It’s your typical Tuesday night for a rock show. The support comes on and only half the venue really take notice and despite the singer actively trying to engage by jumping on the crowd it doesn’t quite sit well. Tour support Napoleon play what feels like an incredibly short set and again, it’s not quite powerful enough to penetrate the dwindling crowd.
Defeater don’t as much as make an entrance and but flow into But Breathing from their setup and straight into Bastards. It’s just a shame the venue’s sound is pretty poor, it’s muddy, the band feel lost and so are the crowd. The few at the front go for it whilst the rest stand back. At one point it feels like the band are purely playing to those few. “This is a punk rock show” angrily shouts singer Derek at the lack of participation. It’s not till two thirds into the set do they really shine and the whole crowd finally feel captivated. The band are blessed with a back catalogue of hits, there is no bad setlist. Whatever they play, it’s heartfelt and it’s powerful.There’s no end to people passionately shouting the lyrics back at them, it’s the only way you can. Ending with Cowardice the band strongly throw themselves into it one final time before a quick exit.
Defeater are a band that should be bigger than they are, it was a case of band vs crowd and band eventually won.
6/10
