The Treatment/Western Sand/Velvetine/Delerium – The Joiners – 11^th December 2011

I only managed to catch the last 2 songs from opening act Delerium.  It’s clear to me that they’re heavily influenced by Pearl Jam and grunge and it comes across in the songs and the performance.  Their style of music is completely different to The Treatment so was a strange choice of support.  They did have some pretty heavy and pretty good guitar riffs in there, the tracks were quite long and repetitive and vocally they could use some work but all in all not a bad start to the evening.

Velvetine have been around a little while now and I’d heard good things about them before going along so I was looking forward to checking them out.  I wasn’t disappointed.  It’s obvious when watching them that they take inspiration from all the great rock and punk bands of the 60s and 70s and manage to bring all that together and give it a modern edge.  The opening riff of ‘One to Remember’ wouldn’t be out of place on a T Rex album and other tracks like ‘Nothing but Trouble’ could’ve quite easily been written by The Ramones.   They finished with covers of ‘Jumpin Jack Flash’ and ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ – which is usually a song I tire of hearing bands cover but they managed to do it justice.  It was an incredibly energetic performance and Velvetine are definitely one to watch next year.

Western Sand is a band I’ve seen a few times and probably the most talented band to come out of Bournemouth in a long time.  However, I think tonight they suffered following Velvetine.   Musically Western Sands wouldn’t be out of place being put next to Nickelback, Tyler’s style of performance and gravelly voice could definitely give Chad a run for his money.  I could honestly imagine listening to them in a stadium or at a festival.  However I don’t think they let their personalities come across when they’re playing, they didn’t look like they were enjoying themselves on stage and I think that fed into the audience a little.  These guys could go far they just need to look like they want to be there, especially after following such a hi NRG band…

The Treatment takes to the stage in a mass of hair, heavy riffs and riotous applause.  The near sell out crowd singing back every word of opening track ‘Drink, F**K, Fight’.   Debut single ‘The Doctor’ creates a mini mosh pit at the front and an equal amount of appreciation among the older members of the audience hiding away from the kids at the back.  This is one of the things that surprised me about tonight, the wide appeal that The Treatment has.  They are essentially a classic rock band, taking influence again from some of the great rock bands of the 60s.  They’re recent support slot with Alice Cooper shows that they don’t sound out of place next to that type of sound.  It shows in the audience as well, that side of their music appeals to the old rockers out there, looking for a bit of nostalgia for the bands they saw when they were young and the modern twist and they’re young years brings in the younger audience so they have a wide appeal which can only be a good thing!!  The performance tonight was flawless, singer Matt never misses a note and his vocals are effortless.  In a rare show of talent both guitarists show just how good they are by sharing solos, proving there are no egos in the band.  The whole set was full of energy and it’s clear that they were enjoying it just as much as the audience were.  ‘Just Tell Me Why’ had the whole audience swaying and ‘Departed’ was a definite fan favourite.  Closing track ‘Way Of The World’ left the crowd wanting more and shouting for an encore.  The Treatment definitely know how to put on a good rock show.

TheGigJunkie

One Response to “The Treatment/Western Sand/Velvetine/Delerium – The Joiners – 11/12/11”