Led By Lanterns were the openers and seemed very humble and grateful to everyone that came, they didn’t care whether people in the crowd knew them or not, they just wanted you to have a good time.
The Tyne were clearly the youngest of the bands bringing out a lot of energy. However the more poppy slant to their music didn’t seem to appeal as much to some of the audience. Perhaps they couldn’t quite match Led By Lanterns who really encouraged the crowd to jump around and even got a circle pit going. The three-piece are obviously popular though as they have amassed 400,000 followers on TikTok to date and played through their entire short, but sweet discography. Their was some fun interaction with the crowd as they taught us all how to join in with Demons telling the London fans that they were the best so far on the tour.
I first saw As December Falls at Slam Dunk earlier this year and from looking around the O2 Academy in Islington they definitely have a dedicated audience. You could tell how dedicated their fans are as an assortment of T-shirts and other merchandise were visible throughout the crowd. At first it sounds like there is a glitch with the speakers as we shift through various songs by the band like an old AM radio. Then the lights dim and the band steps out opening with their most recent release Go Away, which was followed up by one of my favourites Afterglow, the opening track from last year’s album Happier. Afterwards comes a cover of My Chemical Romance‘s I’m Not Okay which really served to hype up the crowd as fans screamed out the words “I’m Not Okay” at the top of their lungs. This pretty much set the crowd off as they were all in for the rest of the night.
As the night is about to come to an end the words “one more song” rings out and the band re-enter the stage. However rather than one song, vocalist Bethany Curtis lets us know we’re in for two more songs. She then treated us with More to You and Tears showing that they really are here to give us as much as they possibly can. As a guitarist I greatly enjoyed lead guitarist Ande Hunter ripping some awesome lead lines and solo’s which I feel are lacking from many of their contemporaries. Also I can’t not mention Bethany again, who was captivating in both her interactions with the audience and her swooning vocals.
As December Falls will be continuing their tour through the UK and then onto Europe and will be supporting Hot Milk at London and Manchester in February next year. Tickets are available from the official As December Falls website.
Check out the band’s latest single, Mayday, below:
