REVIEW: KERRANG! RELENTLESS ENERGY DRINK TOUR IN CARDIFF (10/02/11)
The sold out Kerrang! Relentless Energy drink tour rolled into Cardiff’s sold out great hall for yet another year. Crowds came out and queued from as early as 10am to guarantee a good spot to watch American headliners Good Charlotte play their first show in the Welsh capital. This is the sixth Kerrang! tour and the third under the stewardship of Relentless, last year the tour was headlined by All Time Low and previous years have included bands such as Biffy Clyro and Coheed and Cambria. This year’s line-up featured an all American treat; Good Charlotte, Four Year Strong, Framing Hanley, and the Wonder Years taking on the eleven date tour. The Wonder Years kicked off the show with furious pop punk tunes which included energetic songs such as ‘Last Semester’ and ‘This Is All I Have Left’ from their 2010 album release upsides. The band are fairly unknown in the UK but done a great job warming up the crowd. This was the second time Nashville, Tennessee’s Framing Henley have toured the UK. The Kerrang! favourites who were filled with plenty of energy (maybe from an overdose of relentless) launched into a cover of Lil Wayne’s lollipop that got the crowd moving. The band performed like they should have been headlining the tour and proved that they are defiantly a band to be watching out for. Hardcore pop punk heroes Four Years Strong were greeted with deafening cheers and delivered a powerful and entertaining set. The five piece have an infectiously catchy sound that is enjoyable to listen to on record and live. Storming through tracks including ‘wasting bodies’ and ‘one step closer’ it was clear to see why the band have developed such a big following in the UK and the states. Opening with the intro from their new album Cardiology, thousands of screams came as expected for the band who have been in the music industry for as long as fifteen years. Playing a mixture of old and new Good Charlotte had a well-built set and classics from the bands catalogue emerged, ‘boys and girls’ and ‘the anthem’ got the band off with a great start. Lead singer Joel Madden had excellent interaction with the crowd and showed that even though the band have been out of the picture for quite some time they still know how to put on an incredible rock show.
After playing an impressive seventeen song set they didn’t tease the crowd with an encore and concluded their set with the abruptly crowd pleasing favourite ‘lifestyles of the rich and famous’. It was very clear that the audience, made up of young and old enjoyed the show. On paper the line up didn’t look spectacular in comparison to the tours previous years but when witnessed live it could easily have been the best tour Kerrang! have put together yet. More info at www.relentlessenergy.com
Words and Photos: Mike Lewis
