Slap bang in the middle of the mammoth two month “The Summoning” tour, Glamour Of The Kill rolled into Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on Thursday night with barely any tickets left at the door.
The first band to take to the stage was Blow Goat, who although at first was a little slow to get going, managed to give the crowd the energy they desired. By the third song circle pits had formed in the centre of the venue and the front row grabbed longingly at the hands of the band members. Although the vocals were a little shaky and sometimes hard to understand over the other instruments, the crowd didn’t seem to mind at all.
The second act was the much anticipated band Shadows Chasing Ghosts who introduced themselves by screaming “How the fuck are we doing Cardiff?!”. Their first song had hardly begun and already a mosh pit the size of the entire venue had formed, catching every member of the crowd in its wake while fans screamed to favourites such as ‘Home’ and ‘Sunlight’. By the middle of the short set a wall of death had formed with the crowd going absolutely mental; the front row who managed to escape the mayhem behind them instead chose to clutch at the band.A guy in the crowd screamed “Give us some water!” out of nowhere and the singer Trey Tremain laughed “Okay… All you had to do was ask!” showing just how well they interacted with their audience. Trey even crowd surfed for a few minutes before being dropped back onto the stage again where he belonged. There was no mistaking that the majority of the crowd hadn’t come simply to see Glamour Of The Kill and at that moment, the headlining act had a tough set to follow.
By the time GOTK were set to take to the stage, the crowd were beyond the level of sanity. A song drifted through the darkness on the empty stage for a few minutes before the band members stepped out to a roar of praise; a few fans jumping on the guys as they struggled to get to the stage without being completely mobbed. “Okay Cardiff! This starts now!” came the screams of lead singer Davey Richmond as the band slammed into the first song of the set, Supremacy. The vocals and harmonies were perfect, sounding as though they’d just stepped into a recording studio and not onto a stage at all; even Ben on the drums played to such perfection that at moments it was easy to forget that they were live. The air was thick with smoke as the machines billowed out their puffs every 30 seconds, shadowing the band as Chris, Mike and Davey took turns to take centre stage. One of the great things about this band live is that none of the members, apart from the drummer of course, stay in the same place. They all take turns in showing off their talents and in getting the praise from the crowd; no one’s left disappointed.
A couple of songs in, Davey pointed towards the smoke machine at the back of the venue and mouthed for it to stop, allowing us to take some pretty decent photos after that. A guy in the crowd threw a beer towards the singer but he simply laughed it off and at the end of the song announced “I’ve done it again guys! I’m so excited I pissed myself.” A wall of death was formed in the middle of the set with Davey screaming “Don’t you fuckers go until I say!”; 3 seconds later, the whole venue collided with either side and everyone went mental.
“Now I know why we keep coming back to Cardiff!” the singer bellowed, a grin on his face at the sweaty people below him, “You guys fucking rock!” The band weren’t short on their gratitude for the crowd of people giving their everything on a Thursday night (“I’ll tell you right fucking now, it’s good to see you all here on a fucking Thursday night!”) and as they drove into favourites ‘If Only She Knew’ and ‘A Hope In Hell’, it was clear that the crowd would never choose to be anywhere else on a week night. “I don’t say this often but you’re the reason we’re here” praises Davey as the band threw themselves into “Worlds End”.
The entire set was full with incredible guitar solos from both Mike and Chris and there was never a moment where the crowd stopped from either head banging, jumping or running around like lunatics. The only slip up of the night was when Chris screamed out to the crowd “You guys think you’re better than Cardiff?! …I mean Wrexham!” but Davey was quick to vanquish the mistake by laughing “Don’t listen to anything this guy says”. Undoubtedly the highlight of the night was there latest single “Feeling Alive” where every soul in the venue chanted to the lyrics as though their lives depended on it.
On stage, there is a complete transformation from the quiet and well mannered band we met before the show. It’s clear to see that performing is where this band are in their prime and I’m sure every single person who have seen Glamour Of The Kill live would completely agree with me when I say that this band are a must see.
