ASKING ALEXANDRIA played Manchester Academy this past Friday night and were easily upstaged by Los Angeles act, THE GHOST INSIDE, who are continuing to show that they are the real deal. Being ASKING ALEXANDRIA comes with a tremendous expectation, especially when touring across their home country. And whilst their set sounded tight and fully energised on Halloween night, their vie and apparent love for macho-sarcasm and rockstarisms hindered the overall performance.
Dallas, TX based band CROWN THE EMPIRE also made an appearance at the show.
THE GHOST INSIDE played tracks from across all their releases to date include Engine 45, Between the Lines, and Dark Horse. They also played the title track of their upcoming album Dear Youth, which is set to be released 17th November on Epitaph Records. Jonathan Vigil engaged with the audience throughout the band's performance with Engine 45 being a major highlight of the night as they crowd emphatically sang back the last chorus.
The headliners ASKING ALEXANDRIA played a hefty set with most songs coming from 2013's From Death to Destiny. For such a dramatic build up that included Europe's The Final Countdown in its entirety, there was little to back it up. It's been stated the band wants to backup their image as the bad boys of current rock n' roll and that was showcased by vocalist Danny Worsnop who spoke of living the "rockstar" life. Whilst seen as tongue-in-cheek since they are embracing a label, it's really not an attractive trait. There is having fun and then there is overdoing it.
Although the audience was memorised and pro-AA, THE GHOST INSIDE stole the night from a musical standpoint.
