Against The Current - O2 Academy, Liverpool 10.03.2017
American Pop (Pop Punk at a stretch) trio Against The Current rolled into Liverpool Academy, the first time they have ever played Liverpool, on the second leg of their 'In Our Bones World Tour' and we were on hand to catch them.
Supporting them was Austrian outfit Hunger. They placed a fantastic support set to a attentive audience, with the band successfully gearing up the crowd up for ATC with high levels of crowd interaction and on stage antics. They are definitely worth seeing live.
Against the Current began their set with their hit 'Blood Like Gasoline', which gained immediate excitement from the sell-out crowd. Frontwoman Chrissy wastes no time in jumping into the next song, 'Running With The Wild Things'. With this song, not only does it show off the immense talent of the band, and the fantastic vocals of Chrissy, it also shows off the actual stage show ATC brought with them, with their illustrious light show flaring - quite literally - into full effect. Proceeding that was fan-favourite 'Talk', which is always a lot of fun to sing along to! 'Chasing Ghosts' was the next song we were treated to, and by this point the crowd had warmed up enough to have a good old sing song and a sway!
Before playing 'Runaway', Chrissy had a moment with the crowd, apologising to anyone who was at the Manchester date of the previous tour (which I was), due to the fact that she was extremely ill that date, and honestly didn't want to play the show, but she soldiered on, and although there was little to no crowd interaction that day, they still played a blinder. Anyway, she took the time to thank anyone who was there, even hinting that it was one of her favourite shows to date, and that was appreciated massively by any fans that were in attendance.
Proceeding 'Runaway' was 'Roses', a song Chrissy has the following to say about; "Its not about a real event, but the emotions are real. It is the saddest song I have ever written and it hurts the same every time I sing it. I guess really what I'm trying to say is that you can experience things through your emotions and that music isn’t always writing about what you’ve done. rather, it’s about what you’ve felt." And it is just that, it is an exceptionally relatable and emotional song, I genuinely almost teared up.
On a lighter note, Against The Current then played what is probably my favourite song of theirs, 'One More Weekend', a song they have only just incorporated into their live setlist, so it was cool to finally hear it live, and it is even better than it is on record. After 'One More Weekend', Chrissy once again has an emotional moment with the crowd, explaining exactly what the album, and next song - 'In Our Bones' - is about, and it was genuinely touching, anybody that is interested can find a link at the end of this article. I found it to be inspiring.
Back to the show. 'Brighter' and 'Paralyzed' are a pair of fan favourites, and they were exactly what came next. ATC's 'final song' 'Wasteland' is a testament to the absolute talent that radiates from Against The Current, and 'ends' their set on a high. Naturally the crowd are dissapointed, and a chorus of 'one more song' erupts, thankfully the band oblige, with not one, but two more! No ATC set would be complete without 'Dreaming Alone', and their ACTUAL final song 'Gravity' was a perfect way to end a beautiful showcase of songs from the arsenal of ATC.
Chrissy's speech starts at around 40 seconds in.
Against The Current - https://www.facebook.com/againstthecurrentband/
Review - Luke Percival
Photo - Friswell Photography
