Live: Give It A Name festival - Manchester

Saturday April 29th 2006

Welsh hardcore rockers The Blackout were the first band to grace the side stage, giving them the unwelcoming task of warming up the crowd. Their enthusiasm was great and weren’t short of a quick myspace address mention as well as more favourable band name droppings. Gym Class Heroes followed, a surprising hip hop addition, who received a warm welcome and brought arguably the most different act to the entire festival.

The first band to play the main stage was Silverstein, a Canadian hardcore band responsible for the first moshing of the weekend. Aiden were second on, and were the first band with an already strong reputation amongst the thousands in attendance. I wouldn’t count myself as one of the many fans of Aiden’s brand of dark rock music, but their performance was outstanding. The standing section was a sight to behold as a crowd of hundreds was parted completely in half by the charismatic lead singer wiL Francis, before guitar and bass kicks in and the ‘wall of death’ collides and the crowd go wild. Francis’ advice of “I want you to break necks and puke on each other” certainly wasn’t ignored!

We Are Scientists brought a more indie orientated addition to the line up that was well received and appreciated, intent of providing the crowd with an immaculately played selection of songs, which they did well. The biggest surprise for the entire weekend for me was Goldfinger’s performance, which ran well over the allotted time, before being cut off mid song! Lead singer John Feldmann didn’t take long before he had control of the audience with the songs FTN and Superman, inevitably resulting in John leaping into the crowd to the delight of the peers.

Then came the most anticipated moment of the night – the UK arrival of Tom Delonge’s new band Angels And Airwaves. The crowd response was awesome; everyone was on their feet to see the ‘second coming’ as Tom had bragged. His arrogance was nothing short of sky scraping, often claiming of how wonderful it was to be sharing the experience, and that if you’re a woman you’d be pregnant by now! The performance wasn’t as meteoric as one might have hoped, with sound effects (U2-esque) playing a large role, but The Adventure was warmly received. Tom’s solo version of the Blink 182 song Down tugged at my own heart strings for past love of the great band. Tom Delonge expects great things of this new band, and as my hero, I do too, but on the basis of this performance, they have a long way to go before moving out of Blink 182’s shadow.

Taking Back Sunday were the penultimate act, and possibly the most impressive of the first evening. Adam Lazzara typically treated the microphone as if it were an extension of his arm. Tracks from 2006’s Louder Now album included the new single MakeDamnSure and What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost and old favourites This Photograph Is Proof and Cute Without The E were greatly received. Even the conclusion of a broken drum kit couldn’t dampen a great performance. Headliners Lost Prophets emerged casually late, but providing an anything but casual performance. With a blend of old classics and new tracks, the Welsh modern rock band were incredible, providing the best sing-along songs of the night with Last Summer, Burn Burn and Last Train Home, supplying emotion and a perfect conclusion.

Verdict: Starting at 1pm and ending at 11pm, the day tending to drag during yet another screamo North American band between sets or early on, but ground breaking performances from Aiden, Taking Back Sunday and Lost Prophets, solemn performances from We Are Scientists and Angels And Airwaves accompanied by outright mental performance from Goldfinger made for an enjoyable first day to Give It A Name 2006.

Liam