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In the few months since they last played in Nottingham’s Rock City on their first UK visit while supporting Murderdolls, Black Veil Brides have managed to release a sophomore album, play Download Festival, and overcome some hefty rock and roll inflicted injuries.
Tonight they headline the very same venue and if that’s not impressive enough, they manage to sell it out.
The crowd’s cultlike chants of “Black Veil Brides” can probably be heard all the way down the A52 out of Nottingham and the anticipation is truly rife.
The band come on stage in good time to an audience of gothed up, blacked up, glammed up, frantic teenagers who have been queuing up outside since 5.30 am and in some cases hugged the barrier for dear life for hours to get that prime front row spot for the LA/Ohio rockers’ performance.
When the Brides appear launching into Love Isn’t Always Fair, the energy in the 2000 capacity Rock City erupts beyond belief, it’s like a weird Tim Burton version of a modern day Beatlemania, except the Beatles and the maniacs are in leather, black facepaint and have ransacked Boots’ entire stocks of hairspray.
Front man Andy Sixx (or Andy Biersack to give him his proper name) plays the room like a rock veteran defying his young years and he and the rest of the band own every centimetre of Rock City’s well worn stage from the second they place their feet on it.
Black Veil Brides can’t be faulted for their live performance which is electric, involving and highly entertaining. Their cover of Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell is surprisingly well placed among their set which includes a good range of hits from both of their albums. It goes down brilliantly and is followed by an impressive drum solo by CC where the rest of the band leave the stage and return with their anthemic single Legacy.
At times Andy Biersack can’t be heard over the audience singing back to him so loudly but he doesn’t seem to mind and responds by throwing himself and his mic into the crowd. Bassist Ashley Purdy on the other hand seems to be happily entertaining himself by amassing a collection of various pieces of underwear that keep getting thrown in his direction on stage.
After songs like Rebel Love Song and Perfect Weapon, the band save the best for last and close with Fallen Angels which raises the Rock City roof entirely.
Girls and boys are getting dragged over the barrier, those further back are dancing and clutching eachother in delight and you can’t help but raise a smile at the infectious delirium that Black Veil Brides inspire among their gothed up army. Black Veil Brides seem to come out of nowhere but it appears, like them or loathe them, that they fill a gap in the music scene that kids have been waiting for.
Support for the night came from Hertforshire rockers My Passion and Glaswegians Yashin. Both did an impressive job warming up the crowd and certainly seemed to have amassed a host of new fans from the night.
Words and pictures: Lara Cullen / www.laracullen.com
Lara also caught up with Ashley and Jinxx from the band before the show for a quick chat. Come back to Purple Revolver later in the week to read what they had to say.