Patronaat didn’t give away a timetable before the show started so I decided to come down early to make sure I didn’t miss out on Massachusetts’ Outbreak. I certainly wasn’t the only one who thought of it that way, because around 6:30 the whole venue was pretty much packed already and waiting for Outbreak to get on stage and tear down the place. The band started off with 'Down Not Out' from their latest outfit Failure (2006) and got some of the crowd moving in no time. The sound was really bad though. Some of the guitar parts (especially the solos) didn’t stand out at all and because of a microphone problem the other bands coped with as well, the singing was way too low on volume. The band left the stage after only a mere 15 minutes of playtime and left me with mixed feelings. The fact they played two brand new unreleased tunes in their small amount of time resulted in people standing still and it was hard to get the crowd moving again after that. I would really like to see them again with a longer set in a really small room playing as headliner. I think this band can prove way more than they showed us on this gig!

 

Misery Signals, Bane and Architects had a rotating slot on this tour so you couldn’t predict before the show who played after Outbreak. But next up was UK’s Architects in support of the new album Hollow Crown. Sadly the sound wasn’t improved after the Outbreak set so the technical metalcore band coped with a really bad sound as well. The crowd, and especially the young kids, didn’t seem to care about the sound though. Helping the singer out with singing almost every line along, more and more people started to join the growing moshpit. Even though this band is absolutely not my cup of tea, they gave away a nice show.

 

After a short break Misery Signals entered the stage with their slow, dark metalcore with a lot of instrumental guitar parts that kind of remind me of post-rock. The crowd seemed to like it but most people were just standing still until they played some old tracks from the first two albums at the end of the set. After only playing for about 25 minutes, they already left the stage giving Bane time to set up their gear and announcing they’d be back for another European tour in September!

 

This was absolutely the band I’d been waiting for the whole evening. It took a while before they finally had all the gear set up, but completely nailed it when they started off with the track “Speechless”. I think in the 40 minute set the singer broke about 6 microphones because of the heavy crowd reaction they got on tracks like “Can We Start Again”, “Count Me Out”, “Ali V. Frazier 1” and “Some Come Running”. The band had some nice speeches about friendship and people just standing still at the balcony as well. I missed the tracks “Ante Up” and “What Holds Us Down” in their setlist though. But with four full length albums, containing only hits and no fillers, it’s hard for a band like Bane to please everyone. I was more than pleased anyway, and the guitarist told me they would be back for an exclusive gig on Ieperfest in August. I can’t wait!

 

Already a bit tired and with bruises all over (thanks to Bane), there was still one band left to play tonight. Hailing all the way from Canada, Comeback Kid was ready to show the crowd what they’re good at. They were the band that got me into hardcore some years ago so I was pretty excited to finally see them live. The crowd went completely nuts from the first to the last tune and Comeback Kid played a really tight set containing all their hits from the last 3 albums. “Die Tonight”, “Final Goodbye”, “Talk Is Cheap”, “All In A Year”, “Defeated” and of course finishing the set with one of the biggest hardcore hits; “Wake The Dead”. Hopefully we can expect some new material this year!

 

The concert was done at around 11:15, leaving me and a lot of people with a big sense of value for money. If Patronaat can do something about the sound in the small room, this room is absolutely perfect for even more hardcore shows of this size in the future!