Carling Weekend 2004: Concrete Jungle Round-up

It's no secret how bad the melodic tech-metal scene has got over the past year, as it gradually becomes awash with plagiarists searching for a slice of the lucrative teen-angst pie, and in turn making it about as stale and worthless as nu-metal before it. Unfortunately Alexisonfire aren't exactly making much of an effort to claw themselves out of this bracket, the band coming across about as shallow and talentless as their name suggests.

Allister are pulling no punches either, scraping up the remnants of whatever's been left at the bottom of the emo-pop barrel.

Flogging Molly manage marginally better, stirring up a passable blend of dance-worthy bagpipe-fuelled punk that owes much to Dropkick Murphy's similarly rabble-rousing stromp. That said, material previewed from their new album 'Within A Mile From Home' does suggest there's perhaps a little more to this band yet.

Thankfully the temperature is raised considerably for Avenged Sevenfold. Owing as much to Guns'n'Roses' overblown stadium rock prowess as the goth-punk of AFI these Orange County natives unleash a ferociously tuneful barrage of hits from their 'Waking The Fallen' and 'Sounding The Seventh Trumpet' albums that encourages a deafening sing-a-long response from the Concrete Jungle crowd, no doubt tempting a much higher billing next time.

Coheed And Cambria's popularity in the underground punk scene is more than evident as the tent remains packed for their searing emo-tinged rock. However, frizzy-haired frontman (and Buzz Osbourne look-a-like) Claudio Sanchez's whiny vocals proved a little too annoying for this reviewer, the lure of festival noodles proving a worryingly more enticing proposition.

Fresh-faced emo kids The Starting Line unfortunately prove just as uninspirational as their earlier Drive Thru labelmates Allister, delivering a breezy, vapid strain of pop-rock with about as much character as the noodles I'd just consumed.

Thankfully The Bouncing Souls show them how it's meant to be done, drawing from an impressive fist-pumping arsenal of tunes such as 'Kate is Great' and 'Hopeless Romantic' that couldn't fail to have the crowd singing along.

Taking things to much heavier territory The Dillinger Escape Plan draw the biggest crowd of the day and, together with the level of hysteria building up over their latest opus 'Miss Machine', they must surely have been one of the most anticipated bands of the weekend - out to prove wrong the jaded cynics who've passed them off as a Mike Patton-worshipping tribute act and reaffirm the faith of hardened fans who (rightfully) view them as heavy metal revolutionaries. And although the sound admittedly isn't too great there's no denying the searing power of a song such as 'Highway Robbery' or '43 % Burnt' as the band hurtle through the set with unbelievable intensity.

Rounding the evening off with their chunky stage-storming grooves 'A' finally prove to the Concrete Jungle throng that, when it comes to classic punk rock tunes, America doesn't necessarily rule the stage. Appearing much more comfortable on the smaller stage 'A' trailblaze through their set like the homegrown heroes that they are, older number's such as 'Foghorn' literally erupting with a fresh, explosive dynamism that has you wondering where they've been for the past year. The crowd respond with a suitably rapturous response and ensure the day is ended on a particularly proud high.