Worldwide headlining tour, headbanging, mosh-pits and some groovy tunes!

If you had asked me, early on September 23rd what were my thoughts of Against the Current...my response would have been that they were one of my all time favourite bands. If you had asked me my opinion of The Faim, my answer would have been, from the one song I know, they are decent. I knew who they were as they had followed my Instagram a few months back, but I couldn't exactly call myself a fan, as I've only heard one song or two songs of theirs. Now if you asked me the exact same question, my answer would stay the exact same for Against the Current, whereas for The Faim, my opinion could not have juxtaposed as much as it did. The Faim, are 4 extremely talented, and very energetic young men, who blew me and the rest of the new fans away. Sure some people would have left the concert not liking them, however I am certainly not one!

The Faim, a 4 piece Australian pop punk band rising through the ranks, signed to BMG records and working alongside Rock legend and producer John Feldmann. From writing a single called 'Saints Of The Sinners' with Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) to working with other legends of the rock genre, The Faim are now getting opportunities to do world tours with bands as big as 5 Seconds of Summer who are managed by John Feldmann and bands such as Against the Current.

Josh Raven (Lead Vocals), Michael Bono (Lead guitar and vocals), Stephen Beerkens (Bass and Keyboard) and Sean Tighe (Drums), became a band in 2014, during high school building their musician profile by playing a few shows. In 2017, the 4 piece reached out to Feldmann with a demo of theirs, the L.A based producer and songwriter (Worked with Blink 182, The Used, All Time Low, 5 Seconds of Summer and many more bands).  Shortly after working with Feldmann, the band got signed to BMG, one of the major record labels.

The Faim

8pm rolls by, and The Faim brace the fans in the o2 Ritz, Manchester with their energetic presence. Playing songs that fans had both heard and hadn't heard. For new fans, all the songs weren't heard before, but if you thought for one minute that there was a single crowd member who wasn't headbanging, dancing or throwing up their 'rock horns' in the air you are sourly mistaken. Prior to the band hitting the stage, their were some songs to set the tone and mood for the audience, classics from The Killers, AC/DC, The 1975, Whitney Houston and many others, with everybody singing and dancing along to every tune that was played, by 8pm, the audience was more than ready to give their full undivided attention to the bands, and that is exactly what people did. Half way through the second song that The Faim played, there were some extremely energetic and rowdy fans who had decided to make a mosh pit, as fun as mosh-pits appear to be, the surrounding fans weren't too pleased about the shenanigans going on with this group of teenagers, however my arguement to this is, as annoying as people walking backwards into you to avoid the mosh-pit is, everyone expresses themselves in different ways especially at concerts, and in defence of the 8 teens that wanted to do a mosh-pit they only did this during the entire set twice. Through the entire Against the Current set, they stood, they danced, and they sang their hearts out and they enjoyed themselves.

Thoughts on The Faim, well the one thing I can say for sure is that, there wasn't a single time during their set that I wasn't dancing or headbanging to the beat of their drums. They are 4 very talented people, who after the concert finished I had the pleasure to meet. Although because of security and curfews I was only able to get a picture with Sean Tighe, the night couldn't have been more special and enjoyable. The Faim, did an amazing job, of supporting Against the Current, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for these boys.

Against the Current

Against the Current, a 3 piece American pop rock band from New York, headlining yet another successful tour for their new album 'Past Lives' which drops on September 28th. Chrissy Costanza (Lead Vocals), Daniel Gow (Lead Guitarist) and Will Ferri (Drums) all put their entire energy and soul into the nights performance. Performing all 4 of their newly released songs from the new album as well as one that the audience had never heard before. My favourite one from the new album so far, to hear live so far, has to be 'Voices' I would be lying if I said that when 'Personal' was played, there wasn't a single dry face in the audience, the emotion that Costanza poured into the song was phenomenal and something that no amount of words or pictures can express. It was a truly magical evening, listening to hits from their EP's to listening to songs off their previous album 'In our bones'. During their set, and in between songs Costanza took a moment to thank the audience members like myself who went to their last Manchester date in late 2016, when lead singer Chrissy Costanza was deeply ill and unable to sing. The band had cancelled the Birmingham show the night before as she was too unwell to perform, so dragging herself on stage was hard, but the way the audience sang every lyric with her to help her fight through the night, she had nothing but overwhelming thanks to the audience members. Manchester never fails to give Against the Current all the energy that they can muster. Additionally during one of the talking stages of the set Costanza told the audience that "In Our Bones is when it started feeling real for us". Costanza then went on to introduce the titled track of the album 'In Our Bones' to perform to the audience shortly following a short speech about the new album, which is set to release this upcoming Friday.

Chrissy Costanza (Lead Vocals)

Shortly after the sets finished, a few fans waited outside the venue for the band to come out, 2 hours and 15 minutes later, we were graced with the bands presence. Gow came out first thanking fans for coming out then getting into the white double deckered tour bus parked in-front of the venue. Next came Ferri, who started speaking to fans whilst putting away his suitcase in the bus, stood mingling with fans for 45 minutes, taking pictures and giving hugs to any fan that waited to see them, he shortly after went to join Gow and the rest of the tour crew and manager in the bus. Shortly followed by Costanza. Costanza, came prepared for the small amount of fans that waited for the band to come out, she had a sharpy pen at the ready. Ready to give out signatures on tickets and on the free posters that the box office were giving away for free. The UK leg of the 'Past Lives' tour is nearly over, with only 2 more dates left before the final date in London, where the band plan on celebrating the album release, its nearly time to say goodbye to another highly successful UK world tour until 2019.