Fall of Troy / The Dear Hunter / Foxy Shazam /Tera Melos

When first act the Dear Hunter drew the curtains back they opened to around 30 people. All that extra space though allowed their progressive rock tones to carry throughout the diminished crowd and infect the ears of everyone with delightful surprise. Though the band’s interaction was limited to awkward silences, luckily their mishmash of indie rock and post-hardcore made getting there early worthwhile. Unlikely Ferret signings Foxy Shazam don’t dwell in the land of screaming and breakdowns, but Freddie Mercury reincarnate Eric Sean Nally took the crowd down memory lane with his tall tales that created a Broadway ambience and coupled it with Queen-inspired stylings. The vocalist/entertainer extraordinaire was a constant menace to the floorboards, breaking out the air bow and arrow to slay his subjects, playing his leg as a guitar and to take it even further, lighting two cigarettes at once and eating them. Tera Melos really had their work cut out for them and their math rock was well done but never really had much of a chance. It was a case of we know you’re up there, we know you’re playing your hearts out, but where’s Foxy Shazam? Oddly enough this played into the Fall of Troy’s hands very nicely since the crowd was eager to be wowed again. FOT can’t really be categorised: they’re spazzed-out, eclectic and heavy. Guitarist Thomas Erak’s "guitarmanship” is like nothing I’ve ever seen replicated before in my life. His fingers don’t leave the fret board for anything unless it’s in between hammer-ons for that split second. The entire set was a tasty head-smashing combo of Manipulator and Doppelganger so both new and old fans were taken care of in a considerate fashion. The only problem I can think of is that they could have played longer, but that’s just me being selfish.