Volumes opened the show tonight and they certainly got the crowd going! Fans have already done a warm-up and we are only two tracks in. Fitting in very well tonight the American band (LA.) bring a great bulk of Metalcore.
Vocalist Michael Barrtells addresses the crowd: “The Amity Affliction are about to come in here and destroy this whole room… promise me right night we are about to set the tone for this whole night. Let’s see everyone fly” as everyone jumps up and down, eventually turning into a pit – the first of many on this evening.
The Amity Affliction have been around for a while now, and even though they have had a few line-up changes along the way, the band haven’t failed to hold onto a strong fan-base. Before the band even come on stage their is a crowd chant going – “Amity, Amity, Amity” they preach in the many.
Joel Birch (lead vocalist) and co. appear on stage, announce first track ‘Pittsburgh‘, and the crowd start shaping up a pit.
Joel takes a minute to address the crowd, and talk about Bristol: “I love this city, I went for a walk and everything was covered in street art and graffiti, this is a beautiful place.” The 02 Academy Bristol is located not far from the town center, looking around it’s not hard to see Bristol has a glowing creative cultural scene.
The Amity Affliction have a great style – Ahren’s softer harmonies against Joel’s hench growls. All of a sudden a whole empty circle shaped space appears in the middle crowd, and as soon as ‘Lost & Fading’ starts this momentary empty space results in a doubled sized pit.
Next track ‘Chasing Ghosts’ get’s everyone bouncing. You know when a crowd is so packed, but everyone is trying to get as close to the front as possible – meanwhile the pit is causing human ripples. This all culminates in what I like to call ‘The Penguin Effect’. When everyone is jumping up and down on the spot, but can’t really move their arms due to limited space. ‘The Penguin Effect’ only happens when everyone is too excited about a song, that they simply can’t help themselves moving – ‘The Penguin Effect’ happened quite a few times during this set.
“Open it up, open it up right f*cking now” says Joel, and the pit quadrupled. The Amity Affliction could without doubt be on headline tours in the UK. Tonight they are on the road with Of Mice And Men, but you can see in the crowd, many fans are their for all three bands tonight.
The Amity Affliction put on a great live performance, they are animated – to which the crowd follow to the T, acting out certain words in the lyrics. Everyone on the top tier of Bristol 02 Academy looks simply mesmerized by the passion and feeling of the room, whilst the bottom are so excited they are jumping around like mad boys and girls. People sing their absolute hearts out for they know every lyric The Amity Affliction has to offer.
One last song – ‘Don’t Lean On Me’ . The crowd sing this chorus in sync. Which sets up the pit well, and the crowd surfers start. It’s been a while since we have seen crowd surfing. I thought it was a trend long grown out of. Tonight proves that there is a new breed of younger rock fans on the rise. Keeping rock and roll alive, and using our passed down traditions.
“This is a great show we really appreciate it. Thank you” says Joel to end a brilliant performance.
Posted by RAMzine on Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Photos by Sophie Colvin.
