Saturday 27/05/06 Funeral for a Friend, Fightstar, Panel @ Guildhall, Southampton

tThey emerged in their thousands. Taking to the streets of a once average city, the ‘Scene Kids’ descended. Much to the dismay of the average population of Southampton on this warm May night, the ‘Scenesters’ gather in their hundreds on the Guildhall steps, and erupt into a glorious, yet short burst of headliner Funeral For A Friend’s teen anthem ‘History’, cut short by a bucket of fried Chicken arriving noisily on the assembled.

Through ominous mist and piercing feedback, first support act Panel come forward to be judged by the Scenesters. Offering a large slice of mediocre emo and new age rock, very similar to that of the headliners, Panel hold nothing unique or enticing about them. With such originals as ‘Fire Under Furnace’ and ‘Like A Lamb’, they become quite monotonous after the first few tracks and seem to drag on for an eternity. Slowly the crowd realise that the beginning novelty of a loud rock band has worn thin and a good proportion head to the bar.

At the complete opposite of the spectrum, Fightstar take to the stage and proceed to blow us away. Despite minimum, but evident, screams of Busted related matters these young lads prove to one and all that they deserve respect. From set opener ‘Grand Unification Pt. I’, Charlie and his cohorts run through fan favourites with an explosive power evident within all great Rock acts. Throwing themselves across the stage and using uncountable expletives in between-song banter, we’re treated to such gems as ‘Waste A Moment’, ‘Build An Army’, the anthemic ‘Paint Your Target’ and the beautiful ‘Hazy Eyes’, released as their next single on June 5th. Despite the constant ribbing the media has given them, Fightstar deserve nothing but respect. Anyone with such enthusiasm and writing ability should be praised to the high hills.

Rushing the stage and standing tall on strategically placed stands, Funeral for a Friend bassist Gareth Davies and guitarist Kriss Coombs-Roberts evoke a response of arms raised high to which the room appears scarily like a Nazi rally. Like lambs to the slaughter, the fans scream in adoration throughout, greeted with classics such as favourite ‘Red Is The New Black’ and songs from new album ‘Hours’ belted out with such muster and energy that the place could fall apart at any second. A mass sing along and arm raising comes during fan favourite ‘Roses For The Dead’ but nothing could match the sheer volume of screaming for the opening Guitars of teen anthem ‘History’. After a lesson and lecture in “Circle pit etiquette” from Vocalist Matt Davies, we’re treated to melodious tales of heartache and strife in ‘Recovery’, ‘Alvarez’ and, to glorious applause, ‘Streetcar’.

Running through old material as well as new, the crowd are left feeling fulfilled and joyous at such an energy-fuelled show. Especially having been treated to a storming version of ‘All The Rage’ with Charlie Fightstar assisting on vocal duties.