“Pain is never permanent, but tonight it’s killing me.”
For almost any genre, it’s pretty easy to pick out a handful of albums that are instantly iconic and shape those who follow. For modern pop-punk, it’s hard to disagree that Neck Deep’s Life’s Not Out To Get You is a prime example of this. Dropping in the third quarter of 2015, it exploded the band out of their niche and into the mainstream modern pop-punk space, quickly elevating them to dizzying heights that many acts, especially in the UK pop-punk scene, would have never deemed possible. Now, 10 years after its initial release, it continues to be massively influential, along with still burning a fire in the hearts of many who were captured by its choppy riffing and whiny vocals back in its heyday.
It was a no-brainer then that when Neck Deep announced that they’d be brushing off the dust and playing the album in its entirety, that we just had to be there. For many of us over at Boolin, pop-punk is either something actively loved, a guilty pleasure, or something we now look back on fondly with nostalgia in our eyes. For Kon and me, it is absolutely the former, with Life’s Not Out To Get You being massively influential on our own musical tastes and remaining in heavy rotation still to this day. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we made our way down to Manchester and London, respectively, to capture the magic.
Words by Jack Walker, photography by Konstancja Szwed – contact Kon prior to any image use.
Anxious
Sadly, due to travel constraints, I was unable to catch Anxious, something I’m devastated by, as they always put on an incredible set! With that said, Kon was able to capture some fantastic shots of them, and vouches for them being as fantastic as ever!
Boston Manor
Following things up, the ever-beloved Boston Manor took to the stage to show off their own distinctive blend of pop-punk and alt-rock. One thing was immediately clear: they have a niche fan base, and those fans were out in full force. Primarily playing hits from both Sundiver and Datura, Boston Manor had a large portion of the crowd in the palm of their hands, quickly winning them over with their infectious melodies and repeatable choruses. The Blackpool lads made quick work of showcasing why it is they’ve got such a dedicated following, putting on a remarkably strong performance that you’d be hard-pressed to find fault with. Admittedly, going into things, I wasn’t expecting much as none of their studio material has really clicked for me, but having now seen them perform, I get it. These lads have something good going, and despite them already having a strong calling when they’re in town, it does still feel that they’re on the precipice of becoming something even larger.
Neck Deep
Then came the main event, Neck Deep. The crowd erupted at their emergence, with the band steadily making their way onto the stage to a narrative track, before bursting directly into “Citizens of Earth”. The set, however, did not progress quite as expected from here, with the band opting to switch up the album’s order, keeping fans on their toes for the duration. Progressing through some of the LP’s more popular tracks in “Threat Level Midnight”, “Gold Steps”, and “Lime St.”,the Wrexham lads were nothing short of captivating, with the crowd singing along every single word in unison.
The band then moved into what they openly referred to as “the deep cuts”, an interesting turn of phrase given all in attendance were there to hear the album in full, so presumably knew all of the tracks. These deep cuts were “This Beach is for Lovers”, and “I Hope This Comes Back to Haunt You”, each a behemoth in its own right.
There’s a lot to be said for performing an album out of order. On the one hand, it allowed Neck Deep to close out their album with their pseudo-Christmas song “December”, but on the other, it created a strange flow. A minor gripe, but personally, when a band is playing an album in its entirety, I like to hear it in order, the way it was originally intended to be heard. Most of us are used to hearing the album in that way, and changing the order did break up the flow a tad, especially since “December” only closed out the album set, not the whole night. On the note of “December”, it played off exactly as you’d expect – it was HUGE. Phones shot up into the air as frontman Ben Barlow introduced the hit. A song that’s become synonymous with heartbreak, forgiveness, and, somehow, Christmas, it closed out the Life’s Not Out To Get You era of the night surprisingly well, and created plenty of hype leading into the second portion of the band’s set: the greatest hits.
“Motion Sickness” gave fans whiplash as it threw us right back in at the deep end, continuing the hype from the prior set. Continuing the night using a track from the band’s follow-up album, Neck Deep knew exactly what they were doing, easing in fans who may be less familiar with their newer material. Progressing through a smattering of tracks spanning their career, including “What Did You Expect?”, and “STFU”, the band sustained hype for the majority of the duration, with only a small drop in energy for the seemingly lesser-known (and much slower) “You Should See Me Now”. Closing the night with the iconic “In Bloom”, things came to a close on a massively high note. Neck Deep put on a show that not only celebrated their past successes but also showcased how they’ve grown and how far they’ve come as a band, and whether you’re as into their newer material as you are the old, it’s remarkably hard to argue that the performance is nothing short of captivating.
