The Birthday Massacre/New Years Day/The Red Paintings – Ace of Spades, Sacramento, CA 12/14
By Jeffrey Easton
The spectacle of a show is sorely missing on many tours these days as so many bands are just content to go out and just play and get back in the van. So when a tour comes along where the performers themselves can be a show then you have to take notice. I have witnessed The Birthday Massacre and New Years Day in the past so I went in knowing I was going to be blown away by the sheer sickness of the performers but The Red Paintings were unknown but I was about to be floored.
The Red Paintings hail from Australia and brought with them to the stage a very unique view on how to present a stage show and the crowd were almost speechless from the sheer assault to the senses from the stage. The band hit the stage in costumes that evoke a very old world sense with flowing robes, stage make up and a real knowledge of old world theater. Along with the band were painters, one on a canvas of paper and one on a body canvas inspired and painting to the music the band were playing. The band is out for their first full length LP, The Revolution Is Never Coming, after a string of singles and Eps and the music is just devastating. From Wasps, Vampires Are Chasing Me to The Revolution is Never Coming this is a solid hypnotic LP.
New Years Day, who never stop touring, made their grad entrance and immediately set the crowd on fire. Everybody loves Ash Costello, the unrelenting beauty and singing talent that fronts NYD and they showed it. The band opened with the bombastic I’m No Good from their last full length Victim To Villain and the carnage was on. They are out on their Grey Area Records release Epidemic, a sickly sounding EP that is reigniting the fire in their fan base with every note dropped and they did not spare the fans from it. They unleased the title track, Epidemic, and the fans were already into it. Fanning the flames of the frenzied crowd they continued spewing the EP in the forms of The Joker and Other Side. The EP is coming from personal experiences and as dark as the EP is it just became more sinister on stage. The band is extremely theatric and did not let off of the gas when it came to engaging the fans and making them Look at the band especially when belting Any Last Words and Do Your Worst. If you have yet to discover New Years Day, you are seriously missing out.
The Birthday Massacre have always dominated the live scene and this tour was obviously no exception. Even with two amazing bands opening for them they had no problem dominating their set and commanded the pure attention of the packed club. They are out in support of the recently released Superstition which is easily one of the best albums yet nad the set was littered with the powerful material. The band came out and the crowd was just electric and the band responded in turn with the reeling off of Red Stars from the Walking With Strangers album and the darkness descended. As stated they are touring in support of the amazing new album Superstition and the band delved deep into the album by reeling out track after track much to the adulation of the fans. Destroyer, Divide, Diaries as well as the title track were done with pure force and made amazing by Chibi, one of the best frontwoman in music. Their songs are a force on vinyl but they take on a magical form in the live setting that I cannot explain, it’s just a different feeling. After asking the crowd to go along with the new songs, which I have no idea why she did as the fans loved the new stuff, the dove back into the catalog highlighting some of their darker material namely Video Kid, Happy Birthday and Midnight, all required in a TBM show. Some of my standouts were from the Pins And Needles album, namely the title track, Always and In The Dark. Pins is a personal fav of mine and the material translates so well. I must point out that the band is so into engaging with the audience and giving them something to stare at and take in as a whole and I must say I did not see any androids out; this was a much watch show. Darkness defined this tour and it was an unreal experience that should not have been missed.
Official TBM site
Official New Years Day Site
Official The Red Paintings Site
By Jeffrey Easton
The spectacle of a show is sorely missing on many tours these days as so many bands are just content to go out and just play and get back in the van. So when a tour comes along where the performers themselves can be a show then you have to take notice. I have witnessed The Birthday Massacre and New Years Day in the past so I went in knowing I was going to be blown away by the sheer sickness of the performers but The Red Paintings were unknown but I was about to be floored.
The Red Paintings hail from Australia and brought with them to the stage a very unique view on how to present a stage show and the crowd were almost speechless from the sheer assault to the senses from the stage. The band hit the stage in costumes that evoke a very old world sense with flowing robes, stage make up and a real knowledge of old world theater. Along with the band were painters, one on a canvas of paper and one on a body canvas inspired and painting to the music the band were playing. The band is out for their first full length LP, The Revolution Is Never Coming, after a string of singles and Eps and the music is just devastating. From Wasps, Vampires Are Chasing Me to The Revolution is Never Coming this is a solid hypnotic LP.
New Years Day, who never stop touring, made their grad entrance and immediately set the crowd on fire. Everybody loves Ash Costello, the unrelenting beauty and singing talent that fronts NYD and they showed it. The band opened with the bombastic I’m No Good from their last full length Victim To Villain and the carnage was on. They are out on their Grey Area Records release Epidemic, a sickly sounding EP that is reigniting the fire in their fan base with every note dropped and they did not spare the fans from it. They unleased the title track, Epidemic, and the fans were already into it. Fanning the flames of the frenzied crowd they continued spewing the EP in the forms of The Joker and Other Side. The EP is coming from personal experiences and as dark as the EP is it just became more sinister on stage. The band is extremely theatric and did not let off of the gas when it came to engaging the fans and making them Look at the band especially when belting Any Last Words and Do Your Worst. If you have yet to discover New Years Day, you are seriously missing out.
The Birthday Massacre have always dominated the live scene and this tour was obviously no exception. Even with two amazing bands opening for them they had no problem dominating their set and commanded the pure attention of the packed club. They are out in support of the recently released Superstition which is easily one of the best albums yet nad the set was littered with the powerful material. The band came out and the crowd was just electric and the band responded in turn with the reeling off of Red Stars from the Walking With Strangers album and the darkness descended. As stated they are touring in support of the amazing new album Superstition and the band delved deep into the album by reeling out track after track much to the adulation of the fans. Destroyer, Divide, Diaries as well as the title track were done with pure force and made amazing by Chibi, one of the best frontwoman in music. Their songs are a force on vinyl but they take on a magical form in the live setting that I cannot explain, it’s just a different feeling. After asking the crowd to go along with the new songs, which I have no idea why she did as the fans loved the new stuff, the dove back into the catalog highlighting some of their darker material namely Video Kid, Happy Birthday and Midnight, all required in a TBM show. Some of my standouts were from the Pins And Needles album, namely the title track, Always and In The Dark. Pins is a personal fav of mine and the material translates so well. I must point out that the band is so into engaging with the audience and giving them something to stare at and take in as a whole and I must say I did not see any androids out; this was a much watch show. Darkness defined this tour and it was an unreal experience that should not have been missed.
Official TBM site
Official New Years Day Site
Official The Red Paintings Site
