Blair Space: Eastpak Antidote Tour

This article was published on Blair Space at:
http://music.blairspace.com/reviews/200.html

Eastpak Antidote Tour

Arriving at the Leeds University Union on November 1st the Eastpak Antidote Tour was not exactly the most looked forward to event of recent times. While other gigs were selling out months in advance, the tour didn't even come close to. Indeed it was even moved from the main concert hall to another part of the union presumably because of the ticket sales.

Of course that is because most people can't appreciate good music. Most people are not us though which is why I went along to check it out. The line up was The Unseen, Randy, Flogging Molly and Millencolin. They also had an opening band which presumably varied from place to place but not arriving until 6:45 I missed most of them.

At around 7:00, The Unseen came on. For those unaware of their talents they are a hardcore band and really managed to wip up a moshpitt. Despite my tendacy towards punk though I really did like them - they gave an excellent performance and it was arguably the best of the night. They seemed to have more life to them than the other bands.

After they had finished there was a 15 minute break so I took the oportunity to get some meerch from the stall. It got me thinking, I hardly ever go clothes shopping and yet I picked up a t-shirt here. So if they started selling socks and underwear I would be sorted ;). I actually put the t-shirt straight on as when I had walked in the place was just crawling with moshers dressed in black. I felt like I was letting the side down a little in my green t-shirt.

They were followed by Randy who were an interesting band although I was a little disappointed. That said they had very tough competition and there wasn't really anything negative about their performance but there wasn't anything sparkling that came out and grabbed me.

Between them leaving and the next band arriving you could see the anticipation building. 10 minutes before Flogging Molly came on and the crod were already chanting "Molly, Molly, Molly." They gave a great performance and I love Flogging Molly as they manage to do something a little different while still being a cool rock band as it were.

Finally the night was rounded off by Millencolin who started by announcing they were happy to be back playing in Leeds again, having played here last in 1995. This time they were here to plug their new album, Kingwood. They rocked as you would expect with the legally required finish on No Cigar plus they came back to give an encore of three more songs after that.

In short, a great night and yes you should be kicking yourself if you had the chance to go and didn't. With major name acts like Millencolin and Flogging Molly and great performances from pretty much everyone involved what is your excuse for missing it? Huh? Speak up dammit! Ok I'm shouting at the screen again. So yeah, if you can go see it, do! If you have any interest in rock or punk you will not regret it.