Tonight is the second night in a row that Papa Roach will completely and utterly smash Brixton Academy into shreds. The line up should by rights be a co-headline stint with Stone Sour, but technically tonight Papa Roach are considered the support act. This is definitely a misdemeanour, because it’s clear from the crowd that a helluva lot of people are here to see them.
And so Papa Roach take to the stage, with endlessly energetic frontman Jacoby Shaddix at the helm. They open with recent single ‘Still Swingin”, taken from new album ‘The Connection’, and it’s clear to see that the crowd are already familiar with the new material. Tonight the band are quite simply on fire, and they manage to condense their immense amount of hits into a compact set.
Tonight’s only downfall is that the band don’t have longer to entertain the excitable crowd, but their set is the epitome of short but sweet. They manage to play hits from every phase of their career – from the nu metal classics of their early career (‘Last Resort’, ‘Between Angels To Insects’) t0 catchy hits like ‘Getting Away With Murder’ and ‘Hollywood Whore’ (supposedly based on Lindsay Lohan) – and it’s a hugely crowd pleasing set.
There aren’t many bands with Papa Roach’s longevity, and that is solely down to their ability to adapt to the times while still maintaining the same passion and energy. If anything, they keep getting better and better. If you think they peaked with ‘Last Resort’, then you simply haven’t listened to their recent albums or seen them absolutely storm the stage.
Papa Roach are the kings of live shows, and if you didn’t catch them this time around, make sure you see them next time they’re here. And if we’re lucky, they might just come back to our shores next year…
LAIS MW