Theorist, Cut Short, Only the Righteous – The Boulevard, Wigan, 18/03/22
Theorist, Cut Short, Only the Righteous
The Boulevard, Wigan
18/03/2022
Live Review by Rob Sutton
Back at the Boulevard again, so I won’t mention anything about the venue as I have already raved about the place in previous reviews. The line-up for this gig goes in a slightly different direction from past events where all the bands are of a similar genre, rather than being a mixed night so we are met with a Metalcore / Hardcore crossover night. First up was supposed to be Saurr, but unfortunately the dreaded plague strikes again (pretty sure they are avoiding me as this is about the third time I’ve wanted to see these guys) nevertheless we are left with 3 bands to get those Metal tingles going.
Taking the first band honours was Only the Righteous, a band I have seen and reviewed before. Each time I watch these guys they do get better and better, with this set being no exception. They fill the stage with their own lighting rig, something that sometimes can be a bit unnecessary and for a venue this size, it kind of works but just seemed to be way more hassle than it was worth. Sadly for Only the Righteous the sound towards the beginning was not on their side, with both the Bass and the Guitars being barely audible and the backing tracks being way too loud for the entirety of this set. Once the bass and guitars were sorted, these guys began to shine, adding the typical Metalcore formula and in some cases throwing some pop/punk in there for good measure. I loved the addition of the Pop / Punk style and so did the crowd as much of the crowd began to dance happily to these. I enjoy my Metalcore and these guys do little wrong throughout their performance, they’re tight, catchy and overall very enjoyable. My only worry for them is when there are so many bands similar to them; they seem to get a bit lost in the scene, maybe more of the Pop / Punky influence.
https://www.facebook.com/OTRBANDUK
Liverpool based Cut Short are up next and these guys have quite a name behind them and this is apparent with the number of people who have turned out to see them. They kick off in a typical Hardcore bullish manner treating the crowd to breakdowns to swing your fists to and riffs to dance around like a loon. All seems good so far. Then we come to the reason why bands need to be less reliant on backing tracks… For Cut Short a technical difficulty brought their set to a grinding halt for what felt like 5+ minutes. Now I get that these things happen but for fuck sake someone do something?! They all gathered around the laptop doing something while the crowd just stood there bemused as to what was going on. This completely destroyed their set for me and all it took to save this was someone to chat to the crowd or a drum solo, heck I would have gone for a sing-along to the wheels on the bus if it meant I wasn’t standing there bored waiting for them to sort this out. Once things got back on track I can’t really fault their performance, great crowd interaction, ending on their strongest song etc. but honestly it didn’t matter, the set was done after the first song for me.
https://www.facebook.com/CutShortUK
Theorist up next and these guys also had a buzz about them, mostly down to a few members being from Cale Lane but also the fact they’re damn good! Unlike the previous two bands there was barely any reliance on backing tracks which was really nice to see in this genre. Someone had told me beforehand that Theorist sounded like Protest the Hero and you can see why. They have some lovely techy riffs from the guitars, complex drums and a cracking range of both clean and shouting vocals. I must also say that the tapping on guitars throughout was simply mind-blowing to watch. In fact the whole set was! Every instrument fitted beautifully to create something that I feel has been missing from the local scene for a long time. The crowd were well and truly behind these guys and so was I. the only thing I would have liked would have been an encore but they had run out of songs… It was a shame but maybe next time, eh?
https://www.facebook.com/theorist.uk
I enjoyed this gig and it was nice to go to Wigan almost knowing what to expect. I wouldn’t like every gig here to be a specific genre but to mix it up every now and again, works! No doubt I’ll be back here before long.
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