Forever Never, Exit State, Order of Voices – Sanctuary, Burnley
13/05/2011
With tonights gig falling on Friday the 13th its easy to assume that bad luck could happen on the night, the assumption turned out to be true as problems with the venues PA system which has left the bands waiting impatiently to start their sets, but as local heroes EXIT STATE, finally take to the stage the wait seems very much worth it, they waste no time getting going with their catchy and hard rocking songs and frontman Roy Bright certainly wastes no time in getting the crowdgoing from the word go.
They continue the set with ‘Death Of A Rockstar’ which ends with the whole room participating in a mass sing along, they end their set with crowd-pleaser and fan favourite ‘Bad Days’ which gets everyone on the room dancing and singing along to every word and each band member contributing in their own way to work the crowd. Tight, energetic and joyous to watch, as they leave the stage you’ll be left feeling that a 30 minute set went far too quickly. These guys will be releasing the stunning , “Black Veins” very soon and if I were you, catch them live. They have an awesome rock and roll future ahead of them and are well thought of within the industry. Next big thing?? They HAVE to be, think Foo fighters with ability, talent and balls…enough said.
Next up is metallic prog-rockers, ORDER OF VOICES who provide a calmer offering to the night showcasing 6 songs from their brilliant debut album, unfortunately they were to perform in front of a half empty room and a dodgy sound which leaves their heavier material overshadowing Leigh Oates’ stunning vocals. Despite all that they carried on delivering a tight set started off with the softer sounding ‘For Me’, through to the epic ‘Reaching Down’ and finishing off the set the same way they started with ‘Come Clarity’. Despite the minor hiccups regarding the sound, it was a great performance, very tight and professional, just a shame there weren’t many people to witness it.
As tonights headliners FOREVER NEVER take the stage, midnight had already passed, but thankfully for them, rather than calling it a night like most people do at this time the room was packed, and as they tear into the first song ‘Eradicated’ the crowd springs into life, unfortunately for them they too have had to cope with the dodgy sound as the music slightly overshadowed Renny Carroll’s vocals, but like the 2 bands before them, they carried on regardless and played their hearts out.
One of the highlights of the set was their cover of Shaggy’s 1995 hit ‘Mr Boombastic’ where Carroll takes his vocal ability to a new level, handling additional vocal duties as performed by Skindred front man Benji Webbe on the brilliantly titled ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Metal’ E.P. The epic ‘Broken Kingdom’ gets the crowd into overdrive as well as ‘As I Lie’ from their ‘Aporia’ album. FN’s cover of John Farnham’s ‘You’re The Voice’ gets the best response of the night as the crowd make their voices known (no pun intended). Set closer ‘Empty Promises’ provides the last of the night’s many mass sing-alongs ending their set on a high note. If I had the chance again to catch any of these bands tonight, I certainly would and I also recommend that you should too!
words by Graeme Williams and images by ‘The Don’
