Hacktivist are without a doubt, one of the best live bands I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing more than once, and they did not disappoint or fail to blow my mind when they kicked off their UK tour in Newcastle.
With support from Counting Days and Draganaught to warm up the crowd with deep growls and thrashing breakdowns, the crowd were more than ready for the main event. One fan even nicked the water that belonged to Counting Days vocalist, Thom Debaere, to which he simply told the guy to keep it after he offered it him back. By this point, the floor was definitely moving, as I felt it all the way at the back of the venue.
Opening with an announcement that we were the first people in the entire world to hear this song, Hacktivist took to the stage. A band that has went from strength to strength since I first seen them at their set at Download in 2013, their combination of rapping and clean vocals with heavy metal has garnered them all the right attention.
Playing anthems such as False Idols, Hacktivist, Blades and Taken, Hacktivist had the crowd eating out the palm of their hand. Vocalists Ben Harvin and J Hurley were dancing all over the stage, as they went into their own version of N****s in Paris.
A remix the Milton Keynes boys have definitely made their own, the crowd went insane, turning the Think Tank dancefloor into ¾ mosh pits and ¼ standing room. By the time the breakdown in the middle of the song kicked in, everyone was already pretty knackered.
Described by vocalist Ben Harvin as a ‘direct fuck you to David Cameron and all his cronies and to the war in Syria,’ he told the crowd to ‘wake up and unite,’ as they started the encore with Elevate.
It was an incredibly energetic gig at one of Newcastle’s most intimate venues. The only downside for me was that it wasn’t longer.
