Rival Schools and Trail of Dead - Electric Ballroom, April 15th 2011

I went to see these bands the other week and here is my review, which is published in full here 

http://www.rockfeedback.com/review/5022/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead-rival-schools-electric-ballroom-london-1542011/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whilst I had a preconceived bias towards seeing two of my all time favourite bands in one of my favourite venues before this gig even began, I was also somewhat fearful that tonight’s gig might not live up to my lofty expectations. It was nearly a decade ago when I first saw each of these bands headlining their own shows, and I was suitably impressed to repeat the experiences a number of times since. So what has changed in the last 10 years? Rival Schools have spent most of this in hiatus, only recently returning with a second album to follow the critically acclaimed United by Fate.  Yet despite an at times perplexing fall from critical grace, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead never really went away, releasing four albums in the period and shifting the line up multiple times since these eyes first gazed their way.

Yet the energy behind Rival Schools tonight seemed at odds with their long vacation, with songs from new album Pedals  blending seamlessly with those from their aforementioned classic debut. Playing the opener of new before moving to the opener of the old, their hour long set brought together the best of both records, actually making their new album sound like it could have come out the year after their first. When played back to back, ‘Undercovers On’ and ‘Good Things’ took me back to a time when bands like Rival Schools and their British counterparts in bands like Hundred Reasons and Hell is For Heroes were ruling the rock world. I was engrossed in my memories which were only shattered for a moment by Walter likening their touring habits to Bon Jovi, followed by an impromptu verse of said band, before closing with signature tune ‘Used for Glue’.

In terms of sheer performance, having seen Rival Schools perhaps 6 or 7 times, I’d say this was the best of the bunch - perhaps it was the inclusion of a raft of new songs, or simply because the band had put their differences to rest, and decided to just enjoy themselves again. Whatever the reason for their new found invigoration, it made it extremely easy for the audience to follow suit.

By contrast the start of Trail of Dead’s is slightly slow to get going, the crowd seeming somewhat ambivalent towards the trio of songs from new LP ‘Tao of the Dead’ they used to open.  However, after these three songs, they decided to take us back with ‘Will You Smile Again?’, at which point everything seemed to come to life.  This was as close to a Greatest Hits set as a band like Trail of Dead can ever hope to have.

The rest of their set drew almost exclusively from their first four albums, the highlights of which included an excellent, reworked version of ‘Relative Ways’ and a closing rendition of ‘A Perfect Teenhood’ with enough raw energy still present to blow me away.  On stage the band reminisced of their first UK show at the Highbury Garage, and mused on the reasons they seemed to be more liked over here than on the other side of the Atlantic.  Put it down to better taste, I guess.

I came away feeling I’d witnessed two bands still pouring the same amount of enthusiasm and vigour into their live performances as they ever have, with any prior apprehension I may have had that the pair may have past their best before date proved emphatically wrong.