Photo: Kylie Keene

Americans Circa Survive sound like a fashionably updated yet low-rent Led Zeppelin with a singer who can’t hit all of Robert Plant’s falsetto notes, but fills out a shirt better. One of the roadies has helpfully switched the speakers to their special support-act setting of sludgy to make sure they don’t outdo the headliners, but there’s honestly no danger of that.

All the girls who’ve got front-row seats to the penitence ball start screaming as soon as My Chemical Romance appear and only pause to breathe occasionally throughout the night; older members of the crowd are left wondering if the surviving Beatles are perhaps hiding stage left. Balls of flames blast upwards behind them – you can feel the heat from here – and sparks rain down. That sets the tone for tonight: stadium-sized rock, played as loud as skinny boys in makeup can. Frontman Gerard Way prances, kicks, points and poses constantly and confidently, even adding Joey Ramone gabba gabbas mid-song and performing some cute conducting like he’s in charge of an orchestra. There’s not much orchestral about the sound, though. Starting with This Is How I Disappear they strip down the frills and file off the rough edges of their songs, playing them as straight-ahead, razor-sharp rock. I’m Not Okay (I Promise) and Teenagers, with Way smelling the teen spirit and deciding it stinks, benefit greatly from this reading. Lead guitarist Ray Toro solos like Brian May or Slash in miniature and fill-in drummer Tucker Rule from Thursday (Bob Bryar injured his wrist) hits them like they done him wrong. The kids have plenty to pogo to, though I swear I see two girls trying to do the Pride Of Erin to Helena.

Photo: Kylie Keene

Now comes the time of the night to shut up and eat our ballads, but that’s okay. They’re power-ballads full of fibre like I Don’t Love You, and we know the dessert is coming. They close with the tooth-rottingly sweet confection of Famous Last Words and it’s as much a crowd-pleasing rock revelation as anything they’ve played tonight. It’s been a professional set that never pandered to the black-eyeliner whiner crowd, instead showing off their oldschool guitar/bass/drums influences to the fullest. They may be singing, “I’m not okay,” but really the kids are all right.

JODY MACGREGOR

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