Alexisonfire - Academy 1 - 13/11/07 by Lucy Connell

It’s a year since I attended the Taste of Chaos gig at the Apollo, where Canada’s Alexisonfire played a dynamic set with gusto. Tonight’s Manchester Academy show bears a trace of last November’s high-octane ‘screamo’ fest: support band Saosin were also on the TOC bill last year.

The dynamism exhibited in live Alexis last year is happily still there: the marriage of George’s boisterous screams and Dallas’s gliding echoes gives the band an almost schizophrenic sound which is very appealing.

Alexisonfire have an almost industrial sound: vast and modern. It almost felt that they should be playing in a derelict warehouse; the bare stage lighting certainly added to this impression. Although the band certainly plays with passion and heart, it seems like there’s something missing.

Undoubtedly, tracks like ‘This Could Be Anywhere In The World’ have become rock-club anthems, but part of me wonders if their songs would have the same affect stripped right down, without the storming drum beats.

That makes me sound really narrow minded, doesn’t it? I know this genre of music is meant to be powerful and intense, and Alexisonfire certainly have the edge over their counterparts, but their live show just leaves me wanting something more. Maybe this is because I’m a fan of Dallas Green’s acoustic side project, City and Colour, which is a world away from Alexis.

Despite my apparent grouchiness, I do have a lot of respect for this band. Maybe it’s because this particular show was being recorded, but the songs and stage banter flowed easily. The energy of lead screamer George Pettit is exhausting even to watch. But a year could have allowed for so much more progression in Alexisonfire’s live performance, it’s a crying shame that their energy is the most impressive thing…