Local Birmingham openers Mindstep were first on the bill. Mindstep are your average openers as shown by most of their performance. Yes, their vibrancy was average (excluding their amazing energy filled drummer – shoutout to them for lifting the set) but otherwise it was a lacked any audience-band reciprocity and was overall a little…dull. That’s not to say all of it was. Faster dance style tracks such as Peach lifted the set from time to time, but unfortunately the performance was brought down by a lack of stage presence from their main vocalist. A good voice, no doubt, yet it almost seemed as if they were afraid on that stage, whether it was a bad night or a bout of stage fright, Mindstep had their time and took it to a reasonable extent.
Next on the local support roster was pop-rock band Layover. With a clear definition between their old and upcoming material, it’s a clear factor of which ones the band prefer. While older tracks such as ‘Stage Fright’ had their moment, it was their upcoming unreleased material that truly stole the stage for Layover. A true overflow of emotion brought some of these fluctuating newer songs to life, and it’s something we can hopefully look out for in their upcoming studio recordings too.
Yet, if somehow you didn’t notice the bands before, you certainly did now. As Chapter And Verse flew through their set, with impeccably impressive vocal harmonies, insane stage presence and exuberant tracks to match, it’s clearly portrayed as to why they were chosen to support the full length of the tour. It’s rare to see bands consistently perform with vivacious power while including three part harmonies side by side, but through every track, be it ‘Slaves’ or even newer track ‘Magazines’, Chapter and Verse were there to get your attention, and that they did excellently.
Headliners Dream State are rising through in the world of rock, maybe not enough to sell out massive rooms, but enough to have a great performance and fan base to match. Dream State do not have the largest catalogue of material to hand, with one EP (Consequences) and two singles, meaning their set was a little shorter than one may hope, however, perhaps it was their insane performance from their opener ‘Burden’ to their ending track ‘Rebuild, Recreate’ that made time fly within the venue.
Interestingly though, it wasn’t just an average band, barrier, audience show. In a true Dream State fashion, vocalist CJ took off from the stage to sing fan favourites such as ‘White Lies’ amongst the crowd and in the pit, with some of the other band members joining along from time to time. It’s one thing to perform and sing to a few on the front row, but when you get fully integrated, singing their finale Rebuild, Recreate’ on the shoulders of a friendly mosher, you know you have a band who are there for enjoyment. This radiated throughout their set, and even though the set was a little short, there were more than enough highlights to fulfil the crowd, and either way, this is definitely NOT the last we will be seeing of Dream State.
Gig rating: 4.5/5
EUPHORIA OF BREAKDOWN 