Damian Abraham thrives in venues with low ceilings. With easy-to-grab rafters mere inches above his head, and a wide front-of-stage barrier that's practically yelling "climb me, Damian," it's no wonder that Abraham seems to always have a blast each time Fucked Up play the Pavilion.
Over the course of the band's early-evening all-ages gig (they also played the Marquee Club later on), Abraham made funny faces like a champ, gave sweaty hugs to as many moshers as he could, and spent an inordinate amount of time discussing pro wrestling in general and WWE superstar Daniel Bryan in particular. (Also, for those keeping score at home, Abraham's shirt-loss time: 1.5 songs.)
This is all par for the course at this point. More than two years after the release of David Comes to Life, Fucked Up are about as well-oiled as a machine of chaos could possibly be. It's still a pretty spectacular show, though, and not just because of Abraham's enthusiasm. Behind him, the band's three-guitar assault remains colossal, pulling even older tracks like "Police" and "Blank Albino Bones" into David's arena-sized punk soundscape.
The question is: what next? New song "Daddy" (as it was labeled on the set list) was fun, but offered few clues as to the shape of the band's next record. That said, a Fucked Up show is about punk ritual, so for the crowd, figuring out the band's future understandably took a back seat to scrambling over each other so they could belt out the words to glorious noises like "Queen of Hearts" and "The Other Shoe."
Over the course of the band's early-evening all-ages gig (they also played the Marquee Club later on), Abraham made funny faces like a champ, gave sweaty hugs to as many moshers as he could, and spent an inordinate amount of time discussing pro wrestling in general and WWE superstar Daniel Bryan in particular. (Also, for those keeping score at home, Abraham's shirt-loss time: 1.5 songs.)
This is all par for the course at this point. More than two years after the release of David Comes to Life, Fucked Up are about as well-oiled as a machine of chaos could possibly be. It's still a pretty spectacular show, though, and not just because of Abraham's enthusiasm. Behind him, the band's three-guitar assault remains colossal, pulling even older tracks like "Police" and "Blank Albino Bones" into David's arena-sized punk soundscape.
The question is: what next? New song "Daddy" (as it was labeled on the set list) was fun, but offered few clues as to the shape of the band's next record. That said, a Fucked Up show is about punk ritual, so for the crowd, figuring out the band's future understandably took a back seat to scrambling over each other so they could belt out the words to glorious noises like "Queen of Hearts" and "The Other Shoe."