36 Crazyfists – Electric Ballroom, London – 17th February 2015

First up tonight were SHVPES (who were formerly known as Cytota).  They kicked off as they meant to go on, with a fast heavy set (basically hardcore).  The shouting style vocals and lack of any noticeable melody meant I wasnt over-impressed by them, and clearly the crowd thought the same since there was a large empty area near the stage as most of the audience stayed further back and stood looking unconvinced.  To be fair, they did manage to get a moshpit going, but since there were only three people involved it’s fair to say it wasn’t the most impressive pit I’ve seen this year.

Next up were All Hail The Yeti (AHTY), who straight away demonstrated their musical superiority over Shapes.  Their music is Metal rather than hardcore and clearly appealed to the audience a lot more as the crowd had moved much closer to the stage for their set.  Again it’s a heavy set, but the songs were good with nice riffs and tunes.  This was definitely a good set and you could see much of the crowd enjoying themselves.

36 Crazyfists

Finally though it was time for Alaskan band 36 Crazyfists, and by now the venue was packed in tight down near the front as fans got in a good position to watch the headliners.  Where AHTY were a huge step up from SHVPES, so too 36 Crazyfists took things up another level from the AHTY set.  It’s a really high energy performance as they race through their set with hardly a pause between songs, so the crowd energy level never gets chance to dip.  The crowd are clearly loving every minute of it with many of them singing along, and even a few crowd-surfers coming over.
When it came time for the inevitable encore (there’s no way this crowd was going to let them leave without doing one), they decided to get a fan up on stage to sing the first song with them, and you have to give the guy credit – he did a great job and remembered all the words.  I was surprised that Brock actually stopped singing for part of it and let the fan sing solo, but since he knew the words it worked well.  That’s one fan who will have gone home after a gig he’ll never forget.

36 Crazyfists put in a superb show and All hail the yeti impressed me too – a great night.

36 Crazyfists setlist

Vanish
At the End of August
Whitewater
I’ll Go Until My Heart Stops
The Heart and the Shape
Also Am I
We Gave it Hell
Skin and Atmosphere
Bloodwork
Midnight Swim
Reviver
Sorrow Sings
Swing the Noose
Time and Trauma

Encore:
Destroy the Map
Circle The Drain
Slit Wrist Theory

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About Ant May

I spend half my life at gigs or festivals and the other half writing the reviews and editing photos, and somehow find time for a full time job too. Who needs sleep - I've got coffee.