Lostprophets/Town

O2 Academy, Bournemouth

For the second year running Lostprophets rock Bournemouth’s O2 Academy as they did last year with support from The Blackout. So it’s a year on, lostprophets are back but this time with no album or single to promote. Not much advertising has gone into promoting this show…which seems odd for such a big band, but doesn’t seem to matter. They have such a large, loyal fan base that if the ‘prophets come to town, so will the fans. Tonight was no exception. (insert obscure Wayne’s World 2 reference here)

Before I get into the headliner’s set, I want to give an honourable mention to Wales’ newest up and coming rock band, Town. I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of them (not sure many people had) but they totally owned the stage. Apparently it was the biggest crowd they’ve ever played, but it didn’t show. They were tight, they had energy, they got the crowd going and they had some tunes. I don’t know what’s in the water over in Wales, but quality rock bands just seem to spring up all over the place. So check out Town if you get the chance, definitely ones to watch for the future.

After Town thoroughly got the crowd warmed up it was the turn of the band that arguably got Wales on the rock map over the past decade. The Academy is now packed with eager moshers and moshettes ready to welcome the boys to Bournemouth. They obliged by welcoming us with a brand new track “Bring ‘Em Down” which had all the Lostprophets trademarks with an electronic edge akin to Enter Shikari and Pendulum. It didn’t take long to get into the new song and even a bit of a sing-a-long which is always a good sign for a new song.

Overall the set list went from anthemic sing-a-long moments into riff driven, mosh pit craziness. There is just something about the choruses of songs like ‘Where We Belong’, ‘For He’s A Jolly Good Felon’ and ‘Rooftops’ that makes it almost impossible not to sing out as loud as you can. I’m a big ëprophets fan, but I’m not a big fan of ‘The Betrayedî or some of ‘Liberation Transmissionî but live those songs just work and I’ve changed my opinion a bit about those albums. That’s the power of live music, some songs just make more sense live.

There were some rather poignant moments of the set given recent events in certain cities in England. Songs like ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Felon’ (particularly the line “Mikey, oh where’d you get those Nikes?”!!) and ‘Everyday Combat’ seemed to sum up (unintentionally) recent events quite well and almost gave the gig a more communal feeling. Proof that a group of people getting together can do good and can be united for a good cause.

Highlights for me were ‘Last Summer’ as it’s a song that always makes me think of Bournemouth and is a great crowd pleaser. ‘Start Somethingî for the passionate delivery from all of the band ‘and the fact that it kicks some serious arse! (it’s a fact if I say ‘fact’ in the sentence) Finally the encore that all long time lostprophets fans wait for: ‘Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninjaî which topped things off very nicely indeed.

Set List
Bring ‘Em Down
To Hell We Ride
Burn Burn
Where We Belong
Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time)
A Town Called Hypocrisy
For He’s A Jolly Good Felon
Last Summer
Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)
It’s Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here
Last Train Home
Start Something
We Still Kill The Old Way
Everyday Combat

Encore:
Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja

Videos
Bring Em’ Down