Decaydance Fest - Hammersmith Apollo, London - Wednesday 22nd August 2007

Line up:
Cobra Starship
The Academy Is
Gym Class Heroes

Joint headliners
Panic! at the Disco
Fall Out Boy

Special Guest
Plain White T’s


Decaydance fest is expected to be the ‘emo fest’ of the lifetime with a special one off show with some of the biggest names in music in one show, and as a warm up to their various time slots at Reading and Leeds festivals its was going to be something of a sight to be seen, at the very least. That many “emos” in one place…the place is going to be flooded in tears and broken scene kids hearts. Well that’s what they’d like you to think anyway, in truth the whole event is a mix of young and old, girls and boys (shock horror), and a all out fun and cheerful event. Sorry if that disappoints some haters’ hearts but just because you call it emo doesn’t make it a depression convention for every down teen girl that can crawl out of a pit of self loathing and meet in the Hammersmith Apollo. We do have other emotions apart from sadness and Decaydance fest was a prime exhibition of them all; the sadness only coming when it was time to leave, and the expected rain; which organisers prepared for with free plastic rain macs being handed out to the crowds, and even then crowds made the most of the bad weather and continued to smile through.

Overall the show was outstanding with high level energy from all bands on set and each giving their own twist on the night so no one fell into the shadows off the bigger names on the line up. Cobra Starship proved that being well known to your audience isn’t vital to get them following your every move. Playing their new single and other old hits and commenting on how great it was for everyone to have glow sticks at a rock show. Playing the shortest set of the evening didn’t mean they gave any less in how they performed; Kudos to them for this at the very least, as any other act might have just played at a medium rate but Cobra certainly gave it their all.

The Academy Is turned out a brilliant set with a mix of tracks from both new album ‘Santi’ and their debut self titled record, showing the gems that are stored away in the Decaydance label’s back catalogue. Gym Class Heroes were perhaps the only act on the line up that could have been out of place with their hybrid style of rap, rock and hip hop. For a crowd of predominately rock fans might have been lost but these new boys on the scene prove that good music is good no matter the genre or crowd they are playing too. Travis is a classic front man that knows how to speak to a crowd and get their attention, ranging from compliment their appearance (always a winner) to jumping into the throng during hit song ‘Cupid’s chokehold’, for which Patrick ‘Fall out boy’ Stump came out to guest vocal live.

Co-heading an event of this size was perhaps the best idea of the evening as both the anticipation for Panic’s new record and the excitement of Fall Out Boy was balanced through out the crowd. Panic’s set ranged from glamorous performances of hits such as ‘I write Sins’ and ‘But it’s better if you do’, introducing two newly written tracks, which if judging them as a basis for the new album well definitely gather more fans and please the old ones and a cover of the classic track ‘The Weight’ by The Band their onstage persona is something to be admired. Being young, level headed and still enjoying performing to each crowd is something I hope they can hold onto for a long while in their career, because they deserve it.

Just before the final act of the night Plain White T’s made a special appearance to perform ‘Hey there Delilah’, a real bonus for the crowd that had already been treated more than enough. Fall Out Boy were a real gem and for a band who’s live performance can sometimes be described as having it’s off day, tonight was a definite on day and they were beyond amazing. Bouncing between old and new, covers of Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat it’ and Huey Lewis and the News’ ‘The Power of Love’, jumping around the stage like it’s a children’s playground and just simply enjoying themselves, these guys know how to throw a rock show.

If this is the first of many Decaydance fest to come over the next few years, I urge you to go to the next one or at the very least see any of the acts on the line up as they can more than hold their own on stage.


Review by Laura Heath


Pictures of the event can be found HERE


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