Buzzin Music Blog

Billy Talent Southampton Guildhall October 29th

photo: dustin rabin

A packed crowd at the Guildhall were well warmed up by the excellent support for Billy Talent, Cancer Bats satisfied the headbangers in the audience and although not my cup of tea, they did appear to bring a lot of fans along with them.

Canterbury are among my favourite bands who have yet to make it big, they supported Enter Shikari at this venue last year and were excellent, as they were once again tonight. They were pretty enthusiastic and they got the majority of the crowd moving, in fact I got pushed into a fair few mosh pits myself, aha.

By the time that Billy Talent came on stage to the strains of ‘The Dead Can’t Testify’, the audience were already in party mood. The atmosphere was pretty amazing with the whole crowd singing along, dancing, jumping and headbanging throughout the set.

Like everyone else I was sold on the cute Canadian accents which would have won any crowd over had they needed to, but this audience just couldn’t get enough of Billy Talent and quite rightly so.

The Billy Talent set was a pure energy driven performance, blending tracks from the latest album with firm fans favourites while charming and interacting with the crowd in this intimate venue creating a unique and exhilarating party atmosphere.

The bit that stood out the most was Billy Talent, encouraging everyone to sing so they could record us and them, for the memory sticks which had everything from their show on it, which was a great idea, as I don’t think it has been done before, they were just a bit pricey at £20 each.

My only complaint is that they did not play my favourite Billy Talent track ‘Nothing to Lose‘, otherwise it was a perfect night as almost everyone in the Guildhall would testify. I really can’t wait for them to return!

Reviewed by Carmen L.