Page 48 - Black Velvet Issue 101

BV101 pg48_BV101 pg48 24/06/2019 20:30 Page 1

BlackVelvetMagazine.Com - 48
SET IT OFF / VUKOVI / BEARINGS – BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE 2, 17.04.19
Finding out that Set It Off had sold out their whole UK tour put the Fronted by Janine Shilstone, Vukovi are a sight to be seen. She is a
band in bright spirits. They’d had a tough time prior to the release of new phenomenal frontwoman and all eyes are on Janine as she crouches at
album ‘Midnight’, which saw the Florida four-piece find a new home in the front of the stage, before jumping off it and standing on the barrier
Fearless Records. steps, leaning into the crowd. With a strong Scottish accent, Janine tells
Canadian band Bearings kick things off with a dose of pop punk. Not the crowd she is full of the flu, but she does an excellent job and you
quite as polished as on disc, the band incorporate emotion to their tunes. wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t mentioned it. She takes phones from
‘Tide’ is a calming song performed with an acoustic guitar. When frontman members of the audience to film more closely for them and is amusing,
Doug Cousins tells the crowd he wrote it for his girlfriend for her birthday telling everyone to send her dog photos on Instagram but ‘no dick pics’.
there’s a huge ‘aww’ from the females in the audience. The Ottawa guys Songs such as ‘La Di Da’ are an amalgam of sounds, fusing both Janine’s
go down well with the crowd with songs such as the intricate ‘Beautiful ethereal vocals with violent riffs and pounding drums, while other tunes
Places’, the mellow title track of their latest album ‘Blue In The Dark’ and have rave-infested keys and beats.
the perky ‘Aforementioned’. There’s a countdown to Set It Off taking to the stage. As we reach 0,
we hear ‘Welcome to ‘Midnight’, the new era begins now’. The band kick
off with ‘Lonely Dance’ from their new ‘Midnight’ album, a dancey gem in-
spired by social anxiety. Although Cody Carson has opened up about so-
cial anxiety, he has no problem being a commanding frontman on stage.
The four-piece are very energetic – though it’s Cody that spans the stage
most of all. Maxx Danziger on drums, though, is quite the animal, and
even has his own drum solo section of the show – where we’re shown his
talents, which even includes drumming with a bandana covering his eyes
so he can’t see. “I’ve got some anger I’ve got to get out,” Cody informs
before ‘N.M.E.’ from the more theatrical ‘Duality’. While the band have
moved on from their theatrical My Chemical Romance-inspired sound,

they still retain the ability
to wow the audience, and
that happens in ‘Killer In
The Mirror’ when Cody
gets off the stage and
walks over the crowd.
The crowd hold him up
and he is at least halfway
through the venue. He
manages to crowd surf
back towards the stage.
One of the more
heartfelt moments occurs
when Cody sings ‘Un-
opened Windows’, a
song he wrote for his
dad, who passed away
from cancer. Guitarist
Dan Clermont plays the
keys for this song. Cody
explains how a line from
‘Danny Boy’ is in both this
and the previous song he wrote for his dad, ‘Dad’s Song’. Dan then picks up the
trumpet and plays a few lines at the end of the song on trumpet. ‘The trumpet
was actually my father’s,’ Cody tells the room. The band really show how multi-
faceted they are – Dan plays the trumpet again while Cody performs the sax
during ‘Upside Down’, a bright and breezy song about turning the negatives into
positives.
Wanting to get as many songs into the set and keeping fans happy, the band
play a medley of tunes which includes ‘Dream Catcher’, ‘No Disrespect’, ‘Ancient
History’, ‘Bleak December’, ‘Miss Mysterious’ and more. It’s nice to see an array
of songs now that the band has four albums under their belts. With some inspir-
ing speeches including one before ‘Why Worry’, Set It Off wrap their show up
with the heavier ‘Partners In Crime’ and ‘Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’, Partners In
Crime’ even bringing about a crowd surfer – and as there aren’t any security
guards in the pit, Cody ends up jumping off the stage to catch the crowd surfer
himself as she comes over the barrier, showing how much he cares and keeps
a look out for their fans. So while the new era of Set It Off is here, the old Set It
Off that we know and love has not gone too far – and each and every chapter
of the band’s career makes the live show into the fine spectacle that it is.
YY YYY
Shari Black Velvet
Cody Carson (Set It Off) Photo By Shari Black Velvet
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