It was about a month or so ago when I found myself in a group of friends talking about the upcoming Stick To Your Guns show, and how to juggle our adult responsibilities to make it. One of said friends was adamant that the band would perform a "Diamond"-based show. The seed was planted in our heads and over the next few weeks we entertained our collective delusion to the point of obsessively trying to find any "Diamond"-coded Easter eggs online. The day of the show came, and the same group of people gathered outside the same venue. We were only a couple of hours away from discovering if our assumptions were true.
First up with a slight delay was Seasons A.C.. The band was a fitting choice for this show, having already shared the stage with Deez Nuts a few years back. With a setlist revolving mainly around their debut album, they got warm reactions from the crowd.
Deez Nuts was up next. If you know me, or have been around long enough, you know that the Australian band had been growing on me for the better part of the last decade, and I'm now proudly able to call myself a fan. The quartet got on with "Popular Demand" and "Shot After Shot". It was really heartwarming to see people participating and genuinely having a good time -a sight that we're not used to when it comes to DN Greek shows if I'm being honest. The band, which for this run also featured Jesse of No Warning on drums and Poli of Devil In Me on bass, looked happy to be back on stage, constantly interacting with the crowd. Having maintained the basis of their setlist for the past few years, they manage to blend nicely the fan-favorite old tunes ("What's Good", "Stay True", "Tonight We're Gonna Party...", "Your Mother Should Have Swallowed You", "Binge & Purgatory") with the newer ones ("Crooked Smile", "Bitterest End", "Singalong"). No DN show is complete however without the absolute banger that "Band Of Brothers" is, and when the pre-recorded intro wouldn't play on cue, fans at the front started singing it acapella. As the set ended with "Face This On My Own" and "DTDFL4EVA", we were thoroughly warmed up for Stick To Your Guns.
As soon as the intro of "Diamond" resounded, the tension in the crowd was evident. The band took the stage by storm, with the packed venue singing along. And for a split second, it looked like the friend was right and that we would be getting the album after all. "Nobody" followed, however, and we realized that the setlist would once more be a best-of. To be fair, it did resemble a lot last year's setlist, but that doesn't diminish the value of the show. Stick To Your Guns is one of the most energetic and passionate bands in the scene, with guitarists Josh James and Chris Rawson jumping all the time, and vocalist Jesse Barnett hyping the crowd, making activist speeches and happily passing the mic to fans. And banger after banger, there wasn't a single song where people didn't scream at the top of their lungs. It was lovely to see that "Diamond" still had preferential treatment, seeing as the song selection ("Empty Heads", "Such Pain", "The Bond") covered about 1/3 of the overall setlist. As expected though, it was the tracks with the bigger singalongs like "Weapon", "Married To the Noise", "Amber", and "We Still Believe" that got the most vivid reactions. The show ended with "Against Them All", with the moshpit briefly stopping for the phrase "we don't need them" to reverberate in the room. As people started heading out, all we could hear were comments about how good the show was. And it's true; STYG delivered indeed a phenomenal performance as always, making the anticipation worth it.
All pictures courtesy of Dearohwell photography.
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