Gig Review: THE BLACKOUT – The Fleece, Bristol, 22 August 2013

Since touring with the Lost Prophets and winning Kerrang’s Best British Newcomer award in their early days, The Blackout have come a long way, recently releasing their fourth album ‘Start The Party’. On the eve of playing the main stage at the Reading and Leeds festivals, they crossed the bridge from their native Wales to the Fleece in Bristol to play an intimate warm up show.

I arrived during the support set from Reaper In Sicily, who had already gathered a good crowd. Reaper are very young and enthusiastic which comes across well in their live shows, giving an energy boost to the heavy songs in their repertoire. including Boys Will Be Boys, We Are The Show and World’s End. The crowd lapped up the performance and they proved to be a perfect support for The Blackout.

The Blackout played Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’, as intro music which very much reflects their sense of humour. They burst onto the stage and opened with ‘Start The Party’. Sean spinning his mic like a bullwhip and Gavin jumping on the monitors shouting “let’s have some f**king fun!” and “make some f**king noise!” to which the crowd duly responded. Halfway through the song Sean jumped into the crowd, made his way to the middle and continued his performance with the help of the crowd, dancing and getting them to join in chorus vocals.

The whole place rocked as they exploded into ‘Radio’ and then continued with more tracks from the new album and other fan favourites. They also included a brilliant cover of House Of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’, which was apt given the atmosphere at this point.

These guys put heart and soul into their live performance, giving it their all. With the band’s sense of fun and enjoyment they leave you feeling like you have experienced their best ever live show.

With a warm up like that I have no doubt they put in a great performance at Reading and Leeds Festivals.

Review and photos By Jeff Oram

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