Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan
After a great Friday at Portsmouth Guildhall it was onto Saturday! Over on the Total Rock Stage, Overpass were making their festival debut — and if there were nerves, they hid them well.
It felt fitting that one of the guitarists was sporting a Loathe shirt, because that was immediately where the mind went, as tracks like Pieces or Give Up flew by Not necessarily the bruising, metallic side of Loathe, but that same blend of delicate, ethereal shoegaze and heavier, head-nodding riffs. The comparison felt especially apt when the softer, more shimmering moments gave way to sudden bursts of weight. Closing with the distinctly shimmering Breathe, the crowd were left submerged in a pleasantly dreamy fog. 8.5/10
Then, kicking off the Kerrang! Stage for the weekend, it was time for Leeds alt-rockers Artio. Bite Down and The Devil You Know immediately showed off just how powerful Rae Brazill’s voice is, but it was Babyface’s‘ Head In The Sand, Finger On The Trigger that really seemed to grab the crowd, if only from the beautifully acerbic opening line. The song’s venomous lyrics dripped from Rae with an almost accusatory fury, and it was hard not to think about how depressingly relevant they still feel.
Full On Fight For Fun saw Patty Walters and Benjamin Biss from As It Is join them on stage, a chaotic whirlwind of joyous movement, while Product Of My Own Desire came with the instruction to sing “moderately loud… fuck that, sing it as loud as you possibly can”. Even if the older fan favourites felt slightly overshadowed by the newer material from January’s Soul Rot, that changed the second the breakdown kicked in and Rae’s voice exploded over the top of it. By the time Seven Suns rolled around — plus a quick plug for their upcoming appearance with Twenty One Pilots at All Points East — Artio had firmly made the Kerrang! Stage their own. 9/10
It felt a little fitting to be late for Slackrr just after, given the name and all. Fast-paced and, most importantly, ridiculously fun, the pop-punks were visibly thrilled to be back at Takedown. Shared vocal duties between the guitarists only added to the joyful chaos, while tracks like Save Your Breath and Over & Over kept things bouncing along nicely — even as Better Days, which was introduced as being about overcoming your darkest hour, felt like a surprisingly sombre, heavy topic for such an irrepressibly upbeat band. In fact, the group’s recently released third album, A Light On The Horizon, seemed to get no shortage of love; at least until closer Playing With Fire, accompanied by some came excellent life advice: “Drive fast. Take risks. Bad decisions make great stories.” Even with it being the group’s 885th show, it was obvious that everyone in that room had a hell of a time. 8/10
Then came Zetra. Having supporting President on their inaugural headline show back in July, it wasn’t a surprise to see them on Takedown’s poster — their dreamy lethargy, languid and hypnotic rather than explosive, seemed perfect for the festival. The mysterious duo took to a haze-filled stage dressed entirely in black, rendered little more than silhouettes by the giant white backdrop behind them. That seemed entirely intentional — the pair’s shadowy, almost impermanent presence only feeding into their strange, otherworldly aura. Unfortunately though, the crowd didn’t seem quite as enamoured; perhaps a later slot on a more intimate stage would have worked wonders, letting the haze accumulate and surround rather than distort and hide. Still, always a unique experience — as strange as that sounds. 7/10
For any bad, particularly one appearing early in the day, there’s always a pipe dream of commanding a crowd so large that it physically can’t fit any more attendees in. So was the case for Manchester’s Pavé, fans turned away by security at the doors for safety reasons. Not bad for a band fresh off a support tour with Grey Daze. Their mix of soulful vocals and polished alt-rock felt tailor-made for the packed room, balancing emotion with bite and just a sprinkling of pulsing electro-beats to great effect. There was even a Pavé-orchestrated mosh pit in the middle of the room — admittedly only involving a handful of people, but points for effort!8/10
Onto Lastelle, and you’ve got to love a trumpet in your melodic metalcore. A slow, gentle intro of Pine gave way to monumental drums and immediate headbanging, particularly as the group launched Life In Silhouettes, complete with airborne kicks and hair-whipping from the frontman. The cavernous room somehow made Adam Rigozzi’s screams feel even more desperate, as if the band were throwing their anguish into empty space and hoping someone, somewhere, might find it in them to catch it. Tired Eyes and drummer Mike Hayden’s emotional cries led into one of the set’s strongest moments, especially with Freddie Whatmore’s falsetto harmonies soaring above the chaos, while Breathe Me In felt positively enormous, the crowd roaring the refrain back at the band with real force. Always a rousingly beautiful time. 8.5/10
Are Vower established enough now that you can skip mentioning the pedigrees involved? Maybe. But it still feels worth noting that the band are fronted by former Palm Reader vocalist Josh McKeown, who, (and this might just be personal bias speaking), has at once one of the most versatile and strangely unique voices in modern metal. Opening with Deadweight, growls and roars buffeting the room, it somehow felt like Vower were the first band to *truly* fill the comparatively cavernous room with their sound. Spending much of the set staring menacingly into the crowd — though that may have just been the intensity of the music bleeding into McKeown’s expression — his growls and screams felt viciously all-encompassing, particularly on Stuck.
