Taste of Chaos Tour - Funeral for a Friend,The Used,Killswitch Engage,Reggie & The Full Effect,Rise Against,Story of the Year Live Review @ Academy [1, 2, 3 and Club Academy] (Manchester) - 06 Nov 2005

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Live Review

Starting America's contribution to matters and commencing the chaos was the former Get Up Kids Keyboardist; James Dewees' outfit; Reggie and The Full Effect. Friction effecting metal and pungent punk extracted from the zany and volatile, recent album 'Songs Not To Get Married To' was fired out with precision. This included the crushing together of Good Riddance, Snuff, Bad Religion and Black Flag to make the defiant and gripping; 'What The Hell Is Contempt'.

Half the early crowd took no time in getting into the spirit of "Reggie" and co, but for others who looked on a little lost; it was maybe an emotion too far. The longing and throbbing; 'Take Me Home Please' won universal respect, ensuring that several people heed of the song title and did that with the aforementioned album.

The rasping Rise Against came on and while not having the broadness and enigmatic presence of the above band, they obviously had some fans in the house threw themselves into a set of no burgeoning punk. The most commercial sound so far came crashing out of the speakers like shoppers into Harrods for the first day of the January sales, as St.Louis, Missouri's; Story Of The Year reacted well to a knowledgeable crowd. Latest single; 'We Don't Care Anymore' was sang right back at them. Pleasing pop punk was toed along by the amiable and heart propelled vocals of Dan Marsala, helped by roving bass lines to add a bit of post grunge to the set.

Raucous metal fuelled intensity hurled out by Killswitch Enagage, threatened to crush the spirit of those who came along because they had heard 'History' by 'Funeral For A Friend' on the radio and knew of The Used, due to Kelly Osbourne's former romantic entangling with Bert McCracken. Bolting between the intensity of Dillinger Escape Plan and the nasal vocals plus no shit metal onslaught of Spineshank, this Howard Jones fronted quintet threw everything into the stand out and abrasive offering; 'A Bid Farewell'. This put their drive and sonorous sound in a nutshell and helped to seal a set that would have been hailed as riotous, in other circumstances.

It was time to catch my breath as I retreated towards the back of the venue for The Used and for a moment, I thought I was stood next to an angry looking Kelly Osbourne, but on a second look it was just bin full of empty pints of Carling. The Used's brand of howling post-rock was given a needed kick by the energetic presence and riffs of guitarist Quinn Allman. He pushed the energetic, slightly haunting and howling 'Take It Away' to another level. The Used did go some way to justifying the attention that has been heaped on them and certainly made their fans, of which there were quite a few in attendance; happy and released.

The headlining Welsh, heart wrenching quintet 'Funeral For A Friend', wasted no time in proudly parading numbers from their 'Casually Dressed In Deep Conversation' album, like 'Red Is The New Black' and 'Rookie Of The Year' to keep their hardcore fan base contented from the outset. The venue was a picture of youthful release, as the cherub-like Mat Davies hurled himself into latest album favourite 'Monsters' that is seen as a classic now. Matters slowed down and took on a yearning and thoughtful mood with utilization of the latest single 'History'. 'Streetcar' towards the end meant that the headline act had earned their corn and accolades continuing to grow as a passion filled band. However, Reggie And The Full Effect and Killswitch Engage will probably take more from the evening on account of making their sound palatable to a whole new audience.

David Adair