Evil Scarecrow, Lullaby for a Unicorn, Severenth – The Tivoli, Buckley
Evil Scarecrow, Lullaby for a Unicorn, Severenth
The Tivoli, Buckley
17/03/2022
Live Review by Rob Sutton
My second time at the Tivoli in Buckley and it is a fantastically large venue with a decent stage and plenty of good viewing points. For me this is about the only good thing about the venue, the beer is ridiculously overpriced and the toilets may as well just be a hole in the floor! No toilet seats, no locks and they hadn’t been cleaned! (I was the first one to use them). This is frankly unacceptable for a venue, especially when you are hosting larger touring bands.
Rant over.
It was local boys Severenth kicking off the night. These guys are very much out of place on this bill being a more ‘serious’ Metalcore band but this doesn’t stop them giving it their all. Sadly another downfall of the venue strikes here as the sound for Severenth through the first half of the set consisted of just drums and vocals. Both were done well, but I would honestly like to hear the guitar and bass! Oh wait, they come in during the second half of the set, but this time with the vocals being barely audible and everything then got drowned out by the backing tracks! Honestly I would love to have reviewed these guys properly, but the only bits I could properly get my head around was the addition of some guitar tapping over the solos and an effective use of a vocal harmoniser for the new song. Sorry Severenth, I don’t think this was all down to you; the sound guy seriously cocked this one up!
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSeverenth
Lullaby for a Unicorn fared slightly better from the sound, as you could actually hear everything and the riffs really shone through beautifully. Not only, but that the guitar affects which add that little magic to the Unicorns worked a treat. After watching Lullaby at Hammerfest I was disappointed with the lack of charisma on stage. This was back tonight, which did elevate them somewhat but this sadly fell on deaf ears. I think the crowd either didn’t get the humour or didn’t find them funny. Perhaps they were just a bit too crude? To me a ‘comedic’ band should be entertaining to watch and even with the bassist dressed as a unicorn, he still looked like he couldn’t be arsed with the show and I don’t think the bass was even tuned correctly… As I said the riffs were solid, the drums were solid, but the whole show fell flat. I don’t even think the party poppers or the ‘cupping the unicorns balls’ would have saved them tonight. Oh and ending on a brand new song… rookie error.
https://www.facebook.com/rockmyunicorn
I’ll be honest, by this point I was fed up. The sound was crap, the crowd was thin and seemed completely disinterested with the support bands (probably the sound), I’d taken out a mortgage for the bar even though I was driving and I’d had a tetanus jab after using the toilets. Evil Scarecrow were the only thing standing in the way of this being a waste of time but luckily they quickly turned the whole night around!
Their choreography on stage is so rehearsed, but still looks natural. Their banter with the crowd was side splittingly funny, we had many free DVD’s (not VHS to the crowds disappointment) and an improvised song about Asda. Not only that, but they brought with them their usual arsenal of stage props and even a new one! The giant inflatable karate kid!
Back when they started, each song fitted together; they are now just a mix of whatever comes into their heads and I love it! Each song has a completely different story with a completely different way of getting the crowd involved. Even without their keyboardist, it worked fantastically with backing tracks and their light show was sublime (even setting off the fire alarm a few times). Their set could have gone on for another hour and I honestly wouldn’t have minded this. It was by far and away the funniest most entertaining set I have seen to date.
Evil Scarecrow saved this night; the venue seriously needs a clean, a rethink on bar prices and a new sound guy. Had Evil Scarecrow not been fantastic I would have asked for a refund.
https://www.facebook.com/Evil.Scarecrow
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Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rob Sutton and Ever Metal. All photographic images are the property of Beth Jones. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
