Set It Off have a publicity photo that looks like the offspring of Always Sunny’s The Nightman… And I love it. Laughs are cheap… We’re going for gasps.
The band have come a bit of a way since their early 2010s heyday with sporadic releases and lineup reductions, but they’ve sold out the Galvanizers at SWG3 tonight and that’s something to be proud of. Support comes from Call Me Amour, Point North and TSS. The former having a great Glasgow link featuring former Yashin (remember them?!) vocalist Harry Radford.
I really want to be able to tell you what I saw when TSS were on stage, but the blackout, backlit lighting makes that impossible. Occasionally you get a glimpse of someone on a stage… there were definitely people on the stage… but you wouldn’t be able to tell if they were your own brother. One vocalist may have been in a cool cape a la Ghost or that kind of nu gothic rock outfit, he may have had make up on, he may have had none of this.
Another guy, who I could tell didn’t match the vibe of the first one, is the band rapper who was often drowned out by someone else shouting over the top of him. There’s a drummer and a guitarist. The first guy I mentioned has an incredible vocal range from Linkin Park style melodic singing to Cradle of Filth screeching (or maybe there’s a third singer I couldn’t see – it’s possible)… but that’s about all the positives I can say about these guys. The blend of styles and genres and flavours and everything makes seeing this band a bit exasperating and a big effort. A strain on both the eyes and ears.
We caught Call Me Amour back when they opened for Against The Current. The dark sonics were cool and the surprise guest appearance by Mikey from Mallory Knox was a bonus. Hopefully they pull something as good out of the bag tonight. It’s also worth noting that their drummer was in James Bourne’s post Busted band Son of Dork which is a major flex nowadays. Their cover of ‘Want You Back’ was a banger… but I digress.
It’s not hard to top the opener… but Call Me Amour would stand out against proper veterans with this performance. Confident, well put together and absolutely blistering in terms of energy. Frontman Radford deep in the crowd for a track, showing them how to jump and causing a near riot. Huge rock beats with vocals that seamlessly switch from melodic to aggressive and more importantly, those switches make sense in the song. You don’t really know where to start with CMA as they’re so polished you’d think they were already headlining arenas and everyone should know about them already. It won’t be long before that is the case though.
Point North come out swinging and even though there’s only three of them, they make a hell of a racket. It is hyper processed through a laptop, but still listenable. Dark, melodic rock with some decent screaming. It clearly suits tonight’s younger crowd (I looked like this 25 years ago and now I’m sad that I’ve reminded myself that I’m that old). These guys aren’t as over-produced live as their recordings would suggest, so there’s still a bit of grit there, but it’s impossible to tell what’s live and what’s coming off the iPod.
Set It Off come out to one of the loudest welcomes I’ve heard in a long time, and for the duration of the show, one of the best examples of audience singalongs I’ve ever witnessed. It’s pretty strange to think that most of the crowd here were pre teens when this band first hit the spotlight and the passion for the music tonight is stronger than ever.
Looking sharp in suit jackets, there’s plenty of movement on stage and frontman Cody Carson is obviously a born entertainer with a huge talent in the voice department. Set It Off sound like Panic! At The Disco’s evil twin with the darkest parts of Fall Out Boy mixed in. What surprised me most about the show is that it sounded a lot more live than I expected. The recordings are polished and synth/sample heavy, but live the band are huge drums and amazing sounding guitars. There are backing tracks, but they’re so discreet that you forget they’re there.
The lighting is so good tonight that I’m making it my personal mission to shake the hand of the lighting director. A real lesson in how to make gig lighting spectacular without the need for pyro or big confetti cannons. The spectacle is as impressive as the music.
I’ve got to be honest that I wasn’t sure how Set It Off would go down with what is essentially a comeback, but they blew the roof off SWG3 tonight and you should do everything in your power to catch them next time.
Photos by Catching Light Photography
Catching Light Photography
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