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Kerrang! Relentless Energy Tour Blog with All Time Low, The Blackout and Young Guns
News from the UK where the Kerrang! Relentless Energy Tour is on the road with an amazing line-up of Zildjian bands: All Time Low, The Blackout and Young Guns.
Rian Dawson with Baltimore pop-punks All Time Low are headlining the 11-date UK and Ireland Tour, joined by Welsh screamo six-piece The Blackout with Snoz on drums and one of our newest Artists, Ben Jolliffe, with Young Guns.
So what's life like on one of the most rock 'n roll tours on the year?? Ben from Young Guns kept us in the loop for the first part of the tour (below), now, Gareth from The Blackout gives us the low-down from the road:
Cardiff University- great hall 29 january 2010
so, having read bens blogs, I think you can tell that this tour so far has been soooo good, and tonight in cardiff should be no different!
I start the day off at home, as we had the day off, and make my way to cardiff on the train, which seems like a bad idea as all the way down I was constantly having photos with kids who were coming to the show! Its all good tho, I like hanging out and chatting.
Show days are renowned for being very slow and unproductive, and today was no different. After All Time Low do their soundcheck, we get our gear onstage ready for our soundcheck, before we head off to do a signing in the city centre.
The signing was amazing! I still find it hard to believe that anyone actually cares about my band, let alone que up from the night before just for the chance to meet us! There must have been a few hundred kids at the signing, which meant it was difficult to see everyone in the hour allocated. But we got there in the end!
The show itself was superb. Normally, even tho for us it's a home town show, it's always a bit difficult as there are always a lot of "haters" there to see you fail. Not today tho, there were so many people there just to enjoy the night and have fun, it made for an awesome spectacle. It mad it all the more special that our parents and close fiends were there too.
This all meant that Birmingham tomorrow had a lot to live up too.....
Birmingham O2 academy - 30 january 2010
so I drove to birmingham, after spending another night at home, and got to the venue just in time for soundcheck! It was bitterly cold but there were still a massive amount of kids outside the venue just waiting for bands to turn up. I am forever telling these kids that they must be mad to turn up so early, so I proceeded to make them all hot tea to keep them warm!
It was another day, which also meant another signing. Again, a load of kids turned up again, with some saying they had been waiting for 10 hours to see us. Its awesome, as its these kids that give us the opportunity to do what we do.
From the signing, I should have guessed what lay in store for us during the show. It was unbelievable. The best crowd of the tour by far for us. Saying that, they seemed to go wild for every single band. But I have never seen a crowd go that nuts for us in all the time we have been playing! They sang every word, expended all their energy and just generally had a great time.
The show was then nearly out done by the after show, where us, Young guns, My passion and All Time Low spent the night dancing away to all manner of songs into the wee hours. Good night all in all I think.......
Leeds O2 academy - 31 january 2010
after last nights events, it was always going to be a struggle to get up and about today. But, with it being a sunday, a roast dinner was in order for sure.
A few of us left the bus at around 1pm to go for our roast beef in a local pub, to be met by about a hundred or so kids waiting outside the venue for photos and signatures. After a load of tired looking pics and wayward signatures, we were tucking in to the sunday delights and watching football before you knew it.
I got to watch Young Guns and My Passion from the balcony tonight, which was amazing, as sometimes watching from side of the stage you don't get the full live impact. Both bands ripped it up tho.
Tonight was a little different for us, as we had a pre-show movie to help motivate us. It was a movie called hotrod, about a stuntman who tries to raise money to help his sick stepfather back to health, so he can kick his ass! Strange I know, but great none the less.
The show itself was amazing again. Not as good as Birmingham but still amazing. These northaners know how to bring the noise for sure, and the energy was relentless from the off. Even tho we had some slight technical problems, it was still an awesome show all in all. So good, it prompted our singer Sean to climb the the side speaker stack and hang from upside down.
