Frank Carter; a mastermind, a showman, and of course, still a riot!
It was all quiet in Camp Rattlesnakes up until September of last year, where since they've dropped the news of their fifth studio album Dark Rainbow, announced a slew of live record store dates and news that they’d embark on their next UK and European tour which kickstarted in Cardiff on Tuesday. But Wednesday night saw Frank and Co. take to stage once again at Bristol’s O2 Academy, the first time since their Sticky 2021 tour, and it’s not their first sold out rodeo at the Academy; punters had queued hours before the doors, waiting to be crammed like sardines within the walls of Bristol’s O2 Academy, all poised, awaiting the onslaught of riffs, crowd surfers, and the sweat fest to begin.
Swaggering to stage, suited and booted, and ready to kickstart the night, Frank and Co. bounced to stage, hyping up the crowd with snarls, grins and the opening notes to ‘Can I Take You Home?’ - taken from their new album Dark Rainbow. A set saturated with new material has left some artists grappling to energise the audience, ‘we want the old stuff’, you’ll hear them say - little fanfare and a lacklustre atmosphere - but that certainly wasn’t the case for Frank Carter and Co. on Wednesday night. Bristol embraced the new material wholeheartedly - welcoming it in the form of sweat-fuelled, beer covered pits and the obligatory onslaught of crowd surfers as they battled to reach the pit barrier.
They unleashed their newly released momentous ballads across the Academy floor, gripping people with their electrifying talons and dominating the stage with an enthralling attitude; a string of fan favourites followed; including the roof-shaking ‘Devil Inside of Me’ and the romping sounds of ‘Kitty Sucker’ which had the entire crowd hooked, screaming ‘punk rock renegade, ride in on the cavalcade, snakeskin king and queen’. And of course, my absolute favourite ‘Wild Flowers’ - the section of the show in which the band dedicate the track to everyone minus the lads in the crowd who want to get up, dance, dominate the pits and crowd surf, in a safe and unrestricted manner. In true Rattlesnakes nature, the crowd had split and chaos erupted. Wild Flowers had always been a song that I’ve personally wanted to crowd surf to and Wednesday night that had finally happened!
The penultimate track of the night had the crowd eagerly shouting requests the entire evening, ‘I Hate You’, a classic Rattlesnakes hit, ignited a cathartic uproar, the crowd intensely screaming ‘I hate you and I wish you would die’. Closing what was an exceptional set was ‘Man of the Hour’, a new addition that still prompted an emotive singalong to conclude the night. One thing very clear is they’ve still got that grit that sinks into your skin and gets you bouncing; chaos is still front and centre of every show, it was rousing and of course, it was still a riot!
You can catch Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes throughout the rest of their UK tour
Words: Tate Powell
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