By DJ Astrocreep
Another jaunt along the M62 for a rare sight these days – Trivium in the ÜK! With Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium both having big album anniversaries, they only decided to head out on the road together, to play ‘The Poison’ and ‘Ascendancy’ albums in full! And it would be downright rude of us not to join in the celebrations…
I get to my seat just as Scandinavian metallers Orbit Culture come on to a loud fanfare before setting right into business. Brutal metalcore, taking no prisoners, just making us all headbang our way into whiplash. While they may not have as long a pedigree as their stage mates this evening, their performance shows that they deserve the spot. Given the acoustics of the building, I did worry beforehand just how they would come across. I need not have done so, even their downtuned aural assault works well in a venue this acoustically designed. An excellent opening set.
Bullet For My Valentine have a lot of love for Manchester, which is clearly reciprocated. The crowd erupt from the off and the few spaces visible before quickly disappear as the crowd all want to be front and centre. We were always going to get the whole of The Poison, so it’s nice that we actually get a bonus couple of songs as an encore, too. it has to be said that while Orbit Culture threw the gauntlet down with their earlier set, Bullet absolutely smash through the bar.
Mixing heavier and clean vocals, the acoustics of the box building are pristine, amplifying Bullet’s sound and just making them sound even huger than they usually do. A set that deserves to headline, showing quite why they became such an established act.
Tonight’s closers time, with Trivium taking to the stage accompanied by Metallica’s Hit The Lights. The crowd quickly rush back from their hiding places, filling the floor back up. I’m slightly surprised that the crowd seem a bit more passive than they had with Bullet For My Valentine at times, though there are plenty of heads constantly banging away in appreciation of the music. The band are giving it their all, including the best crowd spiel that I expect each venue will get.
The sound seems a little off at first, with maybe the sound tech needing to quickly revert some settings, but it’s fixed fairly quickly. As with all the bands, whether it’s their heavier or more melodic side, it sounds great in the venue, once that first bit is sorted.
We already know what we’re getting for the main part of the set in terms of songs and it’s slightly strange that at times the crowd feels a touch flat during a couple of songs. On the whole, the crowd is up for it, though, given the two 20th anniversary albums, it’s possibly a bit of age creeping in as the bands have now been going for four hours almost between them, which will have an effect on even the more battle hardened. We get the album with a single encore of ‘In Waves’, which rounds the night off perfectly.