The mostly teenage and mostly female crowd seemed to warm to Super Happy Fun Club, slightly ironic name in my opinion.  Lead singer Stubvy has a pretty good voice and a good command with the crowd but the songs were easily forgettable and seemed to just plod along with no real energy to them.

In total contrast were My Passion, they have a huge internet presence and judging by the crowd’s reaction a very strong fan base.  They’ve been around a few years now and released their second album this year.  Opener ‘The Edge of The World’ was met with riotous applause and was a very upbeat start to a constantly energetic set.  They have a strange mix of rock, screamo and electronica which sometimes made them sound a bit like Human League on Acid… but it works.  They’ve created something that doesn’t seem to be being done by anyone else and they’re definitely worth watching.

Madina Lake have had a very tough few years, for those of you who have been living under a rock and don’t know, Bassist Matthew was assaulted near his home whilst trying to save a woman from being beaten.  He was in a critical condition for days and was close to death.  Doctors had to remove a third of his skull to allow the swelling in his brain to go down and he also suffered a broken nose and jaw and a fractured skull.  He suffered memory loss and had to retrain himself to do many ‘normal’ things due to the neurological damage he had suffered, with this in mind the fact that he is back on stage jumping around is nothing less than a miracle and something that the band thoroughly believe would have been unachievable without the love and support of their incredibly loyal fan base.

The whole set is filled with positive messages, about defeating the odds and staying positive no matter what life throws at you and songs like ‘Here We Stand’ particularly speak to the young audience who feel and believe every word that the band sing.

They fly through the 16 song set without losing any momentum and seem to create the most vicious moshpit I have ever witnessed.  Fan favourites such as ‘Never Take Us Alive’, ‘Lets Get Out of Here’ and ‘House of Cards’ fit in perfectly with the new material from album ‘World War 3’.  The band definitely suffered with a few sound issues tonight and being the end of a tour I think Nathans vocals were suffering slightly but as usual they put on an amazing performance and the positive message that they’re putting out to the kids that go to the shows can only be a good thing.  It’s good to see them back!

TheGigJunkie