Venue: The Substation, Singapore
Date: 12th May 2013
Promoter: Wicked Productions
Review by: Maisha G.
Special Thanks: Shi Xiang, and the Wicked Productions team
Photos by Cliff Y.
When I say I’ve been waiting for this day to come, I’m pretty confident I speak for many fans out there who have been following them since day onel all the way from nine years ago when they first formed and were better known as A Dying Dream. Gracing us with popular numbers from “Unspoken” to “Engine 45”, the songs will only do justice to their amazing lyrics by having the band perform live infront of our very own eyes. And well, we very well did. Or more so, got our faces melted in the process and that band is non other than The Ghost Inside, coming all the way from Los Angeles, California. The night was what many deemed “sweaty, adrenaline pumping show of the century” while others may have a different takeaway.
Supporting the band as opening acts are Annalynn from Bangkok, Thailand, and our homegrown band, A Town In Fear. The opening acts were the reasons the crowd were hyped up by the time the main star of the show took the stage.
Annalynn, of which reminds me so much of August Burns Red, got my feet tapping wildly and almost in convulsions of being thrown into slam dancing while the crowd were slowly moving their bodies and bobbing their heads to the gnarly guitar licks and the deep growl from the vocalist. Their energy was omniscient and we could feel the jumps and the snare hits on the drums beat in tandem with the movements from the crowd. That band is worth the discovery and deserve a resounding applause, or many would like to do, ‘power stomp’ in appreciation.
A Town In Fear, talked by many people who frequent such gigs, are known to be one of the best bands in business of the genre. The stage presence of the frontman got people in the crowd body surfing and two stepping at every chance they get in the break down of every song performed by them. Challenged by the constant stage antics of the front man, they crowd grew wilder and wilder or more intense – intense enough to ‘bring da house down’ by the time The Ghost Inside took the stage.
The crowd grew bigger, rowdier (in a good way), and rough but it’s all in the name of fun. The band took the stage and rocked the house out. It got every single one of us in the crowd lifting up our feet and jumping our hearts out to the songs we’ve longed been listening to on our iPods or often peruse through videos on YouTube – songs ranging from all three albums; “Unspoken” to “Chrono” to “Test The Limits”.
I have to say, the song that got me good, shot right through the heart but still gave a great feeling was “White Light”. This song was written as an ode to (frontman) Jonathan’s late brother who passed on two years back. The song that gets tears welling up in my eyes, the very lyric that brought me back to the very day that I lost my best friend was “I am so lost at sea. Ryan, shine your light for me”.
The song was given that title because Jonathan’s friend actually sent him a photo of white light that punctured straight into the ocean as he was remembering about the late Ryan coincidentally when they were writing the song and deciding on the song title. And he knew then, the song title has got to be that. I know how it feels to lose someone you love and holding on to life on a thin thread thinking that everything will come crumbling down but this song felt as though it was written for me to help me through the days. This song helped me get through the sadness and hurt and I am thankful and blessed for that night. It wasn’t only an emotional ride for me. The last song ,“Engine 45”, takes the cake of the many gigs I have been to.
Jonathan came down from the stage and walked into the crowd as he sang these lines:
“All my life I’ve been waiting for something that never came
It never came
But I’m still saying
All my life I’ve been searching for something
To break these chains, to break these chains
But I’ll keep swinging…”
The crowd went wild as they gathered around him, holding on to his shoulders, grabbing at every chance they could, and screamed the lyrics into his mic. With people slam dancing and moshing in the background and with many others stage diving and body surfing, it may look like a crazy ruckus to many but this is how music brought these fans together. No matter the colour of the skin, size, or even religion. The crowd was one; we were a whole, and not many would think such a genre of music could bring people together as it was often referred to as “violent music”. The whole misunderstanding of the genre would be solved if the very people who shunned the music genre were to be there; it would have changed their whole mentality altogether.
The night had made a mark and was of significance in my life – an experience I’d never forget. Thank you Wicked Productions for making dreams come true and make me feel whole again.