letlive. @ Camden Electric ballroom 17/10/13

The american post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California set out to Europe to do a headline tour for many of their fans who had much appreciated it. Now letlive. have been in the UK a couple of times and also played in Camden before, but never as a headliner, so for them  this tour was a major deal in their progress of becoming a soupier band.
This being my first time even seeing the band, I didn't know what to expect but madness, letlive. are one of my favorite bands and also one that I had dreamed about seeing
g live, based on their energetic music which alters and changes throughout each song. Just imagining see all of that power on stage in front of a crowd of letlive. fans seemed like a perfect way to spend my Thursday night.
London being the last date of the tour, I knew that all shit would get lose and this gig would be blown to the max, where everything the band had planed would explode with the crowd, causing an insane gig.

Judging by the queue of letlive. fans outside the venue, proved my suspicions right, as you usually get a lot of fan girls, or posers or even people who don't even know who's playing, but not this time. Everyone was dressed in either letlive merch or similar band t shirts, excited as I was to get in and finally see them.
There first support band "Night Verses" demonstrated their brilliant and unique sound first up as the whole band wasted no time in getting straight into the music, bouncing around the stage, pelting their music, clearing enjoying them self. The crowd however seemed a bit more leanient towards them and found them self moving slowly with a push of adrenaline, building up for letlive next. Personally I did find them as a suitable support to open up letlive. as they knew their target audience and got right into the music, showing off with high screamed vocals and heavy drum beats, going absolutely mental on stage. Even if the crowd wasn't moving much, their music made you feel as though you were, it was that hard hitting.

Now normally you would expect to see another two or three support acts, however the band who was supposed to be supporting "The American Scene" pulled out just before the last date was set. This was a great disappointment to me as I had wanted to see them live properly, but to my dismay they didn't show, despite all of that, It still didn't seem to bother much people or even make that much of an impact as the main reason everyone was there was for letlive. and this just meant that their set could be longer and enjoyed further.

The clock just turned 9:30 the lights began to dim, queuing the crowd to start cheering, awaiting the band to finally appear on stage, yet being letlive they had a different opening style up their sleeve, making the audience wait a good three minutes whilst another song played until they bounced on stage, greeted my the roars of ecstatic fans.
As soon as Jason's leg hit the floor, the faint found of "Banshee" came into play (their latest single from the new album) the whole crowd new imminently what was going to happen next. Everyone who had been standing still had now moved towards the middle, finger pointing and moshing towards the song as I found myself doing the same. One of their most popular songs from the album, everyone new all the words, chanting it back as Jason went absolutely mental, directing his hands towards each person involving them, as a man from the stage, dived into the crowd pulling the true hardcore atmosphere of what a gig should be like.
The music fitted in perfectly to start with as it was at the right tempo to get everyone moving and up, ready for the next song which was "H. Ledger" where Jason now got right at the front of the barriers, in touching distance to the crowd before diving right in, being lifted up by band hands surfing throughout the rest of the song, causing havoc then aplogising to the crowd if he hit anyone like a true gentleman.

To match the previous song, the band matched this with another from their latest album, causing high guitar rifts to intertwine with the moshing and screaming of the crowd, as "Dreamer's Disease" began to kick in, everyone gave each other enough space to moshing around in their little zone, connecting with the song before coming together for the breakdown. This then returned with Jason talking to us about the next song being a cover from Black Flag called "Fix me" where everyone completely lost their shit to this old punk rock beat, before returning back to the softer pace of letlive. the night had seemed to gone on forever but it was only the firth song, as everyone seemed to still be full of energy and getting emotional involved with the songs as Jason told the crowd stories about his previous life and the troubles he had overcame, and how music had helped him. Every single pair of eyes fell in the same saddened and apathetic way towards him showing their support and understanding in what he had gone through but also relating this to themselves. Nonetheless this sadness didn't stop anyone from having a good time as "Enemises [Enemigos]" came into play whilst everyone soft moshed along before the breakdown came into play and the room started to split, allowing room for a pit to start up. All hands rose into the air, moving along to each word Jason sang, full of power and emotion as the instrumental rhythm began to repeat and repeat, allowing the swaying of bodies, moving in perfect sync.

This all then got wildly interrupted with the follow up song which was exploding with the hardcore, punk based energy in movement with the instruments, creating a hectic, mosh pit environment. The whole floor had turned into a battle ground as everyone moved form one side to the other, destroying everything in their path along with the music going  decisively mad into the next song which infused with a similar beat.
It was about half way through the set by now, and the night seemed to had flown by as everyone didn't want it to be over but only a couple of songs were left to play.

