MFN Arena, Nottingham, 15th May 2013

Setlist;

The Light
Shadows and Vampires
Patch
Stop
Leave the Truth Behind
Anxiety Breaks us All
Bottom of your Heart
Judge You
My Town
Torn up My World
The Sun has Set
------------------------
Radiostasis

Notes;

Best sound we've had at the MFN, and monitor mixes weren't too bad either. We're used to not being able to hear anything so it's nice when you can actually hear your vocals etc. Was able to have amp at sweet spot too which was nice. Not much guitar on Bass side of the stage, but wondered over there a few times all the same, trying to stay conscious of not becoming boring! Nice full room at the start, thinned out a little by the end of the set but I guess that was mostly bikers heading for home. Atmosphere was quite strange - felt like performance was solid and confident, never manic, but the room just kind of soaked it up and watched rather than going crazy. Main thing is they were listening I guess! It's awesome to have people who'll actually travel on a Weds night to see us play. Kinda hard to take in actually.

Start of set feels very solid at this point. "The Light" intro solves the problem of it not being the most obvious set opener, and being able to launch straight into Shadows from there gives us momentum that I think is very important at the start of the set. Funny when we were choosing the first single, Shadows felt like the obvious choice - catchy, concise and energetic. But someone said last weekend that it's almost a "song without a chorus" and I think that's fair - the "chorus" as I think of it feels more like a bridge, and the kick off comes after the middle section.

Patch is just Patch, when we start playing that I tend to start getting into the zone. It's hard singing a delicate falsetto only three songs in, feels very exposed, but I'm learning that the softer I do it, the better it feels. Whitty let the middle section go another repetition before coming in and I quite liked that breathing space. As always, the ending makes me feel very confident. It's almost "I know you're all on board with who we are now. And if you're not, forget about you!"

Stop's a funny one. It used to HAVE to be the opener or we just wouldn't feel it. But with this bunch of songs, it feels good in position 4. It's a bit more catchy and lighthearted, more fun, but still fits with the opening three and keeps the energy up. I think I need to work on my guitar sound a bit though - verses felt too clean and pre-chorus chords need to explode more volume wise. End riff was a bit woofy too. That's a technical term. :D

Now, Leave the Truth Behind. When we wrote it last month I thought it was the best thing ever. I still think it's got loads of promise, but something's not quite connecting yet in the way we play it. I think it needs some shaking up to properly bring the frantic mood of the lyrics out more. I know it's got the potential to be brilliant, but at the moment it feels like we're playing it and people are listening and thinking "hmmm, ok a new song fair enough". I want them to be too awestruck to think anything. So, time to work on that one! I'm not too worried - Anxiety was shit for the first 6 months of playing it live. Sometimes you've just got to get on stage and try things to find out how you really feel about them.

Bottom of Your Heart and Judge You - two album songs we've not played for a little while (Bottom might have been the album launch, Judge you was Feb in Derby). I'm never totally convinced by Bottom live. I feel like it's a brooding slow builder with a big paypoff and that's fine, but it's so hard to do live when the payoff is in the backing choir then huge explosion of guitar tracks at the end. There's only ever one guitar track live and when we get to that end section it can feel a bit forced - I find myself hoping the audience are feeling generous! Judge you felt brilliant though. It's short, bittersweet, and personal to me so I love it when it hits. Played it on the Explorer too which is a change I quite liked.

We've done My Town three times now, and each time multiple people have come up to us and said it's brilliant. This pleases me. Feels good to play too.

Torn Up and The Sun has Set are fun set closers for me. Torn has a guitar solo, And Sun has Set lets me glower at the crowd. It's slow and moody but picks up at the end and I think leaves people wanting more. Nothing quite like shouts for an encore to make a bunch of guys feel loved. Came back and did Radiostasis, which I've always enjoyed playing, and giving Mez a chance to mess around at the end is only fair.

Overall the general pacing and song choice felt great. Still work to be done on Leave the Truth, and I think Bottom of Your Heart just isn't cut out for being awesome live until we're playing arenas and have a symphony orchestra to back us up.

The Asylum 2, Birmingham, 11th May 2013

Setlist;

The Light
Shadows and Vampires
Patch
Stop
Leave the Truth Behind
Anxiety Breaks us All
My Town
Climbing the Waterfall
Torn Up My World
The Sun Has Set
Radiostasis

Notes:

Set started 5 mins late due to faulty mic lead, so got told we could only play one more song after "Waterfall" finished. Dropped last two and did Radiostasis instead. Sound was great, mains and monitors. Have started lifting mic higher so I don't slouch and have to face out into the crowd more, helps my performance. Also think I prefer being stage left - easier to interact with Alex+ Whitty without having to worry about guitar headstock.

The Maze, Nottingham, 5th May 2013

Setlist;

The Light
Shadows and Vampires
Patch
Shell
Torn Up My World
The Sun has Set

Notes;

Very very hot room, sweating horribly by end of Shadows - sweat pouring off arms etc, stinging eyes. Mental. Very small stage and short changeover time. Sound guy had trouble getting both DI boxes for sampler and acoustic guitar to work. Took him ages and then by the time we played The Sun has Set the acoustic had broken again and the Sampler sounded way too loud. Definitely separates the men from the boys, that song! But The Sun has Set possibly isn't that sensible for this kind of gig due to the extra complication it entails anyway. Also felt a bit flat, like we were pouring cold water on the room in the middle of a high energy festival.

Shell is fun and high energy but we've been playing it live for a looooong time. On a personal level I feel like it needs a very different guitar sound to the other songs we're doing live at the moment.

Started using Zilla 2x12 again. Live, it's better. More oomph, control, clarity, and directional so easier to position to not annoy the soundman.