We’re in the little Academy tonight, which is not the best venue when you’re short and it’s (pleasingly) full. So tonight’s review will mostly consist of notes on what I heard rather than saw, as a description of the top of the band’s head is never very exciting. 

There should have been a full band set by Scarlet Rebels, but unfortunately due to an unspecified emergency within the band it turns out that only singer Wayne Doyle is available. Well, drummer Gary is here too, manning the merch and apparently feeling very frustrated. The rest of the band should rejoin the tour next week, but for now we get Wayne and a guitar, and a rather spiffing acoustic set. It's a bit of a shaky start to be honest, Wayne is visibly nervous and he explains that he’s never really performed these songs like this apart from when they were first written. Things are quite laid back and mellow and he has a good voice so the crowd reaction is enthusiastic. This makes a huge difference, and as the set goes on you can see him visibly warm up and get into it, and by the time we sing along to final track ‘Take Me Home’ he has found his power and is belting them out with gusto. As a fan of the band, it's good to hear these familiar songs stripped bare. As his voice grows stronger and his confidence becomes much more obvious, there's a lot of emotion in the room and for me this is good enough. I’d have liked to have seen the band perform but in the circumstances we got a perfectly acceptable replacement. 

Stone Broken start off bouncy and to my ears they have developed a bit of a Ghost-like vibe. It's melodic and powerful and they get a great crowd reaction. They have all the energy, they really get the heart pounding and the feet dancing. As a band they are tight, very together and it's good to see them back. I can detect some influences here and there, there’s a song that gives a nod to Fall Out Boy and their love of Linkin Park comes through strongly at times!  It's modern indie rock, very slick and quite commercial. Frontman Rich lets us know that they're going to do an eclectic set including a couple of deep cuts from the first album and a couple of surprises. One song that stands out for me is ‘Black Sunrise’ from their latest album “Revelation” which is like Nickelback on steroids and right up my street soundwise - it's got all the power and the sound is true classic rock. There’s a kind of an interlude partway through the set where they  come to the front with a couple of acoustic guitars – they may be sitting down but from my vantage point behind the inevitable Tall Man In A Hat I can’t be sure of this. At this point the ubiquitous backing track (which I have noticed during the set but waved away as adding nuance to the sound) becomes a bit more in your face. My inner jury is still out on this. I do think that used properly and carefully to enhance the overall sound backing tracks have their place on a live stage, but at the same time I think over-use can totally spoil the atmos. Thankfully Stone Broken get it more or less right, and I unclench and enjoy them adding to the performance rather than taking away from it. There’s no doubt that unlike some bands these guys don’t need to use tracks to mask them being incompetent, they have the talent in spades to be able to do their job well. The acoustic interlude finishes and they get back to the power bounce. They sound like the bastard sons (and daughter!) of Nickelback and Linkin Park, which sounds like a weird combination but they actually really make it work. I'm quite surprised that after a couple more songs and the crowd demonstrating a huge amount of enthusiasm the set finishes and there is no encore, I was really expecting them to come back for at least one song but maybe the curfew got in the way or something. Anyway, it's been a while since I last saw Stone Broken; whilst not my favourites of the new generation of rock I always used to like them when I first discovered them a few years back and I’m happy that they still bring plenty to the table and I can still find lots to enjoy when watching them. 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!

Stone Broken, Scarlet Rebels