Few musicians and artists that I’ve followed over the years have evolved as much as Frank Carter has since I first saw him fronting Gallows when they opened for the MC5/DTK at The Underworld in Camden back in December 2006. Back then, I described Carter as a “wee ginger gobshite” who offered out the audience for a fight, he was so sure we all hated his band that much. The truth, however, was by the end of that incendiary set, Gallows had won over almost the entire crowd as fans. Sadly, now Frank is the first artist connected to brother Wayne Kramer that I’ve seen since the MC5 innovator recently passed away.
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes @ Roundhouse
I arrived at Camden’s Roundhouse venue just after The Mysterines came on, so missed the hotly-tipped opening act Hot Wax entirely. The Mysterines are a five-piece from Liverpool fronted by Lia Metcalfe, who from the first song I heard in full – The Last Goodbye – were an ok alternative rock band, that reminded me a bit of 10,000 Maniacs with a dose of Garbage in the sound.
Dangerous certainly didn’t sound at all dangerous, being far too meat and potatoes to leave much of an impression when supporting as magnetic an act as Frank Carter. Metcalfe then swapped her guitar for a tambourine on Begin Again that thinned the band’s sound further, making me want the frontwoman to pick up her guitar again.
All These Things was a decent list song, describing the those things wrong in a relationship that need healing in order to move on. Metcalfe finally strapped her guitar back on, giving the band’s latest single Stray a real lift, as it sounded like she was doing all the interesting stuff in the bands sound. They closed with Hung Up for someone who just can’t let go of a relationship that’s done and dusted, still holding on hoping against hope that it’s not over, it seemed to go down well.
After the break it was time for the return of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes playing the first of two nights at the Camden venue to promote the band’s fifth album Dark Rainbow. They are performing as a five-piece with right hand man Deano Richardson opening the show on piano, playing the intro to Can I Take You Home as Frank ambled on in a baggy white suit to start singing, rather than the shouting and wailing he used to do, the shock is what a great singing voice he has, as the song got going Deano switched to guitar and the whole band really come to life.
Brambles, the second selection from Dark Rainbows, is slow, thoughtful and full of passion rather than the anger of old. Frank then encouraged everyone to relish some Self-Love as if you don’t love yourself, why would anyone else, as Gareth Grover’s crisp drumming held things down nicely.
The first real pit of the set opened up the moment they dove into Devil Inside Me from the band’s debut album Blossoms that showed they still have that hardcore edge, with the familiar old growl rearing its head, the tune going down a storm Kitty Sucker had Tom Barclay’s bass rattling deep within us as the band made good use of the mini stages and Dias on the stage as Frank almost crooned the vocals.
Wild Flowers was the first signs of Modern Ruin that had most of the audience singing along as the 39-year-old exhibited plenty of showmanship without running amok like he used to. He then told all the men to get out of the pit as only women were allowed to mosh to Tyrant Lizard King, stopping the song halfway through to get rid of a few men who hadn’t quite got the message as the ladies let loose in the pit.
Honey was rather lush as Elliot Russell seemed to battle it out with Deano for a bit of guitar supremacy. Frank then did a little bit of self-promotion for his other trade on Go Get A Tattoo (just make sure Frank is the artist!), while he seemed to hit higher notes that I ever expected him to sing.
My Town was dedicated to everyone from London (or any other town really) as he had a go as the homogenous identikit towns he’s seen whilst touring, as they all end up looking the same. Cupid’s Arrow took a long hard look at the need for consent. And as the guitars rampaged, Frank tried to get her to say yes instead of no.
Queen Of Hearts was an invitation to help him get back up again if he should fall either into that pit of depression, or some other dark place while keeping the pop edge of much of the new album. Thunder took us back to Modern Ruin while seeming to have a more angst-filled edge. Then they took the roof off with a monumental version of Crowbar that had almost everyone singing this hit along with them.
One of the highlights from Blossoms Juggernaut was the perfect time for Frank to disappear from the stage and push through the audience, only these days he has two handlers with him. Before long he had found a few people to hold him up so he could stand and sing from the centre of the pit, a magnificent reminder of how wild the earlier pre-accident Rattlesnakes shows were.
Lullaby sounds more like a lullaby these days than it originally did with some very tender vocals as Carter tries to get us all to go to sleep. He then encouraged everyone to turn on the torches on their phones and hold them in the air for Happier Days and suddenly The Roundhouse was a sea of phone lights swaying along, before the five-piece closed with a stunning rendition of End Of Suffering to leave the packed Roundhouse wanting lots more.
The encore opened with another song from End Of Suffering – the wonderful Angel Wings – that allowed for some band intros before the place went totally mental for I Hate You, the monster bile-filled singalong rant from Blossoms, that had everyone bellowing “I Fucking Hate You” as loudly as we could. They then closed the night with the brilliant Man Of The Hour from Dark Rainbow, with it’s singalong chorus of “Rockstar pornstar, Man Of The Hour, just sing it loud” which was an instruction that we all happily took up a great way to close a very powerful show.
Live review of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes @ The Roundhouse, London on 15th February 2024 by Simon Phillips. Photography by Nick Allan.
Share Thing