Two weeks ago I was not aware of any of these bands of the live performance I was going to cover. Then a friend of mine sent me a YouTube link with the video from THE GALLOWS,"Last June", trying to make me subliminally like them and then move on to his satanic plan. The mischief was revealed when he told me about that live and that he would like to go. And that I should be joining him. And so I did. On Thursday, 27th of September, in Hornstull Strand in Stockholm, THE GALLOWS, from Watford, England were the headliners with support from FEED THE RHINO from England also and the local RED DOVES. I have never been to the Hornstull Strand, a bar/club that could host about 500 people for a live performance.

We arrived there around 19:15, and while waiting for the first band to appear we spend our time drinking beers and I also got a THE GALLOWS t-shirt from the merchandise stand. Two things impressed me at that time. First a note on the stand staying that THE GALLOWS are looking for a place to stay for the night (and that they are lovely people) and the nice fellow that was selling the merch there (I will reveal a bit about this guy later).

Clock strikes 20:00 o clock and the RED DOVES, a local Punk band, went on stage performing approximately five to six songs all of them spanning between one and two minutes. The singer and the drummer were like being brought directly from the 70s like the time had no effect on them (style wise). The band played straight in the face Punk, the performance was great and energetic despite the fact that they were performing at maximum 50 people at that time. The final impression was that they played well and probably satisfied their audience.

At 21:00 o clock the two DJs stop playing music and from the stage a track of electronic music started playing which eventually led to the beginning of FEED THE RHINO set. The British Hardcore / Punk band was at a great mood and delivered a hell of performance. They played about seven songs. I couldn't distinguish much, because I am not that familiar with their discography but for sure the third song was the "Burning Sons" and the one after this "Mr Red Eye" from the "Homonymous" album. After approximately twenty five minutes the maddening performance of FEED THE RHINO came to the end. The band performed with energy and passion and surely gained more fans that night. When the set ended the two DJ's took again the music entertainment duties playing great metal tunes. I was really enthusiastic when they played "Creeping Death" from the vinyl. This is as heavy as it can get. The time passed by really fast and yes it was time for the headliners to start their set. The crowd should be in a rough estimation of 200 people at the club at the time that THE GALLOWS were about to start.

At 22:00 o clock sharp THE GALLOWS, the British Punk / Hardcore group went on stage and oh boy.. From the first second the band made clear that they came up to conquer everything. The band opened with the terrific "Misery" from "Grey Britain".The band continued with "Everybody Loves You" from the last record "Gallows", which was the record that took almost half of the set as the band played 7 songs in total. In a pause during the middle of the set the band reminded the fans that they were still looking for a place to stay. In short if you are planning to see them in the future and this happens again you have to remember that 1. they don't want you to stay with your parents, 2. they do not plan to spend the whole night smoking weed and 3. that they hate cats. The band continued their set delivering song after song with so much energy and passion. Wade MacNeil went down and participated in the ongoing mosh and after thirteen songs the band left the stage only to come back for the encore. They finished their set with two songs from the first album the "Orchestra of Wolves", "Abandon Ship" and the homonymous song in the end. During "Orchestra of Wolves" a lot of people joined the band and the stage was full of people and eventually their performance came to an end after 50 minutes. It was a great ending for a great live by a great band. If there is one minor complaint that I heard is that the old songs sounded a bit strange because of the new singer (the guy that I got the T-Shirt from !) who has an American accent compared to the British accent of the previous one. To sum up I have to say that THE GALLOWS is a band that delivered a honest, stunning performance and I am sure that all who came really enjoyed the event in total as all the bands gave their best. At least I will check them more closely after this night.

PS. If you have the set-list from the other two bands please contact us and we will add it.