GiggingNI.com
Fightstar
With Young Guns; A Plastic Rose;
An exceeded ticket allocation was enough to tell me that the Spring and Airbrake was going to be a much sought after venue on 6th November 2009, and in a way, I suppose that made me feel that little bit more grateful for the right of passage to what seemingly promised to be a rather exciting show. And despite having my doubts, I did what I always do with every gig that I cover: I kept my mind, my eyes, and my ears wide open.
A Plastic Rose attempted to kick off the evenings proceedings, though unfortunately failed desolately, and consequentially received a rather (barely) lukewarm reception. Their enthusiasm remained unquestioned, however their slurred set left a lot to be desired, and it's quite likely that the band themselves were as relieved as the crowd, when their short performance drew to an abruptly unnatural end, leaving their next in line to pick up the shattered pieces of their musical mishap.
And Young Guns not only picked them up, but also rebuilt them into a very entertaining performance. The Welsh wizards, led by the magical Gustav Wood, instantly cast a spell over the previously disinterested spectators, effortlessly transforming them into a manic bunch of avid listeners, who were mesmerised by the groups every word. The Young Guns set, although relatively short, contained all the necessary ingredients of a lead slot, such as; their (just slightly dangerous) wall of death, confident crowd repartee, and of course their fantastic tracklist, which included 'Daughter Of The Sea,' 'In The Night,' and my personal favourite, 'Weight Of The World '. I must say, my hypothetical hat was well and truly off to them, as they fluently completed the trying task of warming the cockles of the crowd, just in time for the evenings headlining mob.
As the clock struck 10pm, Fightstar overtook the cluttered little stage of the Spring and Airbrake amidst smoke, skate shoes, and the overwhelming stench of adolescent impatience. Their reception verged on canine decibels, especially following the purposely delayed entry of the former Busted sweetheart, Charlie Simpson, before the band launched their Belfast engagement with 'Tannhauser Gate'. And the mass hysteria continued for the duration of the Fightstar set, with the spectators providing the lungs for the most part of the evening, quite often overshadowing the band themselves, conveyed most poignantly during 'Mercury Summer,' and 'We Apologise For Nothing.' The result was, quite literally, hair-raising - and that was only from a crowd perspective. I have no doubt that from where Simpson and his cronies were perched, the feeling could only have been intensively magnified.
It couldn't have been more obvious that the band were hungrily feeding from the positive energy being generated, as they rounded off an adrenaline fuelled set with 'War Machine,' only to play an encore of their debut composition, the epic 'Palahniuk's Laughter,' before launching a significant amount of memoriabilia into their sea of adoration. As I'm sure you'll agree, since the dawning of concerts, that has been the accepted way to close the act. Although when the tossed items include a few signed cymbols, I'd call that thinking outside of the drum.
I must admit, as cliched as it will sound, after the squeaky clean pop image of Busted, I wasn't sure what to expect from a live version of Charlie Simpson's current, significantly more, hardcore project. But having experienced the atmosphere of a Fightstar gig, my mind has been made up. The band have a certain charisma which allows them to naturally command the attention of the audience, who are readily willing to join in circle pits, and lose themselves in the anthems which the band create. And the verdict? I'll leave that for you, the reader, to derive. All I will say is that crowd response, in this case, screams volumes.
