Sleeping With Sirens, Pierce The Veil and Issues – Rock City, Nottingham

April 8, 2015

Photos and review by Carrie-Anne Pollard.

Standing around surrounded by black clad teenagers, tonight’s line up could almost be seen as a triple headliner. No awkward unknown support band trying to hype up a disinterested crowd, all three bands have their own dedicated fan base, and judging by the sold out status of the show, they are out in force to support their heroes.

First up are Issues. Hailing from LA, they play a short but energetic set, opening with banger Life Of A Nine. The audience, familiar with the music soon whip up into a frenzy, with mosh pits breaking out across the floor and arms raised into the air. The band keep the chat to a minimum, instead fitting as many songs as possible into their set, which falls just short of half an hour. Never Lose Your Flames gets the front portion of the crowd shouting back all the words, while the middle becomes a circle pit at request of the band. Both Tyler Carter and Michael Bohn are on point, while bassist Sky Acord (who spends the whole set throwing himself around the stage) and the rest of the band are so tight tonight’s set is better than listening to them on record. They end with the massive Hooligans, which gets the biggest reaction so far, and rightly so!

Next up are the first of tonight’s rotating headliners, Pierce The Veil. They certainly know how to set the scene, with a huge curtain erected between audience and stage as soon as Issues leave, leaving the crowd to grow giddy and restless during the half hour change over. When the time finally arrives, the band is projected individually onto said curtain via silhouette to deafening screams of adoring fans. As they kick into Hell Above the banner drops, the crowd erupts and the confetti canons shower the room from front to back. Hold On Till May is a crowd pleaser, while the acoustic rendition of I’m Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket has the whole audience shouting back the words to Vic Fuentes, who stands alone in front of the 2000+ strong crowd.

The rest of the band join again for A Match Into Water, where bassist Jaime Preciado receives one of the biggest reactions of the night as he leans into the crowd. A young girl is treated to the best night of her life, when she is asked to join the stage and has the first few bars of Bulletproof serenaded to her. The set finishes on King For A Day, giving the audience their first glimpse of Sleeping With Sirens vocalist Kellin Quinn who reprises his guest spot on the song, much to the fans delight.

After the spectacle that was Pierce The Veil it’s hard to imagine Sleeping With Sirens being able to stand up to the task of following. Stripping right back they have no curtain to hide behind, no explosions of confetti and no introduction. Instead, Kellin Quinn takes to the stage first, leading straight into Kick Me, the roar of the crowd putting any doubt aside.

A Trophy Father’s Trophy Son receives a great reception, with the whole room chanting ‘Is this what you call a family?’ Mid set we are treated to an acoustic breather with songs Roger Rabbit and cover (originally by The Goo Goo Dolls) Iris, the latter sung by everyone in the crowd from start to finish. Sleeping With Sirens take advantage of the CO2 blasters left by Pierce The Veil, with in door clouds filling up the height of the stage throughout the set. During the encore of If You Can’t Hang, Quinn orders everyone to light up the room by putting their phones in the air, while ironically spouting a ‘live now, put your phones away’ message. Not letting their friends in Pierce The Veil have all the fun the set ends with shots of streamers reaching the balcony and back of the room.

All in all a great night for casual viewers (like myself) and die-hard fans alike.