London Is The Reason.

So, I'm recovering from last night still. I'm really sore and I think I'll have a fair few bruises come up soon but that's what happens when you spend an hour in a mosh pit.

As you may have guessed I did go to see Gallows last night even though I was actually really ill yesterday to the point where I could barely stand and nearly threw up. However, I was feeling a whole lot better by late afternoon so me and my Dad headed down to good old Brighton to see them. I don't know why I like Brighton so much, I just do.

Basically, we got there with about half an hour until the doors opened and as you may or may not know the Brighton Festival started yesterday so there were plently of people down there enjoying the last of a sunny day. There was this unknown band down there doing covers of songs and as we walked past them they played this song and I knew what it was but I couldn't think of it. It was all very frustrating. And then, to our amusement, there was this man who was so drunk that he couldn't even stand up.

We got a bit lost on the way to the Concorde 2 and we ended up on it's roof. That sounds really weird but it wasn't because the venue was sort of built into the side of a mini cliff and there was this path thing going up the side of it. But we got confused because obviously there was nobody else up there. We found these stairs half hidden under some trees, walked down them and ta-da there was the venue. There wasn't even a queue and we got to walk straight in.

Okay, this is the bit when I say how shocked I was. As in, really shocked. Those of you who have been to Soundhole know what I mean when I say that it's a tiny venue with not a lot of people there. That's how small the venue was. It was literally just a bar with a couple of hundred people in it. A couple of hundred people sounds like quite a bit but it really wasn't.

So the first support band were Blackhole. They were good. The venue wasn't full when they played their set so there wasn't a real atmosphere but they played a good set and got a mini mosh pit going down the front. Richard [vocals] spent the whole set in the crowd which was actually pretty awesome. I liked them very much.

The second support band were Rolo Tomassi. Now, I'd searched them before so I knew who they were and what they sounded like and to be honest they really aren't my cup of tea, probably because I don't drink tea. Anyway, I have a few compliments and criticisms to hand out to them so I'll start with the bad. They didn't really have any structure to their songs. They were to stop and start for my liking. Some members of the band didn't have any stage presence at all. Those are the bad points. The good points are that the three members who did have stage presence were so into it that it sort of made their actual set watchable. Eva [vocals] was quite fun to watch actually so I'll give them some credit. I don't know how she managed to scream and dance at the same time but she did it. The final good point is that when it did get to a good part of the song [which lasted about ten seconds] they were good.

Right, so when they were setting up for Gallows it really started crowding up a bit which is always a good sign because that usually means mosh pits. Bring on the next young drunk. I didn't actually realise he was drunk until my dad told me but until then I thought he just had some anger issues. He shoved past my dad and stopped in front of me, looked at someone's shoes with a confused stare and then staggered headlong through a group of people and out the fire exit. It was a little bit funny.

Then after about twenty minutes the lights went down and the shouts of very manly men [the majority of the crowd] started. Gallows walked onstage and although I was about half way from the front I was actually pretty close. Anyway, the whole venue erupted as soon as they started playing. One guy took it upon himself to climb up a pole and hang above the crowd. Bring on the mosh pits. Or should I say The Mosh Pit. The place was so small there was just one massive mosh pit right in the middle. At first I still had a pretty bad stomach ache so I stood on the edge of the mosh pit in between two guys who both had to be in their twenties or thirties and we all got some headbanging going. Proper headbanging. When I usually go to gigs I'm either in mosh pits or jumping around so I never actually properly did any headbanging until then and I must say it was pretty awesome.

After about two or three songs Frank ordered the whole crowd to clear a space in the middle of the room which we did... obviously. We ended up with a massive space taking up about half the room and then Frank said something along the lines of ''I want to see a ****ing circle pit the size of this room! Don't stop running 'till the songs over". And then the song started and a group of people charged into the space and started the circle pit. This was about the point when I really started getting hyper. I really wanted to join in but I held back and watched in wonder instead. I've never seen so many people fall over in one song before. Of course, everyone in the crowd was nice enough to help each other out and pick people up if they fell over.

After the circle bit I shoved forward because I knew there was no way I was missing out on any more mosh pits. Sure enough the next song started and I just happened to be in the mosh pit and I got such an adrenaline rush. Honestly, there is nothing like it. We all just went mental and lost it. I have to explain why I liked the mosh pit at Gallows so much though. Usually, in mosh pits there's at least one or two people that go completely over the top and just punch and kick people which can be annoying. [Also, someone got thrown out after about two songs for punching people in a mosh pit]. But at the Gallows gig there was none of that. Just a proper mosh pit where people ran into each other and did some headbanging and just went basically mental.

I nearly always fall over in mosh pits and there's usually some extremely nice guy who picks me back up again which is nice, so you can imagine how shocked I was when a guy fell over in front of me and I caught Him and helped him back up. He was nice enough to say thanks too.

There was this completely incredible part when Frank walked out into the room and he stopped right next to us and I was only a few feet away from him and then he climbed onto the bar or something like that and everyone got really into it and started moshing and everyone shouted the one line, "I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!"

My dad also got his wallet stolen which he was really peed off about but he got it back in the end so it's not as bad as it could have been.

Well, I think I've pretty much covered everything. Mayhem, chaos... Oh no wait. Some guy next to us got his lip ring ripped out. There was blood everywhere. But he carried on moshing anyway.

Overall one of the best gigs I've been to. Equal with Enter Shikari. Clearly the small gigs are the best!

Ps. I would just like to point out that Frank is not permanently angry like they make him out to be in magazines and stuff. He was actually really nice and funny, cracking jokes all night.