LIVE REVIEW: Smash Into Pieces, Cyan Kicks, O2 Academy Islington, London, 30/11/2023
Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan
Theatrical Swedish rock outfit Smash Into Pieces put on one hell of a show at O2 Islington on Thursday 29th November, supported by the magnificent Cyan Kicks.
Even a good half an hour before the support, the room was packed. Through a mixture of people buying VIP meet and greet passes with early entry, fans spending hours queuing in the Islington shopping centre — with the O2 Islington-branded barriers extending far past the venue in an attempt to keep them in line — and the venue being beautifully intimate, hundreds had already streamed into the building, ready for both Smash Into Pieces and their support, Cyan Kicks… and luckily, they didn’t have to wait too long.
With a name like Cyan Kicks, you’d be forgiven for expecting some neon-coloured, saccharine-sweet alt-pop star. Instead, the Finnish quartet, bedecked in a variety of ripped, black, Mad Max-esque outfits, lead singer Susanna Alexandra sprouting spikes from the caltrops-turned-coat wrapped around her, had the same dark, dystopian vibe as you’d hope from a Smash Into Pieces support. A host of catchy, alt rock anthems — the chorus to Gasoline, especially, sounds both fresh and, somehow, incredibly familiar — from across the band’s three albums gave the crowd an intense introduction, who quickly and capably embraced them, happily screaming along.
Despite the slight let down that was the bone-numbing amount of bass present for the first few songs, the set was fantastic, and they gave the room everything they had and more. 8/10
Some gigs are like rollercoasters. You strap in, get subjected to a load of force, buffeted by sound, lights and colours flashing until you’ve lost any semblance of what’s going on… basically, you’re in for a ride. Smash Into Pieces are one such ride.
Having been over earlier in the year supporting the stupendously good Starset, and then playing the second stage at Download Festival over the Summer, there’s been plenty of opportunities to see the Swedes this year — that didn’t stop hundreds cramming into the intimate Islington room to see them again, and this time with a big ol’ set to boot.
But first — a hooded figure, masked, walks on stage, much to the crowd’s delight. The drummer, ‘The Apocalypse DJ’, had arrived, and with his ever-present flashing LED mask, Tron-esque in its 8-bit facial facsimile, came a chorus of cheers; and, as the rest of the band emerged, jumping straight into Flow — which, ironically, flowed into Wake Up — the room began to see just what made a Smash Into Pieces headline set so much more significant than their other 2023 appearances. Whether it was Wake Up’s matrix-themed motherboard flashing behind the band; Broken Parts, with its surreally hypnotic stream of pink and blue lights rushing behind the band, interspersed with faceless figures and towering skyscrapers; or the sickly-green backlit Vanguard, with hundreds of crowd-based swaying torches, vocalist Chris Adam’s guttural growls contrasting with the gently haunting whistling of the backing track, the show seemed designed to overwhelm all senses at once. Everything had a deep sense of contained, controlled chaos — from the patterns of Apocalypse DJ, the various, mesmerising effects on the screens, or even guitarist Per Bergquist and his camo-themed harness that landed somewhere between a decayed, dystopian duster and the plastic that chokes turtles, to singer Chris Adam’s sometimes silky smooth, sometimes gravelly guttural voice cascading over the room, it was just a lot.
But it was never too much, an important distinction to make. Even the final few tracks — a poignant and powerful acoustic rendition of Mad World; the earworm of Boomerang, with Susanna Alexandra joining the band on-stage, minus guitarist Benjamin Jennebo who’d ventured into the crowd to play his part at the barrier, ruling the crowd up; or the explosive, addictive anthem of Six Feet Under, the room awash with screamed lyrics — somehow managed to stay on the right side of stunning theatrics, never straying onto cliché or predictability.
A truly fantastic set from a band who should be playing much bigger venues. 9/10
Written By: James O’Sullivan
