A string of bad luck caused My Passion to perform a stripped down set at Nottingham Rock City on Wednesday, October 27th.
Problems on the way to the venue meant that the band was unable to soundcheck or set up their light display. However, they managed to give the crowd a raw performance to be proud of.
Starting the night was London band Don Broco, who seemed to have a small following in the crowd. For a band that hasn’t been around long, the amount of people who knew their songs was reasonable and, given time, they could become more popular. They managed to incite a few mosh pits and even a wall of death while warming the crowd up for the next support act.
Up next was Swedish band Dead By April, who were missing their drummer, but placed a microphone stand with a paper plate face at the drum kit to replace him. Even though they didn’t have a drummer and had to play his part off a laptop through the sound system, they got the crowd pumped and interacted well with them. They were feeding off the crowd’s energy and giving them songs that they wanted to hear with no regard for their set list.
When the main act came on, lead singer Laurence René apologised for the stripped down nature of their set and explained that their van had been impounded on the way down to the venue. Even though this had happened, the crowd didn’t seem to notice the lack of lighting and were just as crazy as they would be if there was a full on production before them.
The band, now a five piece, showed why they had decided to add another member and their sound seemed much more tighter and together than it has done previously. Jonathan Gaskin, who has moved from drums to synth and vocals, added more depth to the songs with his voice whilst Jamie Nicholls, now on drums, proved to be a remarkable replacement.
For many, this was the first time seeing the band as a five piece, but they treated them as if they had always been that way, starting mosh pits and singing along to the odd song that they knew.
Most of the songs they sung were from their next album, “Inside This Machine”, which is set to be released next year. However they did play songs familiar to the crowd such as “Crazy And Me” and “Day Of The Bees”.
For a band that didn’t manage to sell out Rock City’s Basement, they did manage to provide a show that satisfied the people that showed up. Even if they did have problems getting to the venue, it didn’t affect the show that they put on.