Escape The Fate – © Jason Broadhurst
Funeral For A Friend
With Support from Escape The Fate
Manchester Academy
28/10/2011
The main support for Funeral A Friend tonight is no other than American rockers Escape The Fate. They seem to have brought one hell of a fanbase along with them as half the room seems to be covered with Escape The Fate tees. With a nice blend of guitar driven riffs and solos along with the harmonies and screaming vocals you would assume they would be the ones headlining a venue of this size and stature. Having said that they are lacking one major thing, star quality and I can’t help think that unless they find whatever it is they will struggle to progress to bigger venues.
After Escape The Fate finished it was disappointing to see nearly half of the venue just disappear but credit to them its shows just how big of a pulling power they have it the UK.
Having witnessed a great performance from Funeral For A Friend earlier in the year I went into this gig with excitement and high expectations. However this time I was left disappointed. Despite an explosive start to the set with songs including my personal favourite This Years Most Open Heartbreak, it was clear that something was wrong. As the set progressed it became apparent that Matt Davies voice was getting lost on songs. He later went on to address the crowd by explaining that his throat wasn’t on its best behaviour and led them into a chant of “fuck you throat”. He followed on from that by getting the crowd to raise one lucky guy from the crowd onto everyones shoulders before then forming a circle pit around him. Despite a valiant effort they had to cut a few songs from the setlist to end earlier. It’s such a shame to see an artist in so much discomfort because they know themselves they can do better. Overall as a live band they sounded as solid and tight as they have ever done and are clearly enjoying playing music still after all these years.
More pictures can be found here
Funeral For A Friend – © Jason Broadhurst
