WHILE SHE SLEEPS // SWG3: GALVANIZER'S WAREHOUSE, GLASGOW
With the imminent release of their fourth album ‘So What?’, While She Sleeps return to Glasgow to give us a taste of their new music.
WHILE SHE SLEEPS
★★★★★
Due to the door entry time being moved forward due to an earlier curfew, the first band of the evening for me was Trash Boat. Not being the heaviest band on the lineup they maybe had their work cut out to warm up the crowd, but they took it in their stride and showed what they are all about. Having released their second album ‘Crown Shyness’ just last year they had plenty to give like ‘Controlled Burn’ and ‘Inside Out’ and personal set highlight being ‘Shade’. Dipping into their back catalogue to keep older fans satisfied with frontman Tobi Duncan throwing himself into the crowd at the end, it was a strong performance and will definitely catch them on their headline tour this year.
Main support for the evening came in the form of Stray From the Path from Long Island, New York. Known for their outspoken lyrics where they use their band status as a way to raise awareness of issues that are usually swept to the side, these guys were explosive from start to finish. Latest release ‘Only Death is Real’ was the main focus of the set with the band dropping new tracks like ‘Goodnight Alt-Right' and ‘The Opening Move’ which sounded excellent, but for me the highlight of the set was getting to see ‘Badge & A Bullet’ parts 1 and 2, which talk about police brutality in America and are powerful tracks. Frontman Drew Dijorio enticed crowd surfers to show themselves near the end of the set and ended on ‘First World Problem Child’. Hopefully we get to see Stray From the Path back in the UK soon as their set was one to remember.
The main event of the evening though was While She Sleeps however and it was time to hear some material from their brand new album titled ‘So What?’. Opening with lead single ‘Anti-Social’ they erupted on to the stage full of energy. They are a man down however as we learn that guitarist Sean Long was sick and unable to take to the stage, but he is just off to the side still playing his parts. Dropping the latest singles ‘Haunt Me’ and ‘The Guilty Party’, with a guest appearance from Drew from Stray From the Path for the former, the tracks sounded huge and obviously written for bigger stages without sacrificing the heavy aspect of their music they are known for. Dipping into the back catalogue we are treated to a few deeper cuts from previous album ‘You Are We’ like the crowd singalong track ‘Empire of Silence’ and another highlight being title track from their album ‘Brainwashed’ sounding heavy as ever. Being a man down did not seem to hold them back, with the extra space on stage allowing the band members to throw themselves around with greater ease and was excellent to watch. Ending with the huge singles from ‘You Are We’ and also ‘Our Courage Our Cancer’ from their first album, a track I haven’t seen them play in a while, the crowd were in full voice to end the evening. If I had to criticise anything I would have liked to see maybe one or two more new tracks, but with this being the album release tour I assume we will catch more on the next one.