Style 43

Arriving at The Croft in Bristol, I witnessed the might of True Valiance, a local band who have recently signed to the exclusive and notorious Rucktion Records. The room was packed as the first support band took to the stage. You could clearly see the anticipation on every kids face down at the front.

They started with an intro track that had enough energy and build up in it to make me want to start moshing along with every kid down the front. The intro smoothly merged into the song “Take Your Life Back” and it got even crazier. There was a real intense feeling of motivation coming from the crowd, these guys are shit hot and everybody knows it.

Driving guitars and an unstoppable stage presence give this band a power that they have over most hardcore bands, who else could be on so early and get the room moving? Not many I tell you! As the set moved forwards so did the hype from the crowd. They even chucked in a brief Slayer cover between tracks which went down really well, as nearly the whole crowd whooped in excitement. If you haven’t seen these guys yet I suggest you do, an awesome band with an awesome sound.

Next up on the bill was Strength Approach, I wasn’t really sure what to expect after a previous performance so I went in and stood at the front, waiting for the kids to cram in and start moshing. Surprisingly not many did, there was a massive gap between the audience and the stage, the band took a while to sound check, which was quite boring as everyone just wanted them to get on with it, when they finally started they had a good sound but no stage presence. This really let them down and I could tell that they are probably used to a better reaction from a crowd. The band on the whole were tight, well organised and played some pretty good stuff, it’s a shame that nobody moved for them. Strength Approach gave a good clean performance, the drummer was strong and consistent and vocals were strong.

The sheer build-up and anticipation in The Croft was immense, you could hear everyone chatting excitedly to each other as they waited for the headline act, the mighty H20!

As the band got on stage and picked up their instruments Toby Morse looked out into the crowd, cheers were erupting from all parts of the venue. There was a pause and then the band dropped into “1995″. A sudden rush of people ran to the front and started singing the lyrics back, the atmosphere was intense. To be fair I didn’t do my usual thing of standing to the side taking notes, I was straight in at the front singing along to the NYHC legends. Everyone was having a thoroughly good time, people were jumping up and down, fists raised and singing along. The band were on form, sounding exactly how I imagined them to sound live.

There was a real feeling of positive fun and energy in the room as everyone jumped about and crowd surfed, the fourth song in was the awesome “I see it in us”. Toby got the crowd going by making everyone sing along, the chants were loud and clear, then the song kicked in and more movement followed, everybody was going fucking mental!

At one point a big looking bloke came up to me and boosted me on top of the crowd during the song “Thicker Than Water”. Sweat was being flicked off of peoples hair, water was being thrown at the crowd, and everybody in that room had a smile on their faces. The band were energetic as you’d expect, running and jumping around with Toby Morse leading the way parading up and down the stage throwing the mic out to different parts of the crowd for a mere second at a time so that the ones underneath it would sing along harder and louder.

This was an intense gig, and the whole place was buzzing with the H2O vibe, I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many people going off like that in The Croft before. If you missed H2O on this tour, I’d seriously suggest getting a flight to the U.S and trying to find a show over there!

http://www.myspace.com/truevaliance
http://www.strengthapproach.com
http://www.h2ogo.com

Review by Tom Williams.
Photography by Nathan Hicks.
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