INSTRUCTION + GARRISON.
AT YORK FIBBERS. 26/ 10/ 03.
Minus were due to play at this gig but cancelled. They weren�t replaced. We were left with a 2 band line up instead of the previously advertised 3 band line up.
Garrison played first. They are a 4 piece rock band from Boston/New York. They have released 2 full length records, 2 eps, one split cd and one 7". They are in the UK at the moment to promote their latest EP �The Silhouette�.
Singer/guitarist Joseph Grillo and guitarist Ed McNamara formed Garrison in the spring of '98. Ethan Dussault on Bass and Drummer John LeDoux complete the line up.
Until this gig I hadn�t heard anything by the band. I was rather impressed. Not sure what these guys sound like on record but they are really good live. I guess the parts of their set I enjoyed the most were the �rock out�/instrumental moments. Those bits were fantastic to watch however there didn�t seem to be much variety in their tracks, they all sounded quite similar. Although Garrison aren�t anything amazing, they are certainly a rock band well worth going to see.
Both Garrison and Instruction were performing at Fibbers on a night off from supporting Hundred Reasons. I expect the Hundred Reasons gigs were all sold out. Just 50 people were present at this gig. That figure includes punters, bar staff and band members. I couldn�t believe just how quiet this gig was.
I�m not complaining though. It isn�t every night you get to see a band as amazing as Instruction play in front of so few people. It was only a few months since I saw Instruction for the first time. They were playing on the main stage in front of thousands of people at the Download Festival.
I really don�t understand why so few people were present at the Fibbers gig. The band did make the most out of the bad situation though and used the gig to practice a few of the new tracks written for their debut album due for release next year. We were even treated to the first performance anywhere of a track with the working title of �Breakdown�.
Instruction are great. They know they are great. They opened with a great song called �Great�. Every song performed from then onwards was fantastic.
They have in the past played with the likes of Biffy Clyro, Hell Is For Heroes and Funeral For A Friend. Instruction are better than all three put together. At times they remind me a little of the Foo Fighters. Frontman Arty sounds similar to Dave from the Foo Fighters on at least a couple of tracks. The music of Instruction in general is a little similar to that of the Foos. That isn�t a bad thing though.
Despite the poor turn out, Arty, Tom, Adam and Ti all seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage. Arty often stopped to speak with the crowd. If you could call it crowd. It was more like a small gathering of friends or something. They put just as much effort into their performance for 50 people as into their Download perfomance for several thousand people.
It is hard to pick highlights from the set as every single track performed was fantastic. But I guess I enjoyed new single �Rise Up� more than the other tracks as I�ve heard that song more times than the others.
I spoke with Adam and Tom briefly after they walked off stage. They seemed really grateful that the people who were present at the gig had taken the time to go see them. They are really nice guys and deserve to be huge.
BY MR MARTYN. OCTOBER 2003. |