Despite the early doors time there was decent sized crowd here to see SSS open the evening’s entertainment. For those that made the effort to get there early SSS flew through a lot of material, with many of their songs feeling like they should be measured in seconds, rather than minutes. Although there appears to be a resurgence of thrash at the moment, and despite giving it their all, sadly SSS’ set appeared to fall on a mainly disinterested audience, possibly due to the fact that they sounded somewhat different to the rest of bands making up the bill. 

Next band, Fucked Up, found themselves in the rather unusual situation of being on stage and ready to go five minutes early, so they ended up milling around looking slightly lost until it was time for them to get going. Once they did get started however they didn't move from their spots from that point on, with the notable exception of frontman Father Damian, who certainly gave the impression of being a little Fucked Up, diving straight into the crowd from their opening song to kick start a pit, in a similar manner to Matt Caughthran from the Bronx. He didn't not stop there however, obviously full of energy he was constantly on the move and even went as far as to dabble with a little bit of surfing which, given his size, went better than could have been expected.  One thing that Fucked Up to appear to have is a set of passionate fans who helped out with the vocals during several songs, most especially during set closer “Police”. 

For some reason there were some people in the crowd that seemed to have turned up hell bent on yelling abuse and throwing drinks at Set Your Goals. Whilst Fucked Up suffered the same ignominity to a lesser extent  Set Your Goals certainly seemed to get the brunt of the abuse with plastic glasses flying at them from all angles  Both vocalists, Matt Wilson and Jordan Brown, dealt with the situation as best they could, continuing apace regardless of the ongoing barrage for, as they put it "they owed it to their fans who have turned up". Sadly though there also appeared to be some sound issues with the vocals, at times, sounding way too quiet and the bass being far too loud. it certainly didn't help matters and meant that those that actually bothered to watch probably didn't get to see the band at their best. Regardless of all the problems however, Set Your Goals were professional and energetic, bounding around the stage throughout  whilst playing new and old songs, much to the delight of their fans. 

Gallows have come a long way in the last year. At the start of 2007 they were at the Birmingham Academy as opening act for Bullet For My Valentine and now, barely a year later they were returning as headliners. Vocalist Frank Carter, as ever, was the focal point of attention, not that everyone else was motionless, it is just that Carter demands attention such is his charisma as a commanding figure. From the outset he was continually demanding pits to be started, climbing onto the balcony and even going as far as to hang upside down from it whilst singing. As you would expect Gallows delivered the majority of their single album to date, an album which they have extensively toured and hence was familiar to most in attendance. Highlights, well “Abandon Ship” and “In The Belly Of The Shark” probably got the best crowd reaction of the evening.   

Sadly, even during the headline set  there still appeared to be a proportion of idiot in the crowd, Carter was subject to a level of heckling aimed at his "gingerness". To his credit Carter handled the situation with ease pointing out that he was ginger before the start of “Kill The Rhythm” and that he was still ginger afterwards, not even the song having the power to change it. There is no logical reason to try and taunt bands in such a way, Carter has proven on several occasions before that he is more than capable of holding his own and should only be taken on at the heckler’s own peril.  

Mixing things up a bit during the well deserved encore, Gallows first delivered “Swarm Over Death” from their demo alongside The Ruts’ cover, “Staring At The Rude Bois”, and finally “Orchestra Of Wolves”.  Perhaps with the aim of meeting the hecklers on their own territory Carter joined the crowd in the last of many pits, firstly removing his shoes however as, apparently he had already lost some surfing at a previous show and, with no shoes to nick he finally made it back to the stage with minus a sock.  Apparently confused as to why anyone would want a sock he described how no band should be put on a pedestal, especially not Gallows. With a final mention of how worried he was that someone would wish for his worn socks, he throws the remaining one to the masses and leaves behind another  successful night of mayhem in Gallows’ wake.

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