On a dreary February day, where else best to spend your time at a pop punk/emo show featuring a stacked bill of Pure Noise Records powerhouses? Supporting Arm’s Length on this bill are Koyo, Ben Quad and Shoreline. What’s a better way to spend Valentine’s day than belting back out from the crowd to emo legends in the making, Arm’s Length. The venue of choice? The 02 Academy 2 – The venue was absolutely filled from wall to wall with fans packing out the modest space. Arm’s Length came through Birmingham as part of their UK tour promoting the release of their new album from last year, their sophomore effort, There’s A Whole World Out There
Shoreline
Opening up this evening was Shoreline, appearing again after touring across the UK last year with easycore legends Four Year Strong. They didn’t wait an absolute second before they tore down the roof. Guitars swinging and impassioned vocals barreling down the microphone. The audience lapped it up every moment. The sort of devil-may-care attitude and stage swagger of older post-hardcore bands, such as At The Drive In. Shoreline got the crowd revved up and ready to go with a moment already taking place in the crowd – like a sea of bodies. No wonder Arm’s Length snapped them up to open for them across the UK headline tour.
Ben Quad
Next up were Ben Quad, the Oklahoma City based quarter, founded on mutual bonding over iconic emo bands such as Modern Baseball and Microwave through random meetings via Craigslist (The US equivalent of Gumtree). First of all, Ben Quad had a tremendous stage presence, bouncing across the stage and swinging guitars wildly. Inbetween, anthemic choruses and sing-alongs were the mid-west standard finger tapping solos over capo’d guitar frets. There was a ton of delight from the crowd, plenty of finger-pointing and passionate choruses screamed back up to the stage.
The icing on the aural cake was the atmospheric intermissions provided between tracks, setting the mood for the evening and what’s to come. The band clearly have a loyal and dedicated fanbase as they asked the crowd, “Who here’s never heard of us?” Quite a noticeable portion cheered compared to the latter question of who has. From tonight, it was clearly evident that Ben Quad are a band to watch to for their time to headline these sized venues.
Koyo
The main support act of the evening was Koyo. The self-proclaimed Long Island hit squad, as they proclaim plastered on the back of their merch. Koyo are best described as “what if hardcore dudes played pop punk?” Last time they rolled through was also in support of Four Year Strong last year on their headliner tour, seeing a pattern here? Fan favourite “Moriches” blasts across the venue first, wasting no time, Koyo deliver a blisteringly fast set. Imagine the hooky catchy choruses and lyrics of a 2010s pop punk band mixed with the vigour and tenacity of a breakneck fast hardcore band. The band wastes no time between their set to engage in stage banter.
As their set progressed, the wall of bodies parted and erupted into a cyclonic circle pit of mayhem. It was around here that the crowd surfers started to float towards the stage and over the barrier. Halfway through their set, frontman Joey Chariamonte mentions how grateful they are to be brought abroad to the UK on tour. Before the end, he reminds the audience of their album dropping in April and hints at a potential UK headline tour later in the year. Here’s hoping? Why? Because Koyo have the stage presence and musical prowess of band that has been going for decades, not just years.
Arm’s Length
The last time Arm’s Length rolled through Birmingham, they were headlining The Asylum, now they’re dominating the stage at the 02 Academy 2, packed to the rafters. Straight away clocked three guitar players on stage as they ascended it. First thoughts? Here comes the Midwest emo season. Sure enough, they delivered the full dose of antidote to emotional repression. Their set was a menagerie of soaring leads, almost emotionally distraught yet hopeful vocals.
There’s no holds barred now as crowd surfers flow towards the stage. As expected, the band tee up a Valentine’s number for the day that’s in it – “It’s about loving yourself”, they joke before swerving: “Actually, this one’s about hating yourself” before launching into track The Weight. It’s romantic but let’s make it existential – cathartic in nature. In between the musical therapy session, frontman Allen Steinberg declares that Birmingham has blown them away in reception and that in his word,s “And I’m being dead ass” has beaten the London crowd, to which the whole audience erupts.
“Girth” kicks in with the whole room clapping, as cliché as it sound,s in time throughout the introduction. Then comes more stage banter tension relief – Steinberg queries the audience what place their latest album is in their top 50? Crowd cheer. Top 25? Even louder now. Top 10? Decibels rising. Top 5? Even more now. “And if it was your favourite album of the year? Thank you so much”. This is both tongue-in-cheek but chock-full of gratitude from the band themselves.
Now comes the final request from the band to the audience for the night. Before ripping into tthe rack “Halley”, “Do you have what it takes to be the best crowd of the tour?” This emboldened the crowd to scream their hearts out more and move around more. The set felt less like a club-sized gig but more like a collective catharsis. Less stress on the wallet than therapy, louder than London and somehow more earnest.
