Live in London: Never Say Die! Tour

+ Comeback Kid, Parkway Drive, Cancer Bats, This Is Hell, The Warriors

The Electric Ballroom, London - 6 Nov 2007

by Simon T Diplock

One of the sharpest, smartest and most varied bills that heavy music has seen in ages

"Comeback Kid's battering may start to become a little formulaic at times but ‘Wake The Dead’ is a powerful, dynamic, and melodic triumph"

New-Noise has been waiting for this one for a while. Despite being brand new, the Never Say Die tour looks like one of the sharpest, smartest and most varied bills that heavy music has seen in ages. And tonight the expedition - a mammoth European trek featuring This Is Hell, The Warriors, Cancer Bats, Parkway Drive and hardcore heroes Comeback Kid - hits London's Electric Ballroom.

For all the excitement though, the evening doesn’t start well. A combination of bastard bosses and the shambolic London transport system (the Olympics is certainly going to be… interesting) mean we miss The Warriors and then, instead of embracing those arriving early enough to catch them, New York hardcore troupe This Is Hell use their spiky sound to tear chunks out of the slowly increasing crowd.

Thankfully Canadian bruisers Cancer Bats bare their teeth in a totally different way. From the second they take the stage to the second they leave it, the Cancer Bats sport the very widest smiles of the night. It might not be immediately clear how much fun raging riffathons like ‘Golden Tanks’ can be but as the band spit out their songs with energy and reckless enthusiasm, they make every bellowed note a blast. The good vibes and great songs of their set show exactly why the Bats have sped through the ranks to become proper punk contenders. Global domination surely awaits.

Taking over the world is something Parkway Drive have looked like doing for a while now. From some fancy stage art to a booming intro tape the Australians have evolved into a ‘proper’ band, yet they have managed to carry the power over from their basement show days. Cuts from new album ‘Horizons’ show that their search for the perfect breakdown hasn’t slowed up while oldie ‘Romance Is Dead’ has been finely-tuned by the band’s tour experiences and gets the front half of the ballroom moving as one for the first time today.

After all that Comeback Kid should barely be able to put up a fight, but the oldest act on the bill have got more than their scene-veteran status to show off - this Winnipeg quintet has aggression and venom to match. ‘Defeated’ is a barked call-to-arms, ‘The Blackstone’ a hook-laden punk-rock pistol shot and ‘False Idols Fall’ is an energised assault, frontman Andrew Neufeld sweating enough for ten men inside of its two minutes.

The band’s battering does start to become a little formulaic, their favoured quick tempos blurring into a cathartic mush mid-set, but a closing ‘Wake The Dead’, quite simply one of the best songs this scene will ever spawn, is a powerful, dynamic, and melodic triumph. Such an entertaining evening couldn’t ask for a finer finish. Here’s to next year.

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