OPM European Tour – Beer Cart Arms – 27.05.13 – Review
- OPM
- Riskee and the Ridicule
- Third Place Victory
- Wheres Billy
A Monday evening on a bank holiday weekend and something a little bit special happened at the Beer Cart Arms in Canterbury. OK, admittedly, more than a little bit special, something VERY special. The Beer Cart Arms maybe a pub a little off the beaten track but its a great music venue with a fantastic reputation. Below the Radar Events and Promotions often put on gig nights here but on this evening, they really pulled off an amazing gig.
OPM, yes you know them (Heaven is a Halfpipe) agreed to put on their only Kent gig on their European Tour with Below the Radar and a lot of people wanted some of the action. Local band Riskee and the Ridicule were chosen as main support, followed by Third Place Victory. The opening slot was put up for vote. Bands names were put forward and other suggested and added to the voting list a few months prior then everyone was asked to vote. The band that was chosen and won by a mile was Wheres Billy. So there you have it… lineup confirmed and the tickets sold like hot cakes.
I’m not going to give a huge review on how the bands all performed on this night, as I would normally. My usual reviews are a break down, band by band and an in depth review on how each of them performed. This gig does not warrant this. I’ll give some details on each band and a brief account of how they did but I’d rather focus more on the gig as a whole. The atmosphere was so electric that I’d rather focus on the overall feel of the night.
Wheres Billy – A 5 piece Rock band from Tunbridge Wells, Kent and I’ve had the pleasure to photograph and review before (Beer Cart Arms – February 2013 Review). It’s not hard to see why these guys received so many votes to open this gig. Strong lineup, amazing songs and lyrics and always delivered with quality. The band were on form as you would expect, with some comical moments of man hugs and snuggles on stage and free t-shirts and wristbands thrown out to the audience. They started the evening with really strong and fun set and set the tone for the night.
Third Place Victory – A 4 piece Rock/Pop Punk band from Thanet, I’ve seen them a few times now and reviewed one of their performances fairly recently (RokanRolla 01.03.13 Review). I love this band and they guys but they have to be one of the most unlucky, accident prone bands out there! This gig was no exception, the Beer Cart jinx returned with exactly the same problem as on their last gig there. The amazing Jordan in his over enthusiastic jumping around whist playing his guitar managed to yet again pull over his head and break the output socket, rendering his guitar useless. Did this stop him or the band? Hell no! He then decided he wanted to have a crack at being co frontman, much to the amusement of the band. Not being able to sing hampered this slightly and he metal screamed his way through the last few songs with his fellow band mates falling round with laughter. Fair play boys, you pulled it off and its always a pleasure to see you on stage!
Riskee and the Ridicule – A four piece band hailing from Ashford who describe themselves as: “RepRah, the sound of the modern day reprobate. Ska tinged rap-punk”. This is a band with attitude, but not bad attitude, the right kind and needed to carry off what they do. I saw them at the Beer Cart Arms support the amazing Imperial Leisure when they were on tour (Beer Cart Arms 04.12.12) and I do believe they will be doing so again soon in Camden. I love what these guys do and they have so really loyal fans. Fans who got their mosh on and cleared a huge space on the floor of the Beer Cart with their enthusiastic moves which spilled over onto the stage at times. High energy and a set that gets me very excited when I have my camera in hand. Guys, you smashed it!
OPM – Shouldn’t need any introduction but they are described as:
Reggae / Hip Hop / Alternative
Straight out of Southern California, the reggae/hip-hop/rock sensations OPM hit the ground running more than ten years ago and are still running hard! From their first major hit and teen anthem “Heaven Is A Halfpipe” to their most recent single “Feel the Vibration (feat. Jim Perkins)” OPM has been writing hit-after-hit for more than a decade.
Me I’ll say what an awesome bunch of guys. Their performance ran over by around half an hour and the crowd loved it. I’ve never seen so many people packed into the pub before and it was great to see. The audience surged forward over and over, falling onto the stage at times which meant I ended up on the edge/side of the stage with the guitarist for most of the set. They went out of their way to give me some great shots when all the paying photographers were battling it out to get photo’s.
Their set was a mix of originals (old and many new) with a few covers thrown in. The heat and sweat generated told the story of what was happening out on the floor and the entire set was greeted by a sea of hands. At points crowd surfing occurred with men being lifted high up to the ceiling and the atmosphere was pure electric. The air literally felt charged and alive making your skin tingle and the hair on the back of your neck stand up! I cannot put into words enough the energy, atmosphere and excitement contained in this pub on this night. I can only hope that my words, combined with my photography will paint a better picture for you. As always I’m only hosting a few photo’s from the night on here. There are 227 in total over on the Facebook page and I urge you to go and have a look. Oh and please give it a little like while you are there!
The end of the set they guys did a meet and greet and were only to happy to spend lots of time with their fans, having pictures taken with them, signing things. Lots of merchandise was purchased and it was so good to see them milling around with everyone after. An awesome bunch of guys, oh and I even got a hug from the vocalist and guitarist so all can’t be bad 😉 lol.
All in all an amazing night, an amazing gig and huge congratulations to Below the Radar for pulling this one off. Also a massive pat on the back to all involved for making it such a success, the bands all rocked, everyone who helped out did an amazing job and the staff at the Beer Cart were amazing as always!
Sarah Quinn – GIGgle Pics
Find Third Place Victory on Facebook
Find Riskee and the Ridicule on Facebook
Their brand new single:
As usual here follows a very small amount of photography from the evening. For the full gigs photo’s please go to Facebook, this gig only (please give the page a quick like while there).
Photography by Sarah Quinn – GIGgle Pics
GIGglepics 