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If you like loud noises and heavy music then this show was the one for you. It had been talked about for months as being one of THE hottest line ups of not just this year, but of the past few years and we were lucky enough to catch it on it’s penultimate night in Manchester.
Tours with bands this strong don’t come around too often and when you have 4 bands of this calibre it makes for something truly special. We knew to expect a great night, but having only seen Venom Prison and Trivium previously it was the other two bands Power Trip and Code Orange that were going to be a completely new experience for us.
With an early stage time of 6.30 it was left to openers Venom Prison to jolt the audience into life – and boy did they. Larissa Stupar brought the brutality with her vocals whilst the rest of the band lay waste to the stage during their short half hour set. For many of the crowd this will have been their first experience of this band but by the looks of it they nearly all enjoyed it.
Next up Power Trip from Dallas, Texas turned up the energy with their infectious take on thrash metal. Riley Gale looked like a Tasmanian devil jumping and spinning off the drum riser at any given opportunity whilst the rest of the band simply banged out every riff with a massive smile on their face.
It must be noted that being the penultimate night of a tour that has ran for 6 and a half weeks across Europe, each and every band seemed well honed and on top of their games.
None more than Code Orange it would seem.
They are absolute lunatics (the best kind)! Fronted from the back by drumming vocalist Jami Morgan the rest of the band cover every single inch of the stage with their frenetic and aggressive presence, a physical manifestation of their music. Although many of the crowd decided to take this set as a chance to get a beer – the ones that didn’t really did get a unique experience. They may be a bit of an acquired taste but they are 100% genuine and we loved them for that.
So it was left to Trivium to close out the night with a master class of metal. Which they duly did. With Run to the Hills blaring over the PA the crowd found their voices and didn’t let up for the rest of the show. Matt Heafy even responded to how vocal the crowd were being noting that Manchester crowds have always been among the best in the world.
There were many highlights with Trivium proving they can be as heavy as anything that preceded them tonight, as masterful with the riffs as anyone who inspired them and have as many crowd pleasers as anyone else out there. Inception of the End and Becoming the Dragon were absolute highlights along with the likes of Thrown Into the Fire and Drowned and Torn Asunder.
Trivium are a band that have, over the last 15 years or so proved me wrong. Seeing them open for Slayer way back when, I initially thought they were overly confident and not really up to par with other metal bands. But having grown into the band they are today with so many great albums under their belts and shows like tonight’s – I’m more than happy to have been proved wrong.
The night offered us a true metalheads smorgasbord with a bit of something for everyone, from the brutality of Venom Prison, the energy of Power Trip, the pure lunacy and aggression of Code Orange and the show stopping crowd pleasers of Trivium. May there be many tours of this standard coming our way.
For a full set pf photos from the show click here