As soon as "Younger" kicked in the room started to separate again, forming a giant pit for everyone to mosh in, completely breaking out, the atmosphere at a perfect temperature as sweat poured everywhere warming up the room with many fans screaming along with the rustic sound of Jason's vocals.
Again, he took a pause in between the songs to talk about another experience he had had, the next song was "Pheromone Cvlt" which was special to him, as it was about a love experience he had once had, the way in which he told the story through a series of short sentences, pausing, taking deep breaths then asking rhetorical questions in which we all answered inside our minds, relating his experiences to ours producing the
most effective, silence possible before the beginning of the started up and the crowd swarmed to the front, supporting Jason. It was such a magical experience as everyone's lips moved in perfect sync with Jason s, repetitively over and over again until the song drew to an end. This was then reduced by the next song which played straight after, pulling a more positive and vibrant atmosphere back into the gig, causing the pit to form even more brutal than before, as people were flying in all directions.

All seemed to be going in high spirits until Jason, one again took a break from signing and reached out into the crowd. He began by thanking everyone who came down to the gig, shaking hands with the front row of the crowd, thanking the venue, the supporting bands and even the security guards, proving that he was entirely grateful to be playing up on that stage, which was something you hardly get at gigs, but the phrase "Thank you" could have been said more times that night as he truly did mean it with all his heart. It was time again for another little story taken from Jason's own personal life, as well are all familiar with the song "Muther" and what It means. He began circling the stage, and with this terrifying, hard hitting story about his childhood and how much his mother meant to him, the whole crowd fell silent with his mesmerizing story, and every single person in that room took it in, deeply connection with their own past personal experiences, feeling the same pain Jason had let out as he began to tear up and cry. It was heartbreaking to see, the band getting so involved in their music that they start to show a bit of vulnerability, and remind us that they're just like us, normal human beings with the same life events and feelings we all have.
I could even feel the tension building as everyone awaited for him to finish before asking us to sing along with him so his mother in Glasgow could hear us all, passing the mic out to the crowd so everyone's beautiful voice could be heard over his.

This song wasn't like the others, it was more about the lyrical meaning and connecting with it, each person doing this in their own way along with the music until it was over, where everyone fell silence, waiting for the breakdown where the two lines were repeated over and over again, "DON'T YOU CRY MAMA WE'LL, WE'LL BE OK." ending the song, with everyone in union, before it got interrupted by wild screams from the fans.

The night was drawing to a close and letlive. announced their last song for the nigh "Day 54" which was my all time favorite one, again because of its lyrical meaning and passion sung throughout. This is where everyone just got together and went mad when the chorus kicked in, as the middle and back of the venue completely parted with kids moshing and dancing all over the place getting straight into the music, screaming right form their lungs. This was definitely one of the best songs performed on the night in my opinion as it was just filled with so much energy and passion, it made you want to move continuously.
ending in "This is goodbye" the band left the stage, just as the crowd began to chant for an encore, and one more song to play which encouraged letlive. to return with not just one, but three more songs to end the last
 date of the tour. Starting of with  "Le Prolouge", also starting up the massive pit that formed the floor, this time covering its entire space, as everyone got right into making use of all the space available, moshing it out as it was their final time to before the night was over. The diverseness of this song, switched to a softer troposphere as the screams intertwined with the soft clean vocals in which Jason gave to the crowd, mixing up the original soul punk genre with hardcore, making a hybrid setting.

Ending the night with "Renegade 86'" which proved to be lifting and upbeat which got the crowd bouncing in beat with the bass and guitar chords, shaking the whole floor, creating multiple vibrations that filled the room. A this point all the wild crowd surfers got their last chances, in getting up and trying to grab the mic of Jason and joining him on stage as this caused havoc among the crowd as almost everyone wanted to be lifted up into the air and surfed along the many letlive. hands right on stage before the song had ended and the stage disappeared into black emptiness.

Letlive. had played a mammoth 17 song set, which filled the night with surprises, making it into the top 10 best gigs I had been to, again a band who knows how to put on a performance and make their crowd fully interactive with them, Jason has been known for his energetic, live and outrageous performances and he had proven these stereotypes of him from climbing the speakers, breaking the lights, smashing the amps on stage causing total havoc amongst the crowd, but also joined by Jeff who completely smashed up his guitar by the end of the last song, before chucking it out into the crowd to keep as a souvenir.
Defiantly had the best time at that gig and look forward to see them return back to the UK for another headline tour as this one proved more than successful, letlive. reached the highest marks for me and are a solid 10/10 live.