Back in the early days, Kerrang! nominated ‘The Blackout’ for Best British Newcomer, and we’ve seen and heard the fantastic music these guys have given us. And I can honestly say, I don’t know if I’ve seen a better ‘comeback’ gig before – it was insane!
Celebrating 20 years since Welsh rockers formed ‘The Blackout‘, SWG3 hosted this monumental and special reunion as they returned to Glasgow! This was the first tour they had done in 9 years, so this was a gig we had all waited patiently for!
The post-hardcore 6 piece band formed back in 2003 has had an amazing adventure supporting incredible bands from ‘Kids In Glass Houses’ and ‘Funeral For A Friend’, and with sad news like ‘You Me At Six’ announcing they’re calling it a day, fans were grateful and excited at this tour going ahead!
And there was a close call to them rescheduling due to poor Gavin Butler (singer) who raptured his Achilles heel! He hobbled on stage with his crutches and boot, and from that stool on stage he gave it his all!!! And the reason we know this isn’t from the obvious injury fans could see, but in true Glaswegian fashion the crowds got a chant blasting and echoing through the SWG halls yelling: “How’d ye, how’d ye, how’d ye break yer leg?!”
The fact this was only night 2 of their tour, and the lad’s commitment to this tour despite injuries, shows how much love and commitment they bring and it was evident the commitment was reciprocated throughout the night with the fan’s voices uniting together for each hit and memorable song that transported us all back in time (well, for the elder emos, I’m sure there were new fans too)!
Fans were ready to welcome back The Blackout with enthusiasm and typical Scottish love the band met the crowd’s energy from the start! It was honestly like they hadn’t stopped making music from their jam-packed 18-song setlist.
Opening with “ShutTheFuckUppercut” into “Ambition Is Critical” and I was ecstatic they then went into “Save Our Selves (The Warning)” which is not only an absolute belter of a song, but one the crowd really embraces as they sing along to the easiest lyrics with the ‘woahhhhhs’!
With Sean Smith (vocals) swinging his mic across the stage (avoiding injuring poor Gavin’s other leg), his energy explodes from start to finish. He’s in and out of the crowd, he’s getting them involved and my favourite quality of Sean’s is he truly dances like no-ones watching!
Taking us back in time we were re-living our best days whether we discovered The Blackout as teens, young or older adults but we reminisced about the days when we would have speakers up on our iPods or MP3 players after ‘illegally downloading’ the tunes that made us happy. In fact, this was mentioned by Sean as he encouraged the crowd to get moving for the next songs, ‘Top of The World’ and ‘Said and Done’ as he said:
“How many of you know how to dance? How many downloaded our songs illegally back in the day… well this is a dancing song so let’s move those hips!”
Naturally, another crowd chant began (honestly, it was full of chants), which was the famous start from “Tick Tick BOOM!” With the crowd yelling ‘we are the dynamite’ and of course, as expected the band went into playing this. I’m not sure if this was planned or not, but again this is more evidence of why this band meets the needs of hungry fans who have missed their serious need for The Blackout!
There were more amazing songs, from circle pits to ‘Wolves’ and of course, Sean shouting ‘Glasgow you’re a riot’ to kick us off into ‘I’m a Riot? You’re a Fucking Riot!’
This band move into the music as if they are truly in every aspect of it. You can visibly see from the full band their essence and whole beings come alive in the music. They are captivated by it, and as someone watching the show you are pulled in alongside with them. They don’t perform, they are the songs – to every beat there is a movement, a visible passion and energy to bring.
Wrapping up their set with ‘Children of the Night’, and ‘The Storm’ and ending on an energetic high with ‘Higher and Higher’ the gig had to draw to an end.
It was obvious the crowd wanted the night to continue, and the energy continued to go ‘Higher and Higher’ – the band even struggled to ‘sssh’ the crowd to make a beautiful point of gratitude as they closed with words:
Seeing this many people in this room means the world to us.
We don’t know when we’ll get to do this again, so thanks so much for being here…You guys are awesome!
The Blackout will be playing at this year’s Slam Dunk Festival, so if you’ve seen clips, images and different reviews – this will not satisfy your Blackout hunger – make sure you get a ticket and catch them!!