{"id":22606,"date":"2023-07-09T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=22606"},"modified":"2023-07-05T20:31:17","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T20:31:17","slug":"cancer-bats-grove-street-le-pub-newport-3rd-july-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=22606","title":{"rendered":"Cancer Bats\/Grove Street \u2013 Le Pub, Newport \u2013 3rd<\/sup> July 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The last time I can remember a band playing two sets in the same Welsh venue on the same night because the first gig sold out in nano seconds, was when Electric Six added a matinee show to their scheduled Barfly appearance just as \u2018Danger! High Voltage\u2019 exploded all over the nations\u2019 music video channels (remember those) around about 20 years ago. Tonight, though that\u2019s exactly what Canadian punk metallers Cancer Bats are doing for their most intimate (and obviously sold out) show\/s on Welsh soil since their days of them also playing that same legendary (and sadly long since closed) downstairs bar in the heart of Cardiff city centre.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cUp close and personal\u201d is always going to be the order of proceedings for the hundred or so of us lucky souls who managed to snap up a ticket for one (or perhaps even both) of tonight\u2019s shows, and with the prospect of a two-band double slam dunk ahead of them it\u2019s totally understandable that Le Pub need to run a tight ship here tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it\u2019s at 7:45 precisely that Southampton hardcore crossover outfit Grove Street are let off the leash with their own brand of metal meets hardcore by way of a hint of rap, and I can\u2019t help but have a smile on my face that stretches from Town to George St bridge. That\u2019s because there\u2019s tonnes of chugging metal riffage to keep the headbangers happy, lashings of double time aggression to kick off the first circle pit of the night and yes that really is a lyric lift from Grandmaster Flash in the middle of \u2018Lessons of The Past\u2019. Grove Street look like they weren\u2019t even born when some of tonight\u2019s audience would have been first launching themselves off the nearby Newport Centre\u2019s stage to the likes of Nuclear Assault, Dark Angel, and Sepultura, but the young guns can hold their heads high knowing that their performance tonight had more than one of my mates yelling in my ear that they reminded them of Suicidal Tendencies. I shall certainly be keeping an eye out for the band\u2019s debut album ‘The Path To Righteousness’ when it\u2019s released in September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best thing about being Welsh has surely got to be you have a dragon on your flag\u201d quips Cancer Bats frontman Liam Cormier mid set during the briefest of moments of between song respite, before adding \u201ctonight we are going double fucking dragon on you guys, so who is with me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been quite some time since I\u2019ve crossed paths with Cancer Bats on the live front it\u2019s certainly the first time I\u2019ve seen them since guitarist Scott Middleton left their ranks, and Covid break aside I\u2019m not exactly sure why. It\u2019s great to see that nothing has really changed in that time though, Cormier is still the consummate showman cajoling, teasing, and maybe even terrorising the audience in equal parts, whilst his trio of bandmates literally pummel our senses into a mush thanks to their ridiculously heavy and indeed LOUD sound, and these guys do it night after night, and yes of course, twice nightly if need be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll also rather awkwardly admit that I\u2019ve yet to add a copy of the band\u2019s current album \u2018Psychic Jailbreak\u2019 to my Cancer Bats\u2019 collection, but as one of the highlights in tonight\u2019s set just happens to be \u2018Radiate\u2019 that album\u2019s opener, I\u2019ll most certainly be putting this matter to right first thing tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Cancer Bats I first fell in love though has always possessed the near perfect blend of stoner groove and punk rock attitude and there\u2019s a point tonight where towards the end of their hour long set they unleash, \u2018Hail Destroyer\u2019, (their cover of) \u2018Sabotage\u2019, Bricks and Mortar\u2019 and \u2018Lucifer\u2019s Rocking Chair\u2019 all in quick succession and it feels like I\u2019ve been swept up in some maelstrom of heavy metal excellence. It\u2019s the near perfect way to get those with tickets all salivating for the band\u2019s second set, but sadly I\u2019m not one of those.  So, at 9:45 exactly, I\u2019m out the venue doors and on my way home green with envy for those lucky enough to be sticking around for the band\u2019s late-night set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nights like these are very special indeed, make sure you take the time to experience them whilst you still can. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grove Street Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancer Bats Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Johnny ‘Double Dragon’ Hayward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time I can remember a band playing two sets in the same Welsh venue on the same night because the first gig sold out in nano seconds, was when Electric Six added a matinee show to their scheduled Barfly appearance just as \u2018Danger! High Voltage\u2019 exploded all over the nations\u2019 music video channels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[8294,8293,1787,1710,1681,1833],"class_list":["post-22606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-cancer-bats","tag-grove-street","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-tourlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22610,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22606\/revisions\/22610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}