Meanwhile, Shroud and Satellites gave the band room to show off their ability to flip from delicate and restrained to utterly bestial in an instant. A Storm Lined With Silver’s Dawn In Me saw tensions rise, menacingly building towards a violent climax, while Eyes Of A Nihilist brought things to a suitably crushing end. A beautiful barrage of noise. 9.5/10
Gone are the days of Mouth Culture supporting Acres in 200-capacity venues. These days, it’s late-afternoon main stage festival slots, support shows with You Me At Six, and their own sold out headline shows, taking the aforementioned Overgrown as their supports. Hence, a late-afternoon slot at Takedown. Unfortunately, the sound wasn’t on their side to begin with. Fortunately, though, the crowd was. Once the set got going, the Leicester band delivered one of the most effortlessly energetic sets of the day. Don’t Pull Up saw frontman Jack Voss leaping around the stage and spinning like a man possessed, while a circle pit broke out for Sharkbait before the first crowd surfer of the set (and possibly the day!) went sailing overhead. The slower Everyday turned the room into a sea of phone flashlights, Cherry Red Rage saw Voss’s shirt come off and screams from the excitable front row grow louder. By the time Ratbag closed things out, security were finally beginning to earn their wages. 8/10
The backdrop behind As It Is read “As It Is. 2012–Forever”. Admittedly there should maybe have been a mini caveat there for the group’s mini hiatus and their line-up changes over the years, but the message stayed the same — they’re back, they’re here to stay, and they’re fundamentally ours.
Fresh from a Brighton house show the day before, Takedown saw a surprisingly new setlist, as if to say they’ve done their anniversary tour, it’s now time to look forward. Sure, the old favourites were still there — okay’s Hey Rachel and No Way Out came reasonably early into the set, and The Great Depression got a healthy, screaming-fan led showing, even if Patty Walter singing those songs without being Gerard Way-ified still feels oddly jarring — but the festival was met with a generous dosing of their upcoming self-titled album, too, including the live debut of Marilyn, acoustic guitar in tow. Lose Your Way & Find Yourself, meanwhile, saw Patty show off some synchronised dancing with Kaos Kreatives’ Kate Hannah.
Never Happy, Ever After only got one song in the end. But what a song. What else can you say, other than you’ve got to love Dial Tones. A great set, if one a little bereft of the sing-alongs you’d expect. 8.5/10
Just squeezing into the second stage in time, Glaswegian rockers Mason Hill arrived to a packed room and an immediate wall of drums and guitars. The sinister opening riff of newbie Burn It Down set the tone before latest single Twisted delivered Tom Ward’s angered shouts and James Bird’s towering riffs in equal measure. We Pray, introduced for the “OG Mason Hill fans”, garnered a surprisingly big reaction — given a Glaswegian band playing in Portsmouth of all places — while Hurricane brought a more atmospheric, pleading feel to proceedings. And then, of course, Against The Wall. ‘Technical gremlins’ and Ward’s voice issues aside, a brilliant performance. 8/10
Finally, it was time for President.
With photographers barred from the pit and their debut UK tour already sold out almost instantly, there was a palpable sense that this was going to be one of the weekend’s biggest talking points. Unsurprisingly, the room was absolutely packed. The setup alone was ridiculous: ‘60s classics blaring over the speakers, a giant, double-crossed, neon purple LED crucifix hanging over the stage, a pulpit in the middle… like an early twentieth century US political rally, or at least how they’re portrayed in some of the more wholesome films.
Unlike with most bands at the festival, it didn’t really matter when the lights went down. Hundreds of phones immediately shot into the air, reflecting off the neon backdrop and giving the room an eerie glow of its own.
With President on vocals, Vice on drums, Protest on bass and Heist on guitar, the masked group looked every bit as theatrical as their reputation suggests. The interesting thing about President live is that you know exactly what they’re going to play, for better or worse. They only have eight studio songs and one cover, their version or Deftones’ Change (In the House of Flies). So, rather than reading the ebb and flow of the set to work out what was coming, it felt more like just basking in the talent on display and the adoration soaking the room. Fearless, Dionysus, RAGE, Angel Wings… the set flew by, broken up by the occasional interlude, such as a dramatic reading of Dylan Thomas’ Do not go gentle into that good night arcing over the room. The aforementioned cover was particularly impactful, if only as an easy entryway for any attendees who hadn’t heard of the latest masked phenomenal but understandably recognised the shoegaze-metal classic, as was the long-awaited live debut of Mercy.
Even music aside, it was one hell of an experience. At one point, President disappeared offstage entirely while Vice and Protest locked into a huge instrumental section — perhaps a chance for the eponymous frontman to empty the sweat pooling inside his mask, given the literal waterfall that poured out at their ‘Inaugural Headline Rally’ at the Garage last year; at another, a speaker-led discussion of Plato’s cave theory felt weirdly impactful, if incongruous in the midst of the alt metal show.
Speaking of bodies of water, President himself looked less like a commanding dictator and more like he was doing the breaststroke as he wordlessly commanded a pit to open for closer In the name of the Father, the crowd not needing to be asked twice as they prepared for their eruption.
On a personal note, we didn’t want to like President’s set. We were at the inaugural headline show, all thirty minutes of it, which felt a bit of a cop out for fans who’d spent hundreds on accommodation, travel and resale. Good, but unbelievably brief.
Not to swear, but holy fuck was their headline set phenomenal. No surprise given the band members’ identities and pedigree, but wow. It looks like Takedown have found their niche: masked bands on the cusp of blowing up. An easy 10/10
Check out our review of Friday here.
A brilliant weekend, despite being marred by tragedy so close to kicking off, and an incredible start to the metal festival scene.
