Red Fang – Kings Arms

Last night was the highly anticipated and sold out show for Portland’s Red Fang….And I think the best way to describe it would be ‘clusterfuck’. Problems with visas then delayed flights, the main act didn’t play till about 02:45, by which time I was pissed and tired and sick of being hit on by dude bros. Nothing at this point could redeem a fucking horrible night…until Red Fang played the first note….

I arrived at about 21:45, and so missed most of last minute opener The Cavemen, but the brief impression I got was one of hyperactive energy and fun. Complex they weren’t, but they were good all the same. A bunch of kids playing good old fashioned punk, and having a hell of a time. I look forward to seeing a set in full! Sadly the second last minute opener, Stone the Crows, were not so much fun. A self described Doom band, I actually got into a debate about the qualities of a Doom band with a member of the audience. I eventually convinced him that to be a Doom band, you had to have that ‘Doomy’ vibe. Stoners wearing tiedye shirts and playing boring prog rock does not a Doom band make. Becoming almost psychedelic in places, turning your bass up higher than everything else is not the missing element.

So by this point it was looking like Red Fang weren’t going to make it, and the energy of the crowd was getting anxious. It was Midnight and they hadn’t even arrived in the country. People were wondering if they should just cut their losses and go home. We knew we wouldn’t hear anything from the promoters, as they had only let people know what was going on in a half arsed post at 19:45, but luckily Red Fang were great at keeping fans updated via facebook and instagram. While these debates were going on, Bloodnut played in the background…and it really was in the background. Lacking their usual energy, sounding muted and muffled, half the crowd was outside drinking and chatting at this point. This is perhaps unfair, as Bloodnut are usually really fucking awesome. I was tired and grumpy and over it all; it felt like a wasted night. We figured if Red Fang DID turn up, they would be exhausted and stressed, it would be a short set and the whole thing would be somewhat disappointing. This is NOT to blame Red Fang, fucking kudos to them for trying, and for their unwillingness to disappoint fans. It was just the feeling of sitting in Limbo that sucked the fun out of the night, and this continued into Beastwars. Again, a great band that was doing their best despite the crowd not being particularly engaged; I’ve never seen so many people outside while a band was playing. But Beastwars played valiantly on, and honestly did sound good.

You would assume after such a shitty night, all would be lost, right? I know I truly did, I really thought there was no coming back. Never have I been so pleased to be so wrong. Red Fang had EVERY reason to play the worst show of their life (I later found out they had been fucked around since about six in the morning), and no body would have judged them. However, they played one of the best live sets I have ever seen. It fucking KILLED. I was once again reminded of the redeeming nature of music, that good music really does fix everything. So once again, the vocals were pretty muted (given there was no sound check, that’s forgiveable), and after five songs the drums started falling apart and had to be taped to the floor, there was no set list and they were making it up as they went along. Yet I repeat; one of the best performances I have ever seen. The frontmans request for the vocals to go up went seemingly unheeded, but at least the request for shots didn’t! Several lovely lads brought up trays of shots, and there were plenty of beers on stage. The theme was fuckit, lets have fun and the crowd fed off that hugely. There were tracks you couldn’t hear the vocals at all, and it reminded me of the earlier debate about Stone the Crows; the guy I was arguing with said I didn’t like them because there were no vocals…Well this set proved that wrong, without a doubt. Fuck, even the drummer was dancing! This was a different show to the one I had spent the last five hours at, and my god it was good.

-Tove Partington

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