Funeral For A Friend/Such Gold/Major League/I Divide

Sound Circus, Bournemouth

It is very hard to comprehend that tonight “Funeral For Friend” are actually going to play an intimate gig at the Sound Circus in Bournemouth. This band that have performed at large festivals all over the world and this year have decided to go back to their roots and perform a tour in smaller UK venues.

They have just released their 6th album “Conduit” an 11 track affair produced by the world famous Romesh Dodangoda, which recently reached number 2 in the UK Rock Charts. A fully line up of quality supports has been laid on to get the evening off to a fine start. Due to an early curfew due to it being a Saturday night the 1st band “I Divide” take to the stage at 6:15pm. In September Devon band “I Divide” were crowned Red Bull Bedroom Jam 2012 champions, from their performance tonight it is quite obvious why the earned this accolade, despite it being early and there only being a few people in front of them, they whip up a mini storm with some great well delivered songs, lead singer Tom Kavanagh puts massive efforts in getting everyone in the room involved in their short but well executed performance. The set is full of highlights including a great track from their debut album “What’s Worth More” called “The Arrival” which features some really powerfully played twin guitars backed ably with Tom’s suitably harmonious vocals. The band seem to really enjoy their performance and despite the early show time the music fans that turned up early were well rewarded.

I Divide 1–2–3

Next up from New Jersey in the U.S.A five piece punk popsters “Major League”, who really get things started with their energetic fast paced set which gets a few lively souls in the audience moving, their solid set features songs from their latest album “Hard Feelings” including new single “Walk Away” and a gem of a song called “Crossed Arrows” which really showed what these guys are capable of. The whole band worked really hard during this performance but sadly gained little respect back from audience with the majority just watching statically. Despite the rather disappointing audience reaction these guys here have really shown themselves worthy of a place on this tour, with a more interactive audience this could have been so different.

Major League 1–2

Such Gold came over from the U.S.A in 2011 as the main support during “The Wonder Years” tour where they gained themselves a nice following of enthusiastic UK fans, this tour with Funeral For Friend can only continue that momentum. Taking to the stage with an ever growing audience, they kick off with “2 Year Plan”, which is the opening number from their latest album “Misadventures”, lead singer Ben Kotin delivers some intense hard hitting vocals to a background of melodic guitars and colossal sounding drums. Once again the audience reaction is fairly flat, Ben tries to bait the audience into some sort of reaction and even tries to get a circle pit going which only features 2 members of the audience. The band’s frustrations are obvious and despite their best efforts this is not going to be a town that will be on any of their tour itineraries in the future unless they really want a challenge. They end with an energetic “Snapcase” cover, a song called “Energy Dome” which completes a disappointing night for them, but on to another town tomorrow, I’m sure they won’t loose any sleep over Bournemouth.

Such Gold 1–2–3

When “Funeral For A Friend” finally take to the stage it seems as though a completely different audience is in the room, as they launch into their 1st number the room erupts into a mass of bodies all moving together in unison. The positive reaction is a complete contrast to the rest of the evening but it just shows the respect that this band has from their fans after over 11 years together. The tracks from the new album such as “Grey”, “The Distance”, and “Travelled” all fit in to the band set well and give the band a new found energy. Vocalist Matthew Davies is on top form and seems to be enjoying performing in this intimate setting interacting with fans at every opportunity, encouraging “two step” circle pits and mass sing-a-longs. A nice emotional speech about the fact that Matthew wrote the song “Juneau” in his bedroom when he was just 16 and the song is about giving the middle finger to anybody who discouraged him from following his dreams, Matthew encouraged everybody in the audience to do the same, before the band belted out a totally uplifting performance of the song. The evening ended on a massive high with the chorus of song “History” being sang by everyone in the audience, the band left the stage with massive smiles on their faces, leaving the audience wanting more. Funeral For A Friend have returned in a big way and this massive 19 date UK Tour will give the band the confidence to move on to bigger venues and the Music Festival circuit to which the really deserve.

Funeral For A Friend 1–2–3

Set Lists
Funeral For A Friend
Juneau
She Drove Me To Daytime Television
Recovery
The Distance
Red Is The New Black
Roses For The Dead
Travelled
Conduit
You Want Romance?
The End Of Nothing
Grey
Damned It You Do, Dead If You Don’t
High Castles
Broken Foundation
Alvarez
Juneau
History

Such Gold
2 Year Plan
Higher Places
Understand & Forget
Gut Rot
Survival of The Fondest
Cages
You Are Your Greatest Threat
Sycamore
Storyteller
Locked Out Of The Magic Theater
Energy Dome(Snapcase Cover)

Videos