This is a slightly smaller tour than previous ones undertaken by America’s heavyweights Papa Roach, but the fact remains that they are an incredible band, both in the studio and on stage. Tonight to celebrate #ThrowbackThursday, they’ve decided to play their 2000 debut album ‘Infest’ in full. For the first time ever…
Opening the proceedings are London boys, The One Hundred, who can only really be compared to Enter Shikari, as both bands styles are pretty much the same. Chaotic, mental and mindbending, The One Hundred combine scream vocals, with quickfire rapping, pounding drums, massive riffs and explosive synths, to create a world of noise which may confuse but is highly entertaining. Vocalist, Jacob Field is a future star it has to be stated. He patrols the stage like a pro and has a fantastic voice on him. Tunes like ‘Kingsmen’ and ‘No Fkx’ are energetic and show that the band has the potential to be something massive. Only Enter Shikari are doing this sort of thing at the current time, and The One Hundred are worthy challengers to their crown of ‘chief abusers of music’s worthless genre boundaries’.
Main support comes from Japan’s Coldrain, who are a much more straightforward group. Primarily playing a brand of metal, with hints of posthardcore thrown in for good measure, the band start their set off strong with ‘The Revelation’ and leading straight into ‘Evolve’. Lead singer, Masato has an incredible vocal live, and can both sing and scream in equally great measures. Entering their 8th year as a band, it’s blatantly obvious that they have been playing together that long, due to the tightness in the sound that they create. The Roundhouse is the sort of venue that Coldrain sound very at home in, and there’s no reason why they couldn’t be headlining the venue at some point in the near future.
The crowd however, is only here for one band. At 9.30, Jacoby Shaddix leads his band of merry men out on stage, and rips straight into the Infest album with the title track. Immediately the crowd are bouncing and screaming. A mosh pit opens almost at the first note, and from there it’s absolute mayhem. Normally, Papa Roach will save their big guns for the latter stages of the set. When playing Infest in full, their biggest song is the second of the night. ‘Last Resort’ sounds as good in 2015 as it did in 2000. The crowd screams every single word throughout, and shakes the foundations of the venue with their movement. The faces of the band all beam massive smiles at the carnage they’re inciting. Throughout the Infest playthrough, the band look so excited, and when ‘Between Angels & Insects’ drops, the crowd pay them back doubly in energy. Some of the album tracks haven’t been played for over decade, like ‘Revenge’ (last played in 2000), ‘Never Enough’ (last played in 2003) and ‘Binge’ (last played in 2002). They even throw in the bonus reggae infused ‘Tightrope’.
What follows could be one of the best ‘encores’ of all time. This tour is in support of their latest album ‘F.E.A.R.’ and kick the encore off with the title track, then crash through lead single ‘Warriors’ with Shaddix rapping Royce Da 5’9’s guest spot. Tunes like, ‘Getting Away With Murder’ and ‘Lifeline’ get massive reactions, but nothing like the reaction that penultimate tune ‘Scars’ gets. With a ‘Happy Birthday F*cker’ screamed out by the crowd for guitarist Jerry Horton, it’s left for ‘…To Be Loved’ to bring proceedings to an end.
Papa Roach were at the front of the Nu-Metal revolution at the beginning of the millennium, and have consistently released great albums. The fact that they can decide on the day to go back and play through their debut album, and make it sound as good 15 years later than it was recorded is a testament to the talents of the band. The first time Infest has been played in full will be a memorable night for everyone involved, especially the fans.