is on absolute top form and whips the crowd into a frenzy for a Sunday night. There’s plenty of crowd action as the mosh pits open up and the crowd starts rotating. By the time they get to Messiah the crowd is screaming along with them. Get the strepsils out as there’s going to be some very hoarse voices in the morning.
Best Of The Weekend
Raging Speedhorn in the Bullingdon is a recipe for chaos. The last time they headlined Oxford they were up the road at the O2 Academy and it shows. The Bullingdon is packed out. From the start, as Frank and Daniel scream into their microphones, the crowd can best be described as feral. With this many people the mosh pits are just asking for trouble and no one is left out as a wheelchair even gets pushed into the pit. Amazingly no ankles are taken out before he’s returned to the barrier. It’s a hot sweaty show and the mosh pit just keeps going from start to finish.
Review and Photos: Mark Bestford / Alienation Photography
The Fright Before Rabidfest Gallery
Rabidfest Day 1 Gallery
Rabidfest Day 2 Gallery
