Papa Roach – The Oxford Academy – 17 June 2009

Words by Brendan Monteiro / Photos by Marcus Maschwitz

Download Festival is over, and you would think that all the excitement would be over too, but as the lights dim and the sounds of ‘Days of War’ echo around, the buzz of this Oxford crowd is growing fast.  Jacoby enters the stage as the rest of the band, completed by Tobin Esperance on bass, Jerry Horton on guitar and Tony Palermo on Drums, submerge themselves into ‘Change Or Die’.  The opener’s thrashy ‘in your face’ blare has every hand in the house reaching for the roof.  The way Papa Roach perform is on another level, and it is this level of performance that shows that they put there all in to every single show.  ‘Broken Home’ is the first glimpse of earlier material, and fans young and old scream in unison to every word.  It’s one thing to see so many fans tonight singing the lyrics to a song as if it means the world to them but to see that on the singer is just awe-inspiring.  He sings this song like it should be sung, the words are so deep and hurtful and the conviction in his eyes lets you know he means every word.

The reception from the crowd is phenomenal, with kids as far back as can be seen rocking out, and it’s this that the band feeds off.  Jacoby is hungry for it, you can see it in every move he makes, he gives every part of the audience a piece of himself, back and forth along the stage as he pounds his way into the hearts of everyone in earshot.  It’s his stage  tonight, and his presence is hugely felt throughout the entire evening.  It’s clear to see that he belongs on the stage, that he could easily make any stadium his home and still give everyone that personal touch, and with Jerry and Tobin slaying all night and Tony deafening everyone with his cannon like drumming it’s a wonder why they aren’t on an arena tour right now.

Standout moments had to be the altered intro to ‘Dead Cell’, the immense wall of death that left some fans bloodied and ready for more and the humbleness felt throughout the night, I actually lost count of how many times Jacoby thanked the crowd and it’s nice to know that even a multi platinum selling machine like Papa Roach can still show all those human qualities and be thankful for it all.  The show ended in a high with an amazing encore of ‘Scars’, ‘I Almost Told You That I Loved You’ and of course ‘Last Resort’, at the end of it all I left feeling like I hadn’t just been to another show, but rather that this show was a pure spectacle.

This post is tagged Jacoby Shaddix, Jerry Horton, Oxford Academy, Papa Roach, Tobin Esperance, Tony Palermo