By Jase Walker
Well here it is, the first review I’m doing after my relocation to the Netherlands and nothing quite gives a bit of mild anxiety quite in the way of going to a new venue, in a new city, and all of the signage being in Dutch. Thankfully the information desk was very patient with helping out a mildly confused Brit who is still feeling a bit out of his depth. But, what better way to break in my doing words for gigs stint in the Netherlands than with Being As An Ocean supported by Of Virtue and SENNA!?
It’s SENNA first up for tonight’s show and I’m a bit miffed that the turnout for them is a bit low but that’s what the opener risks sometimes I suppose, the people not turning up for them don’t know what they’re missing. Opening with ‘Rosehip’, my favourite right out the gates, my absolute favourite song, so looks like I’ll be losing my voice a bit early this evening screaming the chorus! ‘Jade’ is a close second as they follow through with an identical set to their Manchester show earlier this year, not that I’m complaining.
Their EP, ‘A Moment Of Quiet’, is a stellar EP that still sees extremely heavy play from me every week. In addition to the EP songs, we also get a couple of songs from the album that’s due next year, not that I’m literally counting down the days to that or anything. SENNA has really caught my attention with their fusion of metalcore writing with mixed vocals and super sparkly melodies that reminds me a lot of math rock. Finishing with ‘Morocco Mint’, the room is looking much fuller now and hopefully gained some new fans, I feel privileged that I’ve been able to see these twice this year in two different countries. God I love this band.
Next tonight is a band I’ve heard a lot about but never actually got round to listening to, Of Virtue. I suppose tonight’s a good reason to get familiar wity them first hand! The shift in gears from their ambient intro to the suddenly facemelting riffage was fast enough to give me whiplash, just as well I had my ear plugs in because this is brutal right from the outset.
Of Virtue have an incredible ear for writing a heavy riff, the sheer fierce energy of the band when they turn it up to 11 is unbelievable, the low end reverberates through my chest! This live set has really caught me off guard for how much I’m into it so soon, Of Virtue have everything I love about riffy metal in heaps and the best thing about it, is that the mix isn’t having the bass drum and snare overpower everything else; it’s like a full on wall of sound. Of Virtue have got a real skill for writing song that go so hard and yet are really easily to sing along to and latch onto the choruses as well as having a good hook, being able to do that while remaining astoundingly heavy is no easy task.
Getting a circle pit going, I thought I’d just be letting them get on with it but I got called out by their guitarist and singer to get myself in there, I mean you gotta go if you’re told like that! ‘Sober’ and ‘Sinner’ go down an absolute storm as well, to say that Of Virtue are completely killing this set would be a great understatement. I can’t quite get over just how much this set is blowing me away and I’m kicking myself for not getting round to listening to them sooner or seeing them when they’ve been touring previously. Finishing up with a massive wall of death and the singer jumping into the middle of the crowd to sing the last part of the final song of the set, this wraps up a set that is nothing short of stellar!
And finally, it’s time for the big cry-along to close the night out with Being As An Ocean. The singer immediately jumps off the stage to sing up close and personal to the crowd, disappearing out of my view one moment and suddenly appearing behind me which properly put the shits up me, you’d think I’d hear a large screaming man coming up behind me but *nope*. The audience has truly woken up at this point, the slightly lackluster response to the opening bands was a bit of a shame given how much they were putting into their sets but the crowd is very firmly going apeshit by now. The cluster at the front of the crowd subtlely follows the singer around as he marches across the stage, all eager to show him they know all the lyrics. As I’ve seen before at *BAAO* shows, they command an extremely loyal and devoted fanbase that rarely misses a chance to enthusiastically go wild at their shows.
The sound is fantastic as well, I don’t know if this is a venue thing or not because it’s my first time here but whatever it is, it’s great. Their signature style of sad metalcore that’s similar to the likes of Casey, and maybe Dayseeker (with more unclean vocals) clearly inspires this level of fandom for their music. Frequently they deviate from singing to spoken word sections to clearly deliver a message to the crowd, be it of hope, of reassurance or just clearly anger and frustration at injustice. BAAO deliver some of the most heartfelt performances I’ve seen over the years and this show in Utrecht is no different.
The latest single, ‘Death Can Wait’, gets a really surprising immediate response from the audience; I don’t often see people going nuts for a latest single but BAAO fans always seem to be a different kind. Their singer has spent a pretty significant chunk of this show getting up close to the crowd, even causing moshpits in the process with him firmly in the middle of it… even one of the guitarists gets involved: well, you can’t let the singer have all the fun right? This also ends up including one of the singers from Of Virtue getting crowd surfed to the front as well!
Honestly I don’t think I’ve seen a single show of BAAO where I haven’t thought it was outstanding, and this show has been no exception. The energy they put into their live performances and then keep that going for the entire length of their set is a true testament to their endurance and worth as performers. Say hello to Manchester for me guys, I’m sure they’ll treat you right.
- The tour has just hit the ÜK, starting their latest run in Southampton tonight (Tuesday 5 September) and continuing through Leicester tomorrow, Sheffield on Thursday and London on Friday. Being As An Ocean play the Burn It Down festival in Torquay on Saturday, while Of Virtue and SENNA play Birmingham the same night, before all three bands reunite in Swansea on Sunday (10 September).
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