Thicker Than Water

H2O have been one of my favourite bands for years, so finding out they were playing in Leeds only eight days before was quite baffling. Why hadn’t I known about it for months?

It was to be at Brudenell Social Club where I’d previously seen Terror and tickets were only £14, so I couldn’t possibly not go. The only downside being that I would have to walk through the Ballardian post-apocalyptic world of Burley Park.

The three support bands were of little interest to me. The first one I missed, the second one sounded like a lot of formulaic modern hardcore bands and I didn’t catch their name and the third one were called Giants despite being of average height and below-average talent.

H2O have recorded 6 albums in almost 20 years, which isn’t a lot, but at least it’s all good stuff and not paint-by-numbers hardcore which some other bands (Shai Hulud, anyone? 25 Ta Life, anybody?) seem to churn out with alarming regularity.

They were the sole reason I was there and they didn’t disappoint. Over 20 melodic hardcore classics and a peculiar jam of The Police’s Walking on the Moon and Black Sabbath’s War Pigs were somehow shoehorned into an hour.

Stagediving was encouraged, the whole room seemed to be bouncing up and down at one point and Toby sang a couple of songs from the moshpit. It was the kind of gig that had everyone leaving with a smile on their face.

Due to the early finish I was able to walk/lightly jog/fear for my life back to Leeds and catch an earlier train than first planned. My night was further made when Rusty Pistachio tweeted me thanking me for a tweet I’d sent him about how good a show it was. I also doubt that Rusty Pistachio is his real name.