ROAM // With Confidence Co-Headline Tour - O2 Institute, Birmingham 23.09.2019
Fellow Pop-Punk mobs With Confidence & ROAM have teamed up for an extensive UK & EU tour. Tonight they bring the co-headline party to Birmingham’s O2 Institute 2.
With Confidence are the first of the co-headliners to take to the stage, as they come flying out the traps to ‘Moving Boxes’. Vocalist Jayden Seeley seems well up for it tonight, and he does a sound job of pumping up the crowd right from the get go.
It really is a rowdy one tonight, at least until Jayden asks the crowd “Is it ok if we slow it down a little?”, before leading into acoustic number ‘Paquerette (Without Me)'. It’s not long before arms are back up in the air though as With Confidence bring the heat with favourites ‘Archers’, ‘Godzilla’, and their cover of Trains’ ‘Drops of Jupiter’.
They save the best till last thought with curtain closing ‘Voldemort’, a song not directly about the JK Rowling villain like you might think, but actually a metaphor about the fear of speaking up about mental health problems. A fantastic set from this bunch, and they warm for the crowd up nicely for their fellow headliners.
Next up is ROAM, and it’s their turn to set the stage alight. The Eastbourne quintet have a reputation for chaotic live shows, and that is proven during the opener ‘I Don’t Think I Live There Anymore’ as mosh pits open up and crowd surfers take flight.
With recent album ‘Smile’ having only just been released a couple of weeks before, fans on this UK run are being treated as they are the first to hear them in a live setting. The new material also proves to be very popular already as the crowd sings almost every word back during 'Hand Grenade'.
As the set draws to a close, we again have new material with ‘Turn’ and ‘Piranha’, before old fan favourite ‘Playing Fiction’ brings an end to the party. Tonight has been an amazing night of live music, with a double dose of Pop-Punk chaos from the excellent With Confidence and ROAM, hopefully it won't be too long before both of these bands are back again!
With Confidence - https://www.facebook.com/withconfidence/
Photos & Review - Sam Robinson Photography
