Review: Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men with Crossfaith, With One Last Breath and Bury Tomorrow
5th May 2012
The Joiners, Southampton
My friend Liv and I travelled down to Southampton from Cardiff on the train to go see one of our favourite bands; Of Mice & Men - now that is dedication.
We had to face an annoying blonde woman who went nuts about her reservation on a non-reservation train. We later found out that she had taken tramadol by the fact she was telling everyone in her phone contacts it. My favourite part was "Is tramadol strong?" as she was highlighting parts of her chemistry coursework. Well that's just a little bit awkward.
Finally, we got to our hotel and Liv's mum ordered us really nice food, Liv had fish and chips and I had a beef burger (so kosher, I know). After dancing around while getting ready to Falling in Reserve we headed out in a taxi to the venue. The Joiners is a very small half-pub half-venue place in the centre of Southampton, it can fit about 200 people in max. Perfect! Small gigs are always the best. Liv and I managed to get right at the front on the side of the stage, after spending the entire time in the queue talking about being Welsh, because well, we could.
First up was Crossfaith from Japan, who were a kind of mix between post-hardcore and dubstep. Needless to say, they were amazing. They started a pit within about 20 seconds of the first song. They were s*** pits, granted (only the Welsh can pit) but it was still impressive, even if everyone looked like penguins and looked at me like I was from a different planet when I tried to start a circle pit. They only did four songs, all amazing and one of which was a cover/remix thing of The Omen by The Prodigy. We looked around halfway through the set and saw Austin from Of Mice & Men hiding in one of the doorways. First fanboy moment of the night.
Next up were With One Last Breath, who I screamed about when Liv told me they were supporting. I missed them at Asking Alexandria back in January in Cardiff because of family problems and was gutted. They were incredible and I was jumping/screaming/headbanging through the entire set. I even got on stage and hugged the lead screamer and lead vocalist/guitar. They also played their new song Hell We Create. Happy Cosmo was happy.
Thirdly were Bury Tomorrow from Portsmouth, the rival town to Southampton. A bit like Cardiff and Swansea, there was a little bit of light-hearted booing from the crowd. The lead screamer, Daniel Winter-Bates was stood next to me for ages and the bassist, Davyd Winter-Bates kept using my shoulder as a grip to lift himself up and down off the stage, which I was pretty happy about.
I have a photo of Jason Cameron (guitar, clean vocals) leaning down and doing devil horns at me but the flash wasn't on, so you can't make it out very well. A lot of people had been crowd surfing on to the stage and jumping back off into the crowd, which was cool to see because you never get that in Cardiff. You usually just get wrestled down by the medics and made to go round to the back of the crowd. After screaming and headbanging to Lionheart, which was the song they opened up with, I threw my phone at Liv and jumped on stage. I then panicked because I didn't know where to jump but then a guy in a plaid shirt at the front who was about six foot tall opened his arm and I jumped on him. I also got caught by a girl with green dyed hair, who fussed over me when I landed, asking me if I was alright and then told me I was cute. Oh the joys of being small.
Bury Tomorrow were honestly amazing. The lead screamer climbed up on the rigging and jumped into the crowd, which once again you never get in Cardiff.
I had been stood next to these two kids the whole gig, one was in a wheelchair and the other I think had cerebral palsy. During the interlude, one of the roadies asked me to move back and I said I couldn't and she went "There's loads of room" where the kid's wheelchair was and when I pointed that out she went "oh" and then left me alone. Well done. I made friends with them and the girls they were with after the gig, they're all really nice and hopefully I'll get to go to other gigs up there with them.
Last by no means least were Of Mice & Men! Earlier on, Austin had been wearing a tiger onesie, which was the cutest thing I have ever seen, fanboy moment number two. I had managed to snag the band's timetable before they came on, at the bottom it said for the next day - Smoking weed in France.
The annoying roadie from before had turned the speaker so it faced me so I couldn't really hear much, but it didn't ruin it at all. I was still headbanging and screaming along, even if I did have to guess what song it was. I got so into it at one point, I headbutted the guy standing in for Shayley's bass. And then carried on.
Because I could barely hear anything and I was concussed I'm not really sure of the playlist, sorry guys but they did end with Second & Sebring. All the vocalist got on stage with them to sing it and most of the band members crowd surfed and moshed. It was amazing. It was the last night of the UK tour so everyone went mental, which again was amazing to see. It was honestly the best gig I've ever been to. They out did Bullet for me! I got an OMAM hoodie and a broke WOLB wrist band and Liv got an OMAM shirt. I was buzzing for the next hour and then crashed at the hotel watching Captain America.
The next day, we all walked down to the docks, because I like the sea just a little bit too much and had a look at all the cruise ships and yachts. I was disappointed there were no real ships by which I mean pirate ones.
We then got a taxi up the to new SeaCity Museum and looked around the Titanic exhibition, which was amazing and interactive. I really enjoyed it.
I was knackered afterwards but it was worth it. Thank you Liv!
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1 Comment – Postiwch sylw
Sprout Editor
Rhoddwyd sylw 48 mis yn ôl - 16th May 2012 - 10:50am
Great review! If you love reading you should join theSprout's virtual book club. You just need to read the suggested books and leave your comments. Check it out here .