Following the release of their new studio album "Lost Salvation", Brighton rockers FURYON played a hometown show at the Concorde 2 venue on Sunday March 22nd 2015 as part of their current on-going tour in support of their new release and having already reviewed the new record and loving it, I decided to go and check out the band live and this is my report of what went down that night at this band's hometown gig.
First up was a band called KICKFIST who were the first of two support bands that night and I must admit their music was not my cup of tea. Yes the tunes were heavy but the vocals were a bit too screamy and growly for my liking and during the last couple of songs there was a bit of movement/moshing on the floor from a few audience members but there wasn't such a big crowd near the front which was good as there was space for the moshers to move but that didn't stop me from getting bashed into which fortunately only happened once. I will honestly say that after that, I was fearing for my life throughout the rest of KICKFIST's set as that's the first time I've been hit during a mosh pit at a show so I was glad once it was all over so I could calm myself down before support band number two.
The second support act were FAHRAN and I have to say I preferred them to KICKFIST as their music was more up my street with lots of clean heavy tunes and raw rock energy featuring performances from the band's newest album "Chasing Hours" as well as tunes from previous albums and I did check them out prior to the show albeit it was just a couple of tunes. However, that was more than enough to pique my curiosity about this bunch and their performance was very enjoyable overall which made up for the mini scare/heart attack I experienced towards the end of KICKFIST's set.
The final band of the night was of course the headline act FURYON who last played a hometown show two years ago. A tour was meant to take place last year in the summer of 2014 but due to the band's singer causing some damage to his vocals during rehearsals, they pulled out of the tour so their vocalist could recover before working on some new material for the next album which is out now so was the two year (one for me) wait worth it for the fans? The simple answer is: yes it was.
From the first song in the set to the last, FURYON were on fire all evening presenting us with some heavy as hell material from their debut album "Gravitas" which made up the majority of the set including the songs "Disappear Again", "Souvenirs", "Don't Follow" and "Voodoo Me" to name a few but we did get to hear some new tunes as well including the title track from the new album "Lost Salvation", the single "These Four Walls", "All That I Have" and "Scapegoat". These new tunes sounded just as tight live as they did on the new album. Although it would have been cool to hear one or two more new tunes live, I did enjoy the new songs that were played live so I can't really complain.
Having only heard the "Gravitas" tunes a couple of times prior to the show, I didn't really know the songs all that well which I will openly admit but now I have a reason to go back and listen to them properly as I did enjoy hearing them live despite not knowing them all that well and if the songs themselves were anything to go by, the band's performance was just as if not more amazing then the tunes they played and rocked out to.
The tight performance from the band was probably down to the obvious chemistry they share with each other including the insane shredding from the guitarists
Luca Faraone and
Tiago Rosado, Lee Farmery's superb drumming,
Alex Bowen's nutty bass playing and of course
Matt Mitchell's energetic stage presence and punchy charismatic vocal performance with the latter being the main thing that makes him a great vocalist as he has enough punch and charisma in his voice to make him one of the finest British rock singers I have heard in recent years and that's saying something.
Throughout their 70-75 minute set, the band put on one hell of a cracking performance with lots of heavy songs, a tight punchy sound and some insane energy to boot which was present from all the members and there was lots of head-banging as well from both the band and the crowd which had increased in numbers since the first support band and they were also singing along too which I did as well and being front and center in the front row was a smart move as I got a good view of all the action that took place that night.
Bottom line, FURYON are not only a great studio band but also a great live act as well and if you ever get the chance to see them, do not hesitate as you will be in for a real treat with a great performance filled with lots of heavy tunes, great energy and plenty of charisma from this tight five piece band.
Setlist:
1. Disappear Again
2. Lost Salvation
3. Wasted On You
4. Souvenirs
5. Don't Follow
6. These Four Walls
7. Fear Alone
8. Stand Like Stone
9. Our Peace Someday
10. Drum N Bass
11. Scapegoat
12. All That I Have
13. Voodoo Me
