Music / Reviews
Review: Million Dead, Electric Bristol – ‘Sweaty and euphoric’
“We outdate Myspace!” Frank Turner exclaims with a grin.
Million Dead are back, for one tour only. 20 years have passed since the band split – but not before building a hardcore following for the post hardcore band that means the world to a lot of people.
The band has gone on to find other creative avenues, notably Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls and Future of the Left, along with just living life and all that brings over two decades!
If people were wondering if they still had it, that idea was blown out of the water.
The opening rhythmic drive of the drum beat and ominous riff of Breaking The Back builds to give Frank the base to get his scream on, testing the vocals from the get-go in a set where he has to go places vocally he hasn’t been for a long while. There is nowhere to hide in these songs.
The revival appears to have come about through, as far as I can grasp, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff that mentions a Million Dead reunion show.
All it took was a message from the band’s guitar tech Dave simply saying LOL and half the members moving to Bristol to get the band back together! There is no new music or promise of it. This is an emphatic celebration of songs that “mean fucking everything to us.”
I Am The Party sees the crowd erupt around me – they are ready to mingle hard, I’m constantly in collision with a man in the sweatiest Christmas jumper ever, screaming all the words. That jumper needs to be burnt straight after this gig.
There are SO many words to each Million Dead song. It feels like Frank is taking a 20-year-old lyric exam and smashing it. He is equally in his element screaming his heart out as he is singing tender acoustic songs.
Tonight there is no let-up, although Sasquatch gives him a break to nip out back for a massage, as fans declare their love for Bristol-based bassist Julia Ruzicka.
Living The Dream sees an elbow-flailing headbutting circle pit of fans who can’t believe they have the chance to sing these songs again or, for some, to do it for the first time. Half are not old enough to have seen this band before, and half are more than experienced in navigating a frenzied pit.
“If Big Jeff doesn’t come to your shows, then you may as well go fuck yourself!” is the intro to Song to Ruin as Frank recalls Bristol Shows at the Louisiana that avid gig-goer Big Jeff Johns was at along with a few enthusiastic fans in the crowd back in the early days.
This may well have been an exploration of the past, but these songs stand up today. If Smiling at Strangers was on the 6 Music playlist, it’d blow everything else off the airways. With the power of Million Dead behind it, the song is a crushing mix of crashing drums and rapid rhythmic lyrical delivery that has the crowd gasping for sweaty breath.
Set closer Pornography for Cowards sees Frank on his knees and the mosh pit doubling in size below as people dive in to grab their last bite of the action. The best hardcore Christmas party in Bristol ends sweaty and euphoric.
All images: Matt Barnes
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