It’s fair to say they that Mansfield’s Intake club is far from the largest or most glamorous venue Charlie Simpson has graced in his career.

Should further reminder that this was not at a more established music venue such as Rock City be needed it came in the form of the Intake Club’s DJ. The night’s openers We Are The Ocean spent several minutes on stage trying to silence the 80’s rock lover before being able to start their set.
  
The very repetitive screamo vocals of their frontman quickly became tiresome and his stage presence, similar to that of a hyped up spaniel, was far more annoying then endearing.

By far the best track of We Are The Ocean’s short performance was current single Ready For The Fall, which saw them hold back the screaming a little, allowing their guitarist to show the quality of his vocals. 
     
After spending much of the last year or so on the road touring with the likes of Aiden, Brigade arrived on stage to a noticeably bigger reaction, and showed they are developing an impressive live performance. The live airing of the bands’ current single Pilot gave extra power and presence to what was already a very good track.

Should Brigade continue to put in such strong performances on this tour then it should do the sales of new album Come Morning We Fight no harm whatsoever.

Charlie Simpson strolled on stage with a huge grin on his face clearly, despite the size and location of the venue, happy to be on the road and revelling in the adoration of the crowd. As soon as Fightstar launched into set opener 99, the crowd turned into a sea of frenzied movement. 

The heavy opening guitar riff of the second song Amaze Us triggered a fresh wave of headbanging before giving the evening’s first real sing along to the tracks’ soaring chorus.

Next came only the bands second live performance of Tannhauser Gate with Charlie screaming his lungs out throughout the track.

Shortly afterwards, Simpson diced with concussion, standing on the barrier to lean out across the crowd, head brushing the ceiling and glancing off a light as he was propelled back onto the stage. A huge cheer greeted the opening strains of Paint Your Target, which saw the chorus belted out by every person in attendance.

As if the crowd wasn’t excitable enough, Simpson had everyone jumping on his command during forthcoming single I Am The Message as the set headed towards a disappointingly quick close.

As Charlie and co left the stage the crowd collectively caught its breath in anticipation of the further madness that the encore would provoke. “Fightstar!” chants filled the air as a keyboard was wheeled to the front of the empty stage, giving just a subtle hint as to what would come next.  

After pausing to check on the condition of a fan, Charlie made his way to the keyboard and began to play the intro to Floods.
  
From the intricate keyboard to the raw power of the guitars added to Charlie and Al Westaway nailing every note of the vocals, the song was genuinely epic and easily the night’s standout moment.

Simpson took a moment to give heartfelt thanks to the crowd for buying the gig tickets and records that allow his band to do what they love.

Commenting that “…this is the Ride The Deathcar tour, so this seems like a fitting way to end”, Fightstar launched into the unadulterated fury of Deathcar; giving one last chance for the audience to throw themselves around and sing their hearts out.

After an all too brief set (lasting only a little over an hour), every single person in the Intake Club was left breathless, bathed in sweat and desperate for more.