First on the bill was Fight The Dice.
It's always hard being the opening the band as many people don't know who you are. I was one of them, despite not knowing the words to the songs they had a good energy about them. They did a decent cover of Muse's Super Massive Black Hole my only trouble was with difficultly hearing the vocals. I could hear the guitarist backing vocals better than the lead singers! They weren't a bad opening band and I'd be happy to listen to more of them in the future.
Check Fight The Dice on Facebook here
Sam Jackson of Fight The Dice.
Second band of the night was The Last Carnival.
I last saw this band support Taking Hayley back in July on their Made Tour. So this time I knew what to expect. The Last Carnival have almost an over confident feel about them when they're on stage, a kind of 'look at us we know what we're doing.' I didn't enjoy their set, the whole thing had no impact on me. Even know I couldn't tell you anything about the songs they sung as I couldn't really hear them.
I've seen this band twice now to be honest once was enough.
If you want to listen to The Last Carnival click here
The third and final support of the night were Keep The Change!
A band I've reviewed in the past and was looking forward to seeing. Their set was energetic and fun, I sang along to the songs I knew but even when I didn't know them I had fun clapping along and jumping around. They did a good cover of Roar originally by Katy Perry which had the whole crowd singing. Keep The Change were by far the best support of the night, they really got the crowd going and made an impact.
I'd advise listening to Keep The Change here
The headlining band of the night, Stakeout!
I saw these guys back in August and loved every minute so you could say I was excited to see them again.
They started off the night with I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, a great way to to start a Christmas gig! There wasn't a person I could see that wasn't singing along and enjoying themselves. Next they go into some of their own songs such a Heartbreak Overdue, Sing It Loud and Chelsea, it's always fantastic to be in the middle of a crowd where everyone just going mad and having fun and that's what it's like at Stakeout. They can really pull everyone together. Get Up And Go is a song they'd not played in over a year and it was great to hear them play, for the people who hadn't heard it before and the people who had. It actually has one of my favourite lyrics in 'When did we become everything we swore we'd never be?' which was sung by their resident guitarist Arthur. The Outcome Of Saying Goodbye, is Stakeout's only slow song. It's a very emotional song that's very powerful. The whole crowd was singing and holding up their phones like lighters, it was quite beautiful. With only Matt on stage you can really hear his voice and he does have such a good voice, he sounds better live than recorded. Which is something you can't say for a lot of people. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town was another great Christmas classic, it also happens to be my favourite Christmas song. I loved hearing it live. Earthquake is Stakeout's new song, the video only premièring earlier this week was next. The recorded version of the song already a lot of energy but live it was a another level. The band was jumping around like mad, so was the crowd, it was by far my favourite moment of the night. They finished the night with Live It Up, Young and Fearless before the last Christmas song of the night Merry Christmas Everyone.
I had an amazing time watching Stakeout, and hanging out with my friends. Those boys know how to put on a great show and I'll diffidently being seeing them again!
Check out Stakeout here
Matthew Hodgetts.
All these photos are by the lovely Danielle Rose Photography! Check her out here to see loads more photo's from the show: Click here
