Photo Credit: Derek Bremner @Del_Photos
A warm summer sun washed over London as an enormous queue of metalcore/pop-punk patrons slowly grew into an endless snake that ran down the length of the artistic Leake Street Arches tunnel. All those here were waiting with bated breath to enter the doors of House Of Vans for a very special evening with A Day To Remember ahead of their sets at Reading and Leeds festival.
Also playing the sold-out event was none other than BBC Radio 1’s own Daniel P Carter, who made a guest DJ appearance to warm up the excited audience with rock classics including System Of A Down, Architects and Bring Me The Horizon. Although half of the audience were more than happy to chat and enjoy the music he had to deliver, the remaining half were left noticeably deflated once the half-hour mark had been hit, leaving the majority to stray to the bar as Daniel continued to mix into the night. The DJ desk was quickly removed after the set conclusion and after a lengthy soundcheck, the lights darkened and were met with a thunderous wail of enthusiastic fans.
2nd Sucks erupted into life with its punchy opening riff sending the venue into a frenzy of headbanging and mini-moshpits opening up inside the elongated room. The set featured many popular tracks, tapping into the raw, animalistic energy the band adapted early on in their career such as Paranoia, Sticks & Bricks and Bullfight with a good balance of their more rhythm-led songs like All I Want, Mr Highway’s Thinking About The End and Have Faith In Me. Serving up a very even selection of material to not only sing your lungs out to but to also have them knocked up into your throat from the pure chaos concocted, it was unquestionably decided from an early stage that this was going to be a very special experience to be in attendance of.
New anthemic single Degenerates and their Marshmello amalgamated track Rescue Me, both went down very well with more or less the full occupants already able to recite the lyrics from heart, screaming out with a tremendous roar to meet Jeremy Mckinnon whose vocals were a welcomed tour-de-force throughout the evening. Making sure to interact with the crowd as he always does, Jeremy came down to the barrier, encouraging people to surf over to sing lyrics alongside him and offering out crisp fist bumps to anyone that took him up on the invitation.
Guitarists Kevin Skaff and Neil Westfall wore huge smiles throughout the set as bassist Joshua Woodard pulled some the most impressive collection of faces, plugging away to fill in the beefed-up basslines alongside drummer Alex Shelnutt’s tight kick pedal work. Ending on The Plot To Bomb The Panhandle was all the incentive the sweaty clad of admirers needed to open up the pit once more, inciting what felt like endless bedlam in the form of bodies being thrown left, right and over the heads of the relentlessly energetic supporters.
Concluding the evening with a rousing encore of the acoustic ballad If It Means A Lot To You. And the hard-hitting The Downfall Of Us All, 850 drained pop-punk followers made their way out into the cool brisk evening air with what can only be described as fatigued elation for an all-around impressive and immensely satisfying Wednesday evening. 10/10
Written By: Nathan Roach
Photo Credit: Derek Bremner @Del_Photos