Glasgow 02 academy - 1 february
we arrived in glasgow to gloomy skies and freezing cold conditions. Welcome to scotland eh? And it didn't get any better as the venue was sooooo cold all day. The My Passion boys were so void of heating that they had to keep the shower in their room on all day so that it gave them some heat.
We had another signing today at pulp in the city centre, to which another 2-300 kids tuned up too. It was an amazing turn out again, as All Time Low had a signing at the same time in a different part of the city.
We got back to the venue about 6:30, just in time for the doors, and to watch both opening bands. Then it was time for us to hit the stage. We always have a blast in glasgow, its a celt thing I think, and the kids here are mental.
The noise was incessant all the way through and never stopped throughout our set, especially when we mentioned that some of the english cities had been very good as well. The set ended with most of the band, apart from me, in the crowd with the kids. All in all, it was a great show.
Afterwards, we all decided to make the night a little better by going out to the Garage; one of Glasgow's best rock nightclubs. And it was messy. Every person from every band and their crew was having a blast, and we took over the dance-floor. It was a raucous evening which went on til the "wee" hours, glasgow stylee.
Day off, Newcastle - february 2nd
we drove to newcastle through the night from glasgow and woke up outside the venue. We have been lucky on this tour as most of the venues have been very close to their town centres.
After everyone was awake, we all made our way down the end of the road to a weatherspoons pub so we could all indulge in our day off ritual: lots of meat! Its always the same on a day off, loads of meat, followed by a meat coma!
The day was ended by a trip to the cinema to see the new George Cloony film, accompanied by copius amounts of popcorn, sweets and massive drinks. Good times.
Newcastle academy - 3 february
most days on tour are spent just waiting around for load in, waiting around for soundcheck and waiting around to play. Today, was no different. It was increasingly slow which makes for lethargy and tiredness.
But, I always find that an extensive warm up always gets the blood flowing and the adrenaline pumping. So I started at least half hour earlier today, just to get some motivation. And it worked a treat. By the time it was time to go on, I was like a caged animal.
And newcastle didn't disappoint. Straight from the off, they made us feel like they had only come to the show for us, which was awesome! They crowds in newcastle are always very passionate and vocal and tonight was no different.
Manchester Academy - 4 february
as with other days, today was started by me exiting the bus, half asleep, being greeted by a load of fans outside the bus. But its manchester, which means the kids are normally amazing and very polite. It makes doing this worthwhile when we get to meet so many awesome kids who are influenced by what we do.
We had another signing again in the Arndale shopping centre, and it was super rammed again. So much so, that we were signing things for over a hour and a half, and there were still kids left afterwards which we couldn't see too, as the shop had to close. I hate it when this happens, as, even tho it isn't our fault, you cant help but feel guilty.
Always, when we play manchester, we get a fantastic reception and an insane crowd. And today was no different. For some of us, this was the best show of the tour so far by a long way.
From start to finish, the kids were singing every song back, had loads of energy, and were generally just awesome to play for. From where I was sat, it looked as tho every person in the room was having a good a time as we were. What a show.
After the show, most of the bands and crew, all went for the annual manchester curry that always happens when we play the academy. There must have been about 30 people there to enjoy the indian delights, which no doubt will prove interesting on the buses/in the vans tomorrow............
BEN'S BLOG:
DAY OFF - Thursday 28 January 2010
Today we are relaxing at home and sorting out merchandise for the rest of tour. Tomorrow we have Cardiff which is one of the most exciting places for us on this tour, we love it there. Ian Watkins (Lost Prophets) and Sean Smith (The Blackout) are DJing a club after the show so we will have a good bonding session with all the bands. Hopefully not too good so we can actually get to Birmingham the next day in one piece! Oh and most importantly 'The Blackout' will be bringing their micro scooter for the rest of tour so I'm looking forward to some micro scooter stage invasions!
Stay tuned...
