Madina Lake at The Forum
Madina Lake – The Forum – 8 March 2010
Support: We Are The Ocean, Mayday Parade, Adelaide
Words by Brendan Monteiro / Photo’s by Imelda Michalczyk
With a queue running the length of the venue and then some, there are some doubts as to the reception that tonight’s openers Adelaide are going to receive. Contrary to my thoughts there is a good crowd rooting for them and from my first listen of the Kent boys it’s no wonder. They play an impressive set with minimal help in the lighting and sound department, but it seems that its the norm for such an early start these days.
Next up on the bill is the Floridian pop punkers Mayday Parade who bounce onto the stage to a deafening screech of 14 year old girls going berserk. Derek Sanders leads the way with set opener Jersey but it’s Black Cat that really gets the hysteria rising, so much to the point where I need my earplugs. Three Cheers For 5 Years gives time for a bit of air before they get back into the swing of things with When I Get Home You’re So Dead. Mayday Parade have great tone, catchy songs and lot’s of energy about them but I think that they’re greatest assist is frontman Derek, he lacks all of the pretentiousness and arrogance that a lot of pop punk frontman like to flaunt. In between songs are met with sincerity and gratitude rather than irritating banter and it’s this that I really like, they just get down to the point of actually playing the show instead of trying to look cool. Mayday also have to be honoured that they had the loudest single fan, the girl that managed to catch Jake Bundrick’s drum stick almost tore the roof off with her siren like yelps.
Local heroes We Are The Ocean are main support and you always know it’s going to be a good show when you see there name on the roster, yet some people have their doubts as to whether they will perform tonight due to their rigourous touring schedule lately. Dan, Alfie, Liam, Jack and Tom take to the stage and blow everybody’s doubts right out of the water with a cracking version of Look Alive, Alfie’s rapid running lead riff is the ideal motive to get any crowd moving and tonight it does just that. Dan and Liam juggle the vocals with ease while Jack and Tom keep the cadence at a constant high.
WATO seem to impress me more and more every time I see them and although some people viewed the worry’s of such a busy schedule, I think that it’s the constant touring that is fine tuning this band into one hell of a machine. They end off with Nothing Good Has Happened Yet, and with a performance like this it’s not hard to imagine that they could be headlining venues like this soon enough.
The lights go out for the final time tonight and everyone knows what that means: with a spacey ambient intro and a crowd in frenzy, Matt, Mateo and Dan take to the stage. Finally as the unmistakable sounds of Never Take Us Alive start circulating around the Forum Nathan leaps on to the stage. As far as opening song choices go Madina Lake hit the money, Never Take Us Alive is such an anthemic and uplifting song, everyone who knows the words is screaming as loud as there lungs will let them.
You can’t bleed,
Can’t touch,
Can’t take us down.
You’ll never take us alive
From this moment on ML never let the pace drop for even a fraction of a second, Mateo and Matt are in constant circulation around Nathan and Nathan himself is like an energiser bunny. They blast through Adalia next, Dan laying down some insane groove while the audience gets louder and louder. One thing that I really enjoy about ML is there constant effort to remind the crowd that they are no different from their fans, the gratitude is immense from these guys and you can see it in their faces that they are having the time of their lives.
They rummage through an amazing set consisting of a fair amount of old and new, radio hits and album gems. House Of Cards receives ML trademark balloon treatment, adding more sparkle to an already dazzling performance. They float in from the top balcony as the chorus kicks in and at that moment the sea of fans go mental. On stage it seems a bit of a competition; with the balloons going either Nathan’s way, with him firing them back into the crow, or Mateo’s way where he casually pop’s them with his guitar neck and showers himself in confetti. Let’s Get Outta Here is the only song that strikes me as a bit odd at first and I think that it’s down to the fact that vocally for me it takes a different direction in it’s delivery. It’s still a good song but seems contrasting to the rest of the set, however they bounce straight back into that party vibe again with Statistics, it’s edgy rock feel has the whole floor bouncing about.
My fondest moment of the evening, is the spaced out and perplex intro to Stars, it’s really fitting with the song and Mateo really shows off some impressive effects skills and brilliant fret board work while Matt and Dan keep the momentum constantly moving forward. As a whole the show is non stop action and although all the support bands played their hearts out, there is no doubt that ML deserve to be headlining shows like this. I must admit that I am not the hugest fan of Madina Lake’s recorded work, maybe I havn’t given it enough time or maybe I wasn’t in the right receptive mood at the time but after tonight’s performance I know that both albums will be circulation in an attempt to bring back a little bit of the magic that the four Chicagoans managed to dish out live.
Setlist:
Never Take Us Alive
Adalia
One Last Kiss
Now Or Never
House Of Cards
Let’s Get Outta Here
Statistics
Stars
Pandora
Welcome To Oblivion
True Love
Not For This World
Encore:
Legends
Da Limp
Here I Stand
Me Vs The World
Escape From Here
Lila, The Divine Game
