Every Time I Die & letlive. – Gig Review 8th January @ Phoenix Arts Theatre, Brisbane

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Paul 'Browny' Brown

Every Time I Die & letlive.
Phoenix Arts Theatre, Brisbane
January 8th, 2017
Supported by Counterparts and She Cries Wold

2017 is amongst us which means a new breed of bands touring the country for us to feast our eyes and ears on, luckily for myself the first dose included two of the best hardcore bands in the business Every Time I Die and letlive. Both respected in the industry and both willing to put on a show of epic proportions for fans, no matter what age. I say that because I had no other choice but to attend the All Ages gig due to work commitments and can I firstly say this before going any further…

MORE FUNDING NEEDS TO BE INVESTED IN ALL AGES VENUES IN BRISBANE. The venue we had today would have literally been hotter than hell, with lack of ventilation and cool air which made it hard at times not only for the punters attending, but the bands and their crew alike. There needs to be more places for the Under 18 crowd to be able to experience the same experiences we all have seeing bands and that was the only thing which let down this whole gig… anyway, now that’s out of the way here we go with the review.

The afternoon began late and I arrived at the venue just in time for letlive. to hit the floor (yes, they played old school style on the floor in front of the crowd) and without any warning they ripped straight into fan favourite “Renegade 86′” which got everyone pumped up for what was to come and immediately after this finished “Another Offensive Song” and “A Week Ago” off the band’s latest release If I’m The Devil… kept the momentum going and the fans pleased. During this time front-man Jason Butler addressed the crowd talking about how small an intimate the venue was just like the old days and how he respected everyone who turned uo.

“Younger” was up next an almost instantaneously the temperature of the room increased as the entire band played through what appeared to be a heatwave. High commendations to drummer Loniel Robinson for managing to maintain every drum beat throughout the entire gig, despite looking like he was about to pass out from exhaustion early into the gig.

Jason once again addresses the crowd talking about fake people who used to call him white boy in his neighbourhood and now they want in on his tour bus before the band busted out into “The Dope Beat” and the front-man launched himself into the hands of those watching him and “The Sick, Sick, 6.8 Billion” kept the fans charging and wanting more. It was at this time I felt the heat too much and had to get some fresh air, but through the windows the band played on with “27 Club” and “That Fear Fever” coming through crystal clear. I don’t know about those living next to this live music venue, but if I was there, I’d be lapping up this free gig, because the sound was coming out almost as clear as it was front and center.

As the band approached the end of their set you could tell by this point they were pushing through as best as they could, the sound was a little off, but you get that with the type of venure we were at. “Banshee (Ghost Fame)” was up next with Jason running backstage to look for something to jump off, he found a wall and climbed it as there wasn’t really anything he could launch himself off, a she has done in the past.

The gig came to a slow end with Jason addressing the crowd one final time with an honest, heartfelt message about respecting women. He ended it by saying if anyone disagreed with him, he’ll be out the back at the merch table ready to punch you in the face before dedicating the next song to his Mother which just so happened to be “Muther” featuring sing-a-longs by the crowd and a slow decline into what we thought would be the end of their set. how wrong we were as “Good Mourning, America” starts up the band gives their all one last time and the feeling is reciprocated by the crowd. As the band finish their last note, Jason (who at this point stripped off his shirt, covered in sweat) had already left the building, amidst a round of applause.

Following on from this, you would have been crazy to imagine Every Time I Die following on with a full set, given the temperature of the room and craziness of those in attendance, but nope, they came out and faster than a speeding bullet and opened the mental up close and personal performance with “Glitches“, and may I say, front-man Keith Buckley was looking rather Jesus like in appearance these days, which can I say, pleased the masses of fans who (like the fictional character from the Bible) would have got down on their knees and done anything for him. I don’t think we were quite ready for the band to bust out “We’rewolf” so early in their set but 2nd song in we were all singing at the top of our lungs “Which one of you sons of bitches, is gonna make me feel aliveeee” in unison and it was one of the most enjoyable things to ever happen to me at 7:20pm. Sticking with the older songs “Apocalypse Now and Then” kept everyone moving and jumping all over the place, if not into each other. Over my side of the room guitarist Jordan Buckley was waving his fresh as fuck mullet around for all to see, using the room he had (which was less than a meter in front of the mosh) to start his own one man circle pit which was hilarious to watch. New drummer Daniel Davison did a pretty great job taking over from the recently departed Ryan “Legs” Leger and is perfectly suited to the furious force that the band is now infamous for.

