Escape The Fate are impossible to not enjoy 8/10
Words and all photos (c) Jade Greenbrooke.
Escape the Fate brought their ten-year anniversary tour for their epic album This War is Ours to Electric Ballroom in Camden, London. A one off UK date in their European Tour, they didn’t disappoint.
Although the gig was not sold out, the venue was still well packed; a good 90% full. The show was opened by The World Over, a female fronted post hardcore band who were minus their bassist Juan as he’d had issues with his visa. Their energy was admirable and the selection of songs in their short set was perfect in making first time listeners want to go home and look them up.
Slaves (US) were the second band to open for Escape the Fate, with Matt McAndrew taking the part as their latest (temporary) frontman. As someone who had only taken over recently, I found Matt’s vocals impeccable for the band’s post hardcore sound, made even more impressive when discovering he was actually a finalist in the mainstream show The Voice. For a band that’s more known over the pond, Slaves (US) received an excellent reception from the crowd, and it was easy to see quite a few fans of the band flocking to the front for their performance before disappearing when they were finished. Another thing to add would be the band have incredible taste, and I was tempted to buy one of their t-shirts for the aesthetic alone, which is also reminiscent to their album artwork.
Escape the Fate built the suspense with Bohemian Rhapsody, warming the crowd up as they sung along to the epic Queen ballad. The moment the band began to fill the stage, the crowd erupted into cheers and they opened with ‘We Won’t Back Down’, the first hit from their album ‘This War is Ours‘, which they continued to play straight through. Noticeable songs of the night were ‘Ashley’, ‘You Are So Beautiful’ and ‘This War Is Ours’, the crowd definitely had the best reaction to these songs and the vocals were faultless. Although I wouldn’t consider Escape The Fate an older band, it’s still impressive to see such a clean performance of an album that was released ten years ago. They also threw in a few favourite newer songs from over the years, including ‘Broken Heart’, ‘I Am Human’ and closing the show with ‘One for the Money’. They maintained excellent stage presence and the crowd were enthusiastic throughout, which wasn’t hard considering the excellent crowd interaction that frontman Craig Mabbitt carried throughout the night, although the aesthetic was a bit more toned down in comparison to their look when they first brought out the album. Kevin ‘Thrasher’ Gruft also lead by example, matching Mabbitt’s energy and interacting with the crowd a lot, with both jumping around the stage as though it was 2009 again. It was a shame to miss out on seeing them performed in their ‘emo’ attire, the fairly basic outfits taking away from the experience slightly. Overall it was impossible not to enjoy Escape The Fate’s show, being thrown back to 2009 by the band, it was one big nostalgia trip throughout. 8/10.
The World Over Gallery
Slaves Gallery
Escape The Fate
