Therapy? + Hawk Eyes + Lafaro @ O2 Academy, Ncle

Unlike most gigs I go to this one was a bit of a group outing and as with anything involving more than two people organising things so we actually made it to the gig on time was erm…interesting. I’m not saying that my friends are disorganised, they’re not, just a little hard to pry from the bar on occasion but nonetheless we did manage to make it into the O2 Academy, get past security (yes I really did have a pass for my camera) put our bags and coats into the cloak room and run (well walk quickly) up too many stairs to make it into the venue in time to catch the last couple of songs from the first support act of the night Lafaro. Given the quality of what we heard I was sorry we had missed the rest of the act but it wasn’t too long before Hawk Eyes took to the stage so short sorrows were quickly forgotten. As always Hawk Eyes were great thrashing their way through crowd pleaser after crowd pleaser with the occasional quip and banter with the crowd including the news that Ginger from the Wildhearts has asked them to go on tour with him! Pretty exciting stuff and the band seemed quite surprised and pleased by it especially after the headline act of the night had asked them to play support tonight. When the lead singer got down from stage and performed from the middle of the floor was a real highlight which I would have loved to photograph and show you but sadly as I was using a SLR camera and the O2 has a silly ‘first three songs’ rule for them I couldn’t even though there were plenty of camera snapping away and even a professional film camera in evidence I was forced, under threat of having my camera confiscated, to simply watch…. No I don’t understand this one either but I am rather fond of my camera and the security guard was rather large. The fans loved the intimate interaction from Hawk Eyes’ frontman and he soon had a bevy of babes bopping away around him as the rest of the band thrashed away back on stage. They had been good at Split Festival this year but tonight they really were on top form and sounded even better in the venue.

As the crowd began to swell we shuffled out way to the front after various members of the group had popped off for a quick cig or to go to the loo or to go to the bar… Eventually we were in place and just in time as the lights dimmed and the one and only Therapy? took to the stage. There can be no doubt that this band have to be one of the best live performances I have seen all year. From the very start they had the crowd in a frenzy and kept the momentum going throughout the entire show which lasted the best part of an hour and a half.

Playing some new stuff mixed in amidst firm favourites it was one hell of a show. They have been on tour for several weeks now around Europe but there was no sign of fatigue or road weariness in their performance tonight. Part of this comes from over two decades of touring all over the World and part of it comes from their passion for performing live, their music, and the love and respect they have for their fans. There were mosh pits and crowd surfing the likes of which I’ve not seen for a very long time, it’s a strange thing with some crowds where they simple watch and cheer, but not tonight, tonight everyone let rip and you could see how much the band enjoyed the very visual and vocal appreciation of their music and performance by their fans feeding off it and passing it back to the crowd creating a high energy atmosphere that was almost tangible. Shouting out for the parts of songs that ‘The Dark Priest’ aka Michael McKeegan had written complete with crossed arms in the air was great as everyone joined in as well as the several epic sing along’s that left us all a little hoarse by the end of the night especially when they played their classic hit ‘Screamager’ towards the end of their encore. Thankfully the O2 didn’t pull the plug on tonight like they had with another rather famous band in London recently and it came as a bit of shock to the senses when the lights dimmed and the wonderful electrifying noise ended so engrossed and wrapped up in the show as we had been the silence after was almost deafening.

As we slowly regained our senses and staggered back down the copious amounts of stairs chased on by the security team we had just enough time to grab several souvenirs from the merch stalls and have a quick chat with the supporting bands before we were ushered out into the cold November night in search of a bar that was still open and willing to serve us in our sweaty and slightly tipsy state. But what a night it had been and for those who were there it has to be one of the most memorable most exhausting and most fun nights of the year. 9.4/10

All words and photos: Helen Todner