Let’s not beat around the bush… the prospect of seeing Papa Roach was scaring me. Not because they are in fact scary, but more to the point because as far as I can tell they had seemingly fallen off of the face of the planet or quite some time. Also, coupled with the fact that they a band which surprisingly I never managed to see before… I was just plain worried. Fortunately, a packed out London Astoria (2,500 people) is always a good sign and as the queue stretched back to Oxford Street, I knew something must be up.
The opening act The Bangkok Five were, to me a cross between Bon Jovi and My Chemical Romance, if you can imagine such a thing. Starting on a shaky note they manage to power-chord their way through thirty minutes of “Living on a black parade” before accepting their fate and bowing out relatively unimpressively. Despite the fact that the majority of the crowd looked thoroughly perplexed, I must say I found it thoroughly entertaining… it was really just lost on a crowd which was made up of a good proportion of under 18 year olds; who really only appreciated their smutty jokes. One last thing has to be said about them though… that audience member may have called you a “fag”, but that’s no warrant to assault an obvious mouthy kid. Verbally assault him yes, but when you get physical that’s a different story.
After what seemed like an age, thanks to the venue playing an entire Slipknot album in between sets, Papa Roach burst onto the stage. Who knew that Coby Dick was so small? With a grin from ear to ear his proclamation of “LONDON – IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK!” was a thought clearly echoed by the crowd who suddenly came alive. The entire venue floor was a mass of writhing bodies as they stormed their way through a ninety minute set which included a great mix of new and old material. In fact, despite ‘Last Resort’ being a seemingly obvious fans favourite, it was officially overshadowed by the response that their latest single *** … can anyone say, re-invention?
‘Dead Cell’ had the furious pit erupting whilst ‘Broken Home’ had 99.9% (yes that excludes me sorry, bad back) jumping up and down. The new material for which I can’t put names to decidedly brought back memories of Infest but also reignited my interest in the critically acclaimed ‘lovehatetragedy’ which if I’m honest wasn’t a half bad album. It just so happened that they got left behind in a time where Nu-Metal was becoming drastically unpopular. Fortunately for them times have changed and so has their musical style as they still carry the essence of everything they originally stood for but have evolved into a band who can avoid being pigeonholed thanks to adopting metal, nu-metal and just plain hard rock as their chosen genres, and doing all three particularly well.
Papa Roach to me, one week ago would have been laughable. Immediately written off as one of those has-been bands and not given a second thought. This show however, has proven me wrong… much as I hate to admit it. It’s ferocious, it’s catchy, and it’s better than My Chemical Romance… what more could you want in a band