It wasn’t long ago when I was stood in the Hydro waiting for Blink 182 to play when I saw The Story So Far for the first time.
It was a support slot from a high ranked band with enough history and respect to fill massive rooms of their own. On the first night with Blink, there was a lot of movement on the stage… I thought it may have been down to the elaborate set that the headliners had over the stage – or I hoped that was the case. On the second night, frontman Parker Cannon tore up the stage to join in with pop punk classic ‘Carousel’ and he was a completely different animal. Tonight we get to see which Parker we’re getting at their own headline show.
The one and only support for tonight is Angeldu$t whom I’ve deliberately avoided prior to tonight. The reason? That name and styling leaves me bewildered as to what they’ll actually sound like. It screams some sort of gangster rap to me, but supporting The Story So Far? I think I’m thinking that I’m miles off the mark.. …and I was.
Angeldu$t sound like Black Flag if they were formed today. New-old-school hardcore punk that’s clearly not faked or put on. Listening to this band and seeing them live makes me feel like we should be in a questionable basement, throwing ourselves off speaker stacks and wondering where the taste of blood has come from. It’s fast and ferocious to the point of injustice every time there’s no circle pit. Normally when I root for bands, I want to see them succeed on big stages… With Angeldu$t, I want to see them in the smallest sweatboxes with no fire exits and warmest beer. If you miss that stage of this band’s evolution then you should be kicking yourself (although it may already be too late…)
What I see next is the most baffling exchange of energy that I’ve seen in a long time. The Story So Far begin and Parker Cannon walks on stage, beaming from ear to ear in an anorak while swigging a beer. Clearly thrilled to be here, he stands behind his mic stand and belts out ‘Big Blind’. The crowd go crazy.
Behind the mic stand is where Parker spends most of the show, only briefly removing himself from the centre spot to have a bit of a dance or to let his band mates soak up the lime light. It’s like watching pop punk’s Liam Gallagher. The huge difference between the two, however is Parker’s note perfect delivery and enigmatic charisma that has the audience eating out the palm of his hand when all he has to do is stand there. He doesn’t need to thrash about, throw himself through drum kits, jump from speakers… All he has to do is be there.
The result of this is hysteria on the other side of the barrier. Pits, surfers,and I’m pretty sure I saw one man crying with joy. Rather than looking to the front man of the band for the cues, you’re looking to your fellow concert goer and all the moves seem unanimous. The Story So Far live is a perfect example of how excellent pop punk music has enough energy in itself to move a warehouse full of people to throw themselves on top of one another for ninety minutes regardless of how much the band are moving. I don’t think I’ve seen such a reaction before and it’s pretty awe inspiring.
Latest album ‘I Want To Disappear’ has the lion’s share of the setlist but tonight Glasgow is absolutely fine with that. We don’t get ‘Empty Space’ which would have undoubtedly been on many a wish list tonight – perhaps even assumed to be a dead cert – but we do get a surprise encore of ‘Quicksand’ which makes up for it. Especially following the trio of ‘Framework’, ‘Roam’ and ‘White Shores’.
The end result is that even though the band may not be soaked in sweat by the end of tonight, absolutely every last man, woman and child in the crowd was. A TSSF show is like a fusion generator where even though a little energy goes in, you get enough energy out to run a city… And that’s exactly what happened tonight.
Photos by Catching Light Photography
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