#circle pits

Hand picked by Frank Carter himself, Wires are a good choice to start off proceedings indeed, a mixture of punk, grunge and a little bit of Joy division in places they’re probably the only other band (aside from Bauhaus) that’ll do a song about Bela Lugosi that’s good enough. One to watch in the future.

God Damn make their return to Stoke -  Thom proudly proclaiming how Stoke is his birth place – and within the half hour the duo once again prove why they’re one of the heaviest and noisiest UK bands out there starting 2016 as they mean to go on – loud as FUCK and both crowd and band are loving every minute of it.

If you think though there was going to be a calm before the storm style moment in between the bands after that – unless you count them playing songs from Stevie Wonder’s Songs In the Key Of Life – think again as there’s a feeling of a crowd waiting to explode in a flurry of moshing, crowd surfing (including a member of God Damn) et al and as soon as Frank Carter takes to the stage they show their appreciation in the only way possible.

While Frank recounts the times at the venue before including the show that involved him splitting his head open there’s the feeling of a man that has become revitalised by doing these songs which leads to two unique moments of the night: not only a circle pit that ends up going to the balcony and back down but one that goes around two people holding up guitarist Dean Richardson.