Jake Longhurst took a trip to The Bodega to see Scowl...
The day before a bank holiday is always treated with a little bit of reverence - for example, you know you can have a wild night on a Sunday, and yet you still have an extra day before you have to be back at work! I feel this mindset pervaded the crowd immensely for what, you will soon see, was an evening of immense fun and enjoyment.
Generation opened the evening, four years on from their last Nottingham show, with an upbeat and intensely enjoyable brand of punk. As a completely new band to me, the Mancunian five-piece first struck me as being very similar sonically to Chubby & The Gang, so any fans of them should absolutely be checking out Generation! They gave us a great opening to the evening, setting the tone and getting the crowd warmed up.
Acting as main support on the tour was Out Of Love, who inhabit a more emo-tinged version of punk rock a la Trashed. They were also great, although definitely took the energy down a little bit and personally didn’t quite hit as hard as Generation. However, they had some great songs in their set, and I can see myself really turning back onto them with a little bit of listening, so they’re not ruled out of my Spotify by any means!
They played like a band on fire, with enough energy to power a small town
However, the headliners blew both supports out of the water. Scowl were excellent, especially for someone who’s grown up with the hardcore scene being my spiritual home. They were explosive, lighting up the room within all of five seconds and causing a mosh pit to erupt virtually instantaneously. Half of the attendees (yours truly included) ended up stage diving at some point during their set, and the outpouring of love from audience to band and vice versa was overwhelmingly powerful.
Their setlist comprised thirteen songs in about thirty minutes, as all good hardcore gigs should, and went from a cover of The Ramones’ Do You Wanna Dance to all five of the songs on their latest EP, and most of their previously released material. Opening with Bloodhound going straight into Shot Down was a particular highlight for me, as well as the three-song run of Retail Hell, Roots, and Four Walls.
They played like a band on fire, with enough energy to power a small town, and when they return to the UK in June for Outbreak Festival you can bet your house on me being right up the front for what will surely be one of the sets of the summer.
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