The Long Weekend of Live Music

featuring As December Falls, KSI and Yonaka

It has been a long time since I've been able to spend some time going away to different music venues to watch some of the best music artists do what they do best. With the change in the rules with COVID and with tones of tours coming in thick and fast, I thought I'd book some time off work and spend a long weekend away seeing three acts that have had some shows booked over the week.

As December Falls

The first band that we went to see was the pop-punk outfit As December Falls who were embarking on their Happier tour after the release of the album with the same name last year. The release gave both me and my dad reason to be excited about this show and the band did not disappoint. ADF gave it their all in a fantastic show where they got the whole crowd singing along to their catchy hits.

The support band we saw, Welsh alternative outfit Glass Heart did a good job in working up the crowd with a mix of heavy riffs and catchy lyrics reminding me of the likes of Malory Knox, Don Broco, and Holding Absence at times. Their song 'Anything' has an infectious hook which makes it very easy to sing along to and gets stuck in your head which is what happened to me while watching the band play. They were a great opening act which I will be checking out more of in the future.

ADF opened up with 'Afterglow' with Guitarist Timmy and Ande opening the song and Bethany walking on stage captivating the crowd with her excellent vocals with the crowd singing along in unison. This continues through the whole show and is at its peak with 'I Don't Feel Like Feeling Great' with Bethany getting the crowd to sing the 'Da da, da's' after Ande's impressive guitar solo. You could tell throughout their set that they were loving every moment of being on stage with similes on every member's face watching the crowd jump about to enjoy their show. The band also pulled out a great cover of Avril Lavigne's sk8er boi' which was one of the big crowd pleasures of the night.

Other Highlights included their major hit from their self-titled album 'Ride' which as soon as Ande played the first rift, the crowd knew what was coming with Bethany asking the crowd if they were ready mid-song with the crowd singing the chorus back to her delight. Also right at the end 'Tears' also shows the way in which the band could get the crowd jumping and singing along and display their talents on stage.

Overall ADF showed why they going to play festivals like Slam Dunk this year with an electric set that pleased the fans and band alike. It's also worth noting that this band is self-funded which makes what they are achieving even more special. if you want to support ADF and help them keep doing they you can support them on Patreon. There you can get exclusive content from the band as well as merch discount and free tickets to shows which is how me and my dad were about to go to the show. A massive thank you to them for the tickets and you can check out their Patreon in the link below

https://www.patreon.com/asdecemberfalls/posts

KSI

The next day me and my friends made the trip to Wembley to see a YouTuber, Boxer, and now singer/Rapper KSI. I remember back in 2012 watching JJ's Race To Division one videos after school. If you told me ten years on you would see him headline Wembley Arena with guests like Anne- Marie, Craig David, and S-X, then I'd probably laugh at you. But here I was watching one of the biggest YouTubers in the country play to a sold-out Wembley Arena. Very surreal.

I will say that the support for KSI was a good way to start the night. BRYN starts the night off with her drill freestyles to get the crowd warmed up. The singer, rapper, and songwriter was able to display her talents from her impressive vocals to her solid rapping which flows very well. Certainly got my attention as I walked into the arena and someone to look out for in the future.

Next up was a long-time friend of KSI and producer S-X took to the stage with his mix of electronic R&B and rap. Once again it's pretty surreal to see S-X play on a big stage considering only two years ago I saw him play in a basement in some pub. Despite this, S-X held his own at Wembley with a range of new tracks that Sam has released over lockdown mix with some of his older tracks. One of the highlights from the set had to be his new song 'All Night'. Despite Trippe Redd being a no-show, S-X vocal range comes through well and gets the crowd swinging side to side at the end of an impressive set.

Finally, it was time for the main event, KSI live at Wembley, something I'd never thought I'd ever see. However JJ pull out all the stops to put on one hell of a show with excellent production from the imagery on the big screens, the dancers accompanying him on stage, and even getting a Lamborghini out for his encore, There's no doubt that the set was incredibly entertaining. Then there is the sheer amount of guests that played in his set. From a mix of some of the biggest names JJ has worked with such as Anne- Marie, Nathan Dawn, and Digital Farm Animals to some of his closest friends such as Randolph and S-X, It's clear the scale of this show is something not even KSI has gone for before but he pulls it off even convincing Craig David to play '7 Days'.

It has to be said that despite having an array of guests, some of the best parts of the set were when JJ was on his own on songs like 'No Time' and 'Madness' which act as examples of KSI owning the stage and looking very comfortable doing it. One of the highlights of the night had to be JJ's tribute to the late Jamel Edwards with his major hit 'Holiday' with JJ telling the crowd how he was being told the track needed a feature which he objected to and tells the packed out stadium how Edwards help him and believed in him. 'Holiday' acts as an emotional tribute from JJ and a great way to bring the set to a close before the encore.

This however was not the perfect set it has to be said. KSI did struggle with the rap on some songs such as 'Don't play' which is something that comes with experience which I'm sure he will get better at but my main issue was the five (yes five!!) different renditions of 'Down Like That'. I totally understand that this song is a hype song and with some of the missing features, it can be forgiven to play the song twice. However, Five times was excessive and stopped the set from being near perfect. Do have to give KSI credit however for stopping in between renditions to make sure fans were ok after the mosh. Whatever your view is on the guy, you have to say he always looks out for his fans no matter the situation.

Despite my criticisms, KSI still put on an amazing show. I have no idea how he will be able to top the scale of this event. The sky is really the limit.

Yonaka

The final act of the weekend took us down the sunny Brighton for hometown heroes Yonaka who were playing at Chalk. This is a band that I've been following for a while since I saw them supporting Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes in 2017. The band has since then been growing a fan base which has only got bigger and bigger with the releases of 2019 'Don't Wait 'Til Tomorrow' and their 2021 mixtape 'Seize the Power'. This was the first time the band was able to tour their new mixtape and the band did not hold back with a set full of energy and some amazing vocals for lead singer Theresa Jarvis.

The band started off with some of their new material hitting us with 'Ordinary', 'Greedy' and 'Call Me a Saint' while all throwing in 'Punch Bag' from their last album which made for a fast pace start and was a statement of intent from the band of what was to come. the set was filled to the brim with moshpit-worthy tracks. I think there must have only been one or two songs where the crowd wasn't jumping about. The set was so energetic and really shows how Yonaka can get a crowd worked up.

In terms of highlights from this set there were plenty. First would be the band's incredible cover of Pat Benatar's 'Love Is A Battlefield' which worked well with the band's sound and Javis's vocal range which help modernize a classic song. Another would be when the band calmed thing down for a bit and played 'Guilty (For Your Love)' which the band played a stripped back version of the song in which Theresa started to get emotional but still put on an incredible vocal performance with the crowed singing along which made for a beautiful moment. Same can be said for 'Anthem' where the band came on for their encore once again greeted by the fans singing along with the more slower song from their set.

The end of the set saw Yonaka mix these slower songs for more of their high energy tracks nearing the end of the set song like 'clique', 'F.W.T.B', and 'Seize The Power' certainly got the crowed jumping. We weren't the only ones. All the members were jumping around with the crowd while playing their songs to perfection. The final song of the night was Yonaka's most popular song 'Rockstar' which once again brought the energy to Chalk to the point where they got everyone to crouch down and jump just on the drop for the final chorus of the track. The whole room leaps up when Theresa shouts "go" on the drop of the song and the band finishes their set with massive smiles on their faces and one very happy crowd. Even one of my friends, who'd never heard of the band before the gig told me how impressed they were.

Overall, Yonaka was a brilliant end to a great long weekend of live music with the band setting themselves up for bigger things going into festival season.