Support: Boston Manor, Trash Boat
Where: The Institute, Birmingham
When: 3rd December 2015
Reviewed By: Jamie Kerr
Photography By: Jamie Kerr
Where to start with Boston Manor. They are a hugely promising talent on the UK circuit with their brand of emotive pop-punk, with two very impressive EPs already under their belts that have won them many admirers. The only issue I have with them is that when I've seen them play in the past, they never seem to be able to pull it off live, which is a real shame. Unfortunately it was much of the same again here tonight with a somewhat lacklustre performance that was probably not helped by a rather static crowd. They failed to play with any real conviction and seemed a little unsure of themselves, or maybe they're just a bit jaded after what will have been a busy year for them. On the plus side, they do however still sound very good live and should take comfort in that.
Trash Boat have also had a busy year but they seemed far from jaded. Right from the off they brought a lot of energy to the stage with plenty of crowd participation. I've been a big fan of them since I first listened to debut release Look Alive and it's still remarkable to see how much of a following they have been gaining in the short time they have been together. They're good fun and know how to get a room bouncing, largely helped by the fact they have written some catchy-as-can-be pop-punk combined with heartfelt lyrics that will always go down a storm. There's no denying that they were worthy support for tonight's headliners.
Despite the venue not really being anywhere near capacity, you could feel the anticipation for C!NCC! which more than made up for the weak turnout. I'm a big fan of the Parisians who can do no wrong in my eyes, their hardcore/pop-punk/easycore sound ticking all my boxes. I am, therefore, attempting to sum up their performance without bias...
With the crowd suitably warmed up, they come bouncing out opening with Haters Gonna Hate and you could already tell it was going to be an intimate show with frontman Bert Poncet spending a lot of time of the edge of the crowd barrier. I've always been a fan of when any band does this, even if you're not on the front row it still somehow makes any gig feel a bit more special.
It was an impressive performance from the quintet with plenty of crowd interaction and a pleasing setlist. The addition of bonus track Insanity from the album Pardon My French was a nice surprise as I often find too many bands fail to even consider deviating from their most well known tracks. My only criticism of their setlist would be that they only picked three songs from their latest album Get Lost, Find Yourself and around half of their set being made up of songs from their second album, a bit unusual considering they're touring in support of their most recent release. However I'll forgive them of this as their now legendary and flawless cover of Allstar was one of the highlights of the night. Set closer In Friends We Trust went down a storm and ended with what seemed like half of the crowd joining the band on stage; a fitting end and testament to how entertaining their performance was and the fun you can have at a small pop-punk gig.
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