Following on from their arena-level concerts supporting Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage played a number of shows in smaller venues. Their last night in town for this tour was at Newcastle’s Bar on the Hill.
Newcastle’s own Dropsaw were charged with opening up proceedings. I was last in Newcastle about a year ago to see their celebration of the MIssing Limbs album, which was a great time. They started with “Wasted Youth”. Having this Novocastrian classic have most people just standing and nodding politely made me think that this was a different type of crowd to my previous visit.
As the set went on the energy built, with a couple of new tracks. In recent days they have announced a new album will be coming out later in the year through Last Ride Records. They previewed a few of these songs, which keep their regular metal-infused hardcore sound, with a bit of extra groove. Looking forward to hearing the album. From memory one of the more impressive tracks was called “Suffocation”.
Towards the end of the set the crowd had built well and people were screaming out for “Free World”, the opening track of Missing Limbs. They obliged, giving their final two songs to the brooding “Missing Limbs” intro track before the pit erupted for “Free World”.
Dropsaw often finish with a Hatebreed cover but it was no to be on this evening. While Dropsaw had a solid crowd, the crowd built quickly as the anticipation built for Killswitch Engage to begin.
It was a bit of a circular moment for me, many years ago I was working with new guitarist Luke, who showed me a little album called Alive or Just Breathing and now I was here watching him support Killswitch Engage.
Having seen Killswitch Engage the night before with Iron Maiden, I was a little disappointed in the lack of older material. With their own show, they had the opportunity to add a couple more songs to the setlist.
With an already early kickoff of 9 pm, the band actually started a few minutes before that, getting straight to business with “My Curse”. Next up was “Rise Inside”, one of the new additions to the set compared to the night before.
This was the time to see if the crowd would be a wild mosh, but it was more of a shout and singalong vibe throughout the evening. Frontman Jesse Leach continued to say to the crowd, “Arena shows are great, but this is what we came up on. We grew up on hardcore and punk, playing to ten people, these shows are what it’s about.”
Leach would often come down to the barrier and lean into the crowd. There was a fairly even mix of songs from his albums and those that featured Howard Jones, all featuring the mix of heaviness and melody, all the while having the banter between Jesse and Adam D. Occasionally this would veer off into excessive talk of genitalia, with their manager standing by the side looking concerned, but they would come back and carry on.
Leach talked about how he really connected with the lyrics that Howard Jones had written for “The Arms of Sorrow”. While in the arena the band had room to move, and different levels they could jump upon, the stage at The Bar on the Hill offered less room to move but the band kept up the energy and movement throughout.
“The Signal Fire” provided room for both headbanging and a full crowd singalong, while some of the tracks like “Rose of Sharyn” and “In Due Time” had the crowd in full voice. The addition of the couple of extra older songs, including “A Bid Farewell” really improved the set for my personal enjoyment. The band wound down the set with “My Last Serenade” before finishing with their cover of “Holy Diver”.
The show was all finished by ten at night. I feel they could have played a longer set but was very impressed with what I saw. Like the band said during the set, “This is not a crowd, this is a gathering. You look like you all know each other.” They also advised us to get off the devices and the arguments and look for the human connection.
As I was walking out I heard a few people walking out discussing if that was the show of the year so far. With the Iron Maiden show the night before, it was certainly a weekend to remember.
Killswitch Engage will be playing in New Zealand before returning home to the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, where they will be celebrating 25 years as a band. Hopefully, we will be seeing a few more Dropsaw appearances with the arrival of the album as well.
Review by Daniel Boyle
