Fact #117902
When:
Short story:
Atreyu, Bullet For My Valentine and The Black Maria play at The Zodiac, Oxford, England, UK, Europe.Full article:
Johnny Black (audience) : No marks at all to the management of The Zodiac for queue handling. Despite the fact that we arrived at least 45 minutes before the gig was due to start, we had to stand in the rain for an hour and a half before we got in, only to find that the first band, Black Maria had already played.
This is disgraceful. What about those kids who had travelled on this grim night specifically to see Black Maria? Getting their money back – assuming they were offered any compensation – wouldn’t make up for not seeing the band. The management should be ashamed of themselves. If there were problems getting the audience in – which we saw no sign of – the least they could have done was send someone along the queue to explain what the problem was and, it goes without saying, to apologise.
Bullet For My Valentine turned out to be very average. Capable, competent but uninspired hard rock.
Atreyu, on the other hand, were fantastic. They manage to combine gut-wrenchingly emotional performances with genuine showbiz entertainment. Every song had an accompanying hand movement for the audience to get involved in. The singer was very dynamic, launching himself off the stage at frequent intervals, but always visible in the crowd because he seemed to be at least a head taller than anyone else in the hall.
The exceptionally hairy bassist had a wonderful range of bizarre moves, best of which was a 360 degree scything movement with the neck of his guitar. It would have been deadly if anybody had got in his way, but presumably the band choreography is well-worked out in advance. The two Mexicano-looking guitarists were also amazing, not just in their playing but in their appearance – especially the guy with the bow tie.
The drummer wasn’t just exceptionally powerful, he was the melodic mainspring of the band, delivering the big vocal tunes as he battered away, leaving the charismatic audience-wooing front man to do the rappy-roaring stuff. All in all, a great night, except for the business with the queue.
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This is disgraceful. What about those kids who had travelled on this grim night specifically to see Black Maria? Getting their money back – assuming they were offered any compensation – wouldn’t make up for not seeing the band. The management should be ashamed of themselves. If there were problems getting the audience in – which we saw no sign of – the least they could have done was send someone along the queue to explain what the problem was and, it goes without saying, to apologise.
Bullet For My Valentine turned out to be very average. Capable, competent but uninspired hard rock.
Atreyu, on the other hand, were fantastic. They manage to combine gut-wrenchingly emotional performances with genuine showbiz entertainment. Every song had an accompanying hand movement for the audience to get involved in. The singer was very dynamic, launching himself off the stage at frequent intervals, but always visible in the crowd because he seemed to be at least a head taller than anyone else in the hall.
The exceptionally hairy bassist had a wonderful range of bizarre moves, best of which was a 360 degree scything movement with the neck of his guitar. It would have been deadly if anybody had got in his way, but presumably the band choreography is well-worked out in advance. The two Mexicano-looking guitarists were also amazing, not just in their playing but in their appearance – especially the guy with the bow tie.
The drummer wasn’t just exceptionally powerful, he was the melodic mainspring of the band, delivering the big vocal tunes as he battered away, leaving the charismatic audience-wooing front man to do the rappy-roaring stuff. All in all, a great night, except for the business with the queue.