Norwich UEA - Wednesday 27 January 2010
We had never properly played Norwich so we had no idea what to expect. I think all the bands didn't expect this gig to be the best of the tour. But it was! When we played we couldn't believe how vocal the crowd were. One of the best feelings of being in a band is going somewhere new and seeing/hearing people singing along to your songs. It was very touching. Our singer Gustav crowd surfed towards the end and came out with ripped jeans, a ripped shirt and with only one shoe! I think ! spent the rest of the gig laughing!
Bristol Academy - Tuesday 26 January 2010
We arrived today to straight away meet some lovely people from Total Guitar to do an interview and a photo shoot. Then we sound checked then rushed off to a signing down the road in a Blue Banana shop. We were originally not looking forward to the signing as you always have the constant fear of no-one turning up, but thankfully there were a lot of people there. 'The Blackout' were doing their signing at the same time so we had a lot of fun throwing stuff and them. Again it was really nice meeting the fans that made the effort to come all this way to meet us. Despite one fan telling me about his girlfriend wanting to commit suicide...not an easy conversation to have! After that we rushed back to the venue and started warming up. This time our backstage was shared with 'My Passion' and it was the size of a shoe box so it wasn't as relaxing as it could have been. The gig went well and unsurprisingly the crowd were great! We really liked this venue as it had many different floors so you could see people from every angle.
Southampton Guildhall - Monday 25 January 2010
This venue was huge! Right across the road was a venue we played a year ago which was a tiny pub and the stage backed onto the main window, so whilst drumming I had drunken on-goers shouting stuff. So to say the least it was lovely to be back a year later at this venue! Annoyingly there was a sound check curfew so we didn't get a proper sound check which is never great before a gig. But nevertheless it went well. Again the crowd we great. We could really tell that this was a great tour to be on for crowds. They didn't want to stop going crazy...made me feel very unfit and old! We had a friend come down who has a friend who was ill in hospital, so between us and 'The Blackout' we gave them free signed shirts and filmed messages etc. I was very, very happy to see we had a grand piano backstage. As you could imagine we had a lot of fun with that!
DAY OFF - Sunday 24 January 2010
We got the ferry back to England today with the 'My Passion' boys. Then headed to Southampton.
Dublin Academy - Saturday 23 January 2010
It's not often you play the same venue two nights in a row so it was great to be able to leave our equipment set up in the venue. After a few coffees we headed down to the venue. There were a few people that came to last night's show and as they left the venue they started queuing for the next night straight away! That's dedication! Again this show was incredible. The crowd were just as energetic as last night. We were on second tonight so we had a bit more time to relax/play Xbox and get ready for the show. Tonight was a great success. We went for a few drinks with 'All Time Low' afterwards, it was nice to get to know them properly.
Dublin Academy - Friday 22 January 2010
We arrived on the ferry the day before so we had the whole day to relax and get ready for the show. We headed down to the venue early and met all the crew and bands. Straight away we could tell this was going to be a great tour!
We met some fans outside who had been queuing throughout the night before for the show, so it was nice to meet them and see how excited and cold they were. Our dressing room was one of the better ones we've had. We had a massive room with X box consoles, Foosball and air hockey to keep us entertained. Not forgetting loads of food and beer. It was hard to leave that room!
Once the doors opened the crowd flocked in very quickly and within minutes the place was packed.
We opened tonight's gig and it was incredible. It's not often the crowd are energetic for the first band just half an hour after doors, but they were. They really made it an amazing start to the tour and if the other shows are anything like this we'll be very happy! After our set we watched 'My Passion' who were very impressive, followed by 'The Blackout', who had an amazing lighting rig and really put on a great performance. Then 'All Time Low' came on and again played amazing. The crowd were definitely making the most of the hours waiting in the queue. After the show we went outside and met the fans for about an hour which was amazing to see how grateful they were to meet us. After that we had a few drinks with 'The Blackout' and 'My Passion' and danced the night away.
For more information check-out:
All Time Low
The Blackout
Young Guns
Kerrang! Relentless Energy Tour
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