Papa Roach, Yashin, Slaves to Gravity.
O2 Academy, Sheffield.
17th July 2011, 7pm.
Tonight’s first act are London’s Slaves to Gravity a very good choice for tonight’s opener on this bill. They play a strong set of about 7 songs and have the audience starting mosh pits and dancing around, something which many opening bands struggle to do. They clearly have a few fans in the audience already tonight but this is their chance to convince the majority to their cause and as they leave the stage tonight it seems that they have mainly succeeded in that.
Next up are Yashin from Glasgow who keep up the fast paced heavy rock songs that tonight is all about. Again the crowd are ready to participate in mosh pits and sing a longs with the band and the band’s dual singers seem to have the majority of the crowd in their command. They play a slightly longer set than the previous band and ending in total chaos by climbing balconies and jumping in the crowd to take part in the mosh pit.
When Papa Roach take the stage the atmosphere and heat in the room are at an all time high and however hot and sweaty it is out there in the crowd as soon as the band kick into ‘Getting Away With Murder’ it doesn’t stop them from starting pits, dancing and singing along. This show is one of only two announced by the band in the UK for this year and the sold out Academy crowd are made up of mainly die hard fans who are getting to experience something special tonight. The set is a good mix of the new and the old and until you hear their set in full you forget how many hits the band have had and how long they have been around on the music scene. Songs such as ‘Hollywood Whore’ and ‘…To Be Loved’ create some of the biggest mosh pits I have ever seen in this main academy room. Lead singer Jacoby Shaddix is a front man who knows how to command a crowd and tonight is no exception as they were in the palm of his hand from the word go. The highlight of the night though went to ‘Scars’ which was a beautiful moment where the crowd calmed down for those few minutes and joined together to sing along and wave their arms before kicking back into ‘Blood Brothers‘. The band return to the stage for a two song encore which is made up of ‘Dead Cell’ and crowd favourite ‘Last Resort’ giving the crowd one last chance to have fun before the band leave the stage and this country for a while. It is clear that tonight has been a total success with the looks on the crowd’s faces as they leave the building, they may not get to see this band again for some time but they know that they have experienced one of the band‘s best shows.
Mixtape Couture 