KERRANG TOUR 2011 featuring GOOD CHARLOTTE plus FOUR YEAR STRONG, FRAMING HANLEY and THE WONDER YEARS

Tuesday February 15th 2011
KERRANG TOUR 2011 featuring GOOD CHARLOTTE plus FOUR YEAR STRONG, FRAMING HANLEY and THE WONDER YEARS
Manchester Academy

What a surprise to find ourselves back at the Academy again.  My ears were still ringing following the Feeder gig ... and I'm still not sure they will ever recover ... but I was prepared this time with my trusty earplugs.  I thought that if they can block out Steve's snoring, they should protect me from anything!

This time my son Luke joined Aimee and I, but when we arrived he was in no rush to get out of the car.  Boys eh!  When we finally did make our way to the queue, it was huge, but at least it was dry this time.

There were several menacing looking characters wandering up and down the queue attempting to sell their wares ...
'Kerrang hoodie mate?  Only a tenner ... 22 quid inside'.
No thanks very much.  Call me old fashioned but I'd rather not purchase a cheap knock off that will disintegrate in the wash from a dodgy individual who would probably do the same!

As is usual when my offspring and I all spend time together, I got ganged up on right up until we got into the Academy.  Its fine ... I can take it   ::sniff::  Besides, I knew once we got inside I wouldn't see them again until the end!  Aimee steamed straight in to ensure a top spot to do her recordings >>Aimee's Videography and I went to the loo.  I emerged to find Luke waiting for me (how sweet) so I popped in my earplugs and in we went.  I spotted Aimee in precisely the same spot as Friday so I stood over to the left by the barrier and Luke stayed somewhere in between.  We love each other really.

First on were The Wonder Years, and I will admit to knowing nothing about them.  I'm not sure if they had modelled their look on Four Year Strong but they were incredibly hairy ... in fact I think they should rename themselves The Wonder Beards.  Anyway I've been on Wikipedia and they are a 6 piece pop punk band from Philadelphia ... lovely.  I thought they were perfect to start the evening off with a very loud bang.  Even though the crowd wasn't particularly big at that point, they managed to get people moving.

Next on stage were the beautiful Framing Hanley from Nashville, Tennessee.  Nixon told us it was his baby's 1st birthday ... he only looks like a baby himself!  He seemed to have a bit of trouble with his cabling and had a young man fiddling with the back of his shirt for a while.  The guitarist Brandon was on our side of the stage and was really giving it some for the camera.  I said as much to Aimee as we were leaving and it turns out it was her camera he was aiming at!  She said not many people were filming at that point so most of his posturing was towards her.  He certainly caught my attention ... ahem!  Brilliant - the audience loved them, especially the girls.

Then it was the turn of Four Year Strong who are the most beardy band I've ever seen, and wouldn't be out of place in the Brian Blessed fanclub.  I popped on Wikipedia again to find out that they're from Massachusetts and was most amused to find that in the 'Genres' section it says Pop Punk Beardcore!  Genius.

The crowd went mental as soon as they appeared, people started crowdsurfing and one crazy fan threw a jumper in the air ... wild!  There was also a beardy security man standing front and centre who looked like he should actually have been on stage.  They instructed the crowd to form a circle pit, which I couldn't see because there were too many tall people about, but I'm confident there was one.

They were amazing, everybody loved them, and I'm dead chuffed because they were announced yesterday as supporting Blink 182 in July.  I've been singing 'Don't fix it if it hasn't broken yet' all day!

And finally Good Charlotte from Maryland.  Its hard to believe they've been around longer than Aimee, having formed a couple of months before she was born.  Like a lot of people I only really heard of them when they became mainstream in 2002 with Lifestyles Of The Rich And The Famous which is still played loads on telly and still sounds great.  You can see it here>>Aimee's Videography

Poor Benji wasn't feeling too well and said his voice sounded like sh ... well not very good.  I'm not sure if he was ill or had just had a 'bad pint' - Joel did announce that they were pretty pi$$ed and asked the Manchester crowd if they were born with a beer in their hand.  Bless them for trying to keep up though.

They were awsome - not quite sure if that's an acceptable word for me to use - but it fits.  The audience were jumping around for the whole set and there were crowdsurfers aplenty being plucked out of the air with ease by the burly bouncers.  Maybe I'll try it one day ...

Once the lights came up the three of us all met back up and made our way outside.  I took my earplugs out a little too soon and boy was it loud in there!  Luke was rendered deaf, Aimee is used to it, and neither of them will pay any attention to my advice on wearing earplugs.

On the way home I told Aimee we'd have to find out how you go about filming bands from inside the barrier - there were loads of people in there, who I can only assume had press passes or something.  She has pretty much decided now to do photography and media studies at sixth form so at least all this gigging is giving her some sense of what she might like to do in the years to come.
She can start taking me to gigs then!

So another post has come to an end ... blimey I'll get a night off tomorrow - Woohoo!!  Then Friday is the My Chemical Romance gig at the MEN Arena - very much looking forward to that one.

TTFN x