Nov 21, 2017

AIRBOURNE - Live from The Roundhouse

Full to the brim of hungry bodies, the Roundhouse faces the threat of its foundations collapsing from the palpitating feet and howling screams of 1,700 Airbourne fans. Relentlessly touring their 4th studio album, Breakin Outta Hell, has brought the band to London on 15th November, treating the fans to an array of older tunes in the set list like Bottom of the Well, Raise the Flag and Stand Up for Rock and Roll.

Ripping through I’m Going to Hell for This, it’s clear that newest member, Harri Harrison, has the abundance of maniacal energy to undergo an Airbourne performance and still be standing at the end of it and has earned his keep for being able to do so effortlessly. Met with the crowd