Glassjaw at Brixton 7.7.7.
Glassjaw at Carling Academy Brixton last night was so bloody amazing. The place was packed and you hardly move or easily be able to visit the toilet and get back to where you were standing.
I was there pretty early, around past 5 in the afternoon and there were already 30+ people in line. You could really feel the excitement as you can clearly hear remarks from other people who have been waiting for this gig since 2003 and some who couldn't simply believe this was all happening.
I was early since I was supposed to hang out with other GJN fans from the forums but opted not to due to my lack of social skills. So, I spent another gig in London completely alone.
By 7, they opened the doors and being early in, I was among the first inside and decided to buy me some merch since it was Glassjaw and that there still a few people buying stuff. Opted to buy a tshirt with a limited design exclusive for that night. It was 18 quid but it was the first band shirt I bought.
Stuffed the shirt in a pocket on my pants and proceeded to purchase a beer and some food.
By 8:15 DJ Krazy Glue and Jarvis from Head Automatica spinned. Mostly rock tunes which were ok but everyone was really waiting for Glassjaw. Even though their set was mildly entertaining, everyone was already standing up and the front section was starting to get packed.
I was pretty close to the front of the stage, it was a pretty good spot with quite a good view.
DJ Krazy Glue wrapped things up by 9 and 15 minutes later, Glassjaw was up on stage. The drummer came up first, testing the drums which happened to be placed on the right leaving a wide open space in the middle. Then the guitarists came up and a few moments later, Daryl Polumbo. They just stood up on stage for a good two minutes with slight drum rollings and just blasted off with a new song.
At this point, I was still close to the front middle and it was quite crazy. There was a steel barricade behind me and I could feel myself getting crushed against it so after two songs I decided to move back a little to a much calmer place but with a great view still. The whole place just went crazy with every song. The crowd screaming every word of each song. Daryl was also quite crazy on stage and moved a lot which would explain the wide space in the middle. They played a set which was almost an hour 20 minutes long and included new songs as well as songs from every album including EPs.
Of course they had an encore which was three songs long and really pumped the crowd more. It was really bloody awesome and crazy.
There were no more after show festivities since like I mentioned earlier, I did not hang out with the GJN crowd so I decided to go home. I pass Wembley station on the way home and around 4-5 trains which passed by where packed of people who just finished watching Live Earth.
I have no regrets missing Live Earth as Glassjaw was an out of this world experience. I hope they would have a tour back in London when they launch their new album. I'll be sure to be there.
I have no good pictures from inside Brixton since I only had my mobile phone, plus it was quite chaotic so I really could not pull off a decent pic. Plus the stage was pretty dark most of the time.
However, if you really want a picture there is one behind the cut.