Keith Buckley then points our focus to the legendary 5 year old who was making the most of the All Ages rule to which he was greeted by a round of applause by those in attendance. The fusiousness exceeded expectations as “Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space” began and holy shit this just sent everyone into a frenzy screaming “I want to be dead with my friends” as loud and proud as possible. “Thirst” and “Decayin’ with the Boys” followed suit and the entire room was moving at this point. For one of the most hard hitting songs on the band’s new album Low Teens, “Petal” sounded incredible Live and was so good to witness first hand the emotion which went into writing it.Keith gave his all telling the story about his daughter’s rough and hectic entry into this world.

Another fan favourite “Bored Stiff” brought the tempo back up again and the sing-a-longs were almost doubled with everyone in front of the band wanting a go at the mic which seemed to be passed around more than an STD at a rave. An average sized circle pit was formed with the majority of attendees choosing to sit this one out. Its very rare to hear the guys play anything from their New Junk Aesthetic album so you can imagine the look on everyone’s faces when “The Marvelous Slut” started up and by this point, we were only halfway through the band’s set for the night.

Former encore song “The New Black” reared it’s ugly head earlier than usual which was welcomed with open arms and bellowing voices [check out the footage below]. Having never witnessed “Ebolarama” live before (that i can recall) it was great to see the band still paying respect to their back catalogs and still managing to nail it like it was still fresh in their minds, especially with “Floater” from the band’s Hot Damn! album making an appearance and sounding so fuckin gooood.

Once the band comes to a stop, you can tell they’re struggling. The amount of sweat all over the floor was evidence of this but also Jordan had thrown up at least twice by now and his guitar was dripping with what looked like a combination of sweat and water dripping onto the floor beneath him. Keith told the crowd they put out a video for this song recently and the band began playing “It Remembers” which features Panic! at the Disco‘s Brandon Urie on the album, however with the lack of Urie in front of us Keith took on the clean vocals provided by the Panic! front-man and holy shit he nailed it. The song also slowed down the pace of the night for the first time since they took to the ~~stage~~ floor. The first two songs we heard from the new album “The Coin has A Say” and “C++ (Love Will Get You Killed)” rolled off each other, like sweat off guitarist Andy William‘s bulky as fuck wrestling arms. Seriously, this guy is a unit nowadays.

As we started on the final stretch of this epic 19 song set, the boys had one more surprise up their sleeve, bringing “Off Broadway” out from retirement for long time fans to lap up in full force before showcasing new track “I Didn’t Want to Join Your Stupid Cult Anyway” which was greeted with crowd surfing fans and mic grabbing buffoons wanting in on the action. Usually by this time the band would walk off stage and come back to play us two more songs for an encore, but considering they had nowhere to hide they went straight into “No Son of Mine” from The Big Dirty before wrapping things up in a nice neat package with “Map Change” from their latest release.

Like their fellow tour mates letlive., once that final note was played out the entire band ran off the floor and headed straight for the door outside to the cold fresh air which awaited us all. As I walked away, buzzing ears, sore back and massive headache, I can’t ever take away the experience of watching one of my favourite hardcore bands, who are just dominating across the globe, merely centimeters away from me and still seeing them appreciate all their fans after all this time.

I highly recommend seeing this tour. You will NOT regret spending the money considering the two tier bands headlining it. You hardly ever see shit like this in Australia so grab your wallet and get along. Brisbane 18+ legends, you’re all up next! – Browny (@brownypaul)

Setlist

Glitches

We’rewolf

Apocalypse Now and Then

Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space

Thirst

Decayin’ With the Boys

Petal

Bored Stiff

The Marvelous Slut

The New Black

Ebolarama