ShortStuff: The Blackout!

I went to see The Blackout for the 13th time on Wednesday and as always they were amazing, they just never get boring. I could go see them everyday and it would never get old.
They were supported by The Proxies and Sonic Boom Six. The Proxies were quite good and I've heard some of their songs before so I knew what to expect. But then Sonic Boom Six were awful, their songs just sounded so messy and all of the place. They really weren't my cup of tea.
Before the gig The Blackout did a signing so I got to meet them again for the third time, as before I'd had a backstage pass to one of their Sheffield gigs after I'd pledged money for their third album Hope, which was really cool. As usual they were really sweet to everyone and really appreciated that I'd bought the album. I also got my photo taken with Snoz :)

The intro started and everyone went wild, the band walked on except Sean and Gavin. The rest of the band started playing Start The Party and on run the front men who then blow confetti everywhere causing everyone to go a bit crazy and try and catch it as well as singing their hearts out and beaming like lunatics. As always they were so energetic and exciting. One thing I love about this band is that they always involve the crowd, if someone shouts something out they respond, or they get you to do some crazy dance and sing a long, they are always so much fun. They then went on to play We Live On; another new song from Start The Party which still got a great reaction even though not everyone had heard it before. Then they went straight into Higher and Higher which was fantastic and followed by The Devil Inside, one of my favourite songs of Hope! Sean then dedicated This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things to a little kid who was on the side balcony area, telling him to not be in a band and to "become Tony Stark and then turn into Iron Man instead". This was the first song they played from The Best In Town. They chose a great selection of songs from all their albums not concentrating too much on one album. This was followed by Running Scared which is apparently about Gavin's experience with Heroin according to Sean, showing how much they can joke around (I think anyway) and make the gig that much more enjoyable. They played another of my favourites from Hope; The Storm so I was super excited 'cause they were playing loads of my favourites :). Then straight into Shutthefuckuppercut which is a super energetic song showing just how phenomenal their stage presence is. And before going into It's High Tide Baby, which I am so glad they played, Sean said they would play a song from their old album 'cause that's when they "used to be heavy" and when they "used to be good", basically taking the piss out of everyone that says their old stuff is better. They go into The Last Goodbye and then another song from Start The Party; Radio. They then go into another much loved song Hope. They went into Children Of The Night showing that Gavin and Sean work really well together on stage and all their parts are perfectly on time. This was another great sing-a-long song, and was great to hear so many people chant "We Are The Children of The Night, We Are The Children!". After that they played my favourite from TheBlackoutTheBlackoutTheBlackout; I'm A Riot? You're A Fucking Riot! causing everyone to go absolutely insane especially The Blackout themselves, singing/screaming their hearts out and jumping around the stage not really caring if they get hurt showing just how much they love playing. They ended on Save Our Selves (The Warning) getting everyone to crouch down on the floor, as they always do, and then leaping up in the air when after they've chanted "Going Out, Going Out, Going Out", and is just incredible to see everyone all jump up together.

Like I said before The Blackout always communicate with the audiences Sean asked everyone if they had behinds, to which most people were a bit confused as to why he was asking that. He then asked in an American accent if we had asses, and then asked us if we had bums which got the best reaction. He went on to tell us that we all needed to shake our bums on this next song even if it meant we were thrusting the person in front, saying that we shouldn't worry if they are the same sex as us 'cause all we have to do is "look up and it's not gay"... God I love this band haha. (I can't remember what song this was before. I'm useless!)
They are always so funny on stage and don't take themselves too seriously which is great to see as there's nothing more boring than a band who doesn't look like they are enjoying themselves on stage!

So basically it was one of my favourite Blackout gigs. They just get better and better every time I see them. It was a great gig to start the year with, bring on the next tour! Giving it 9/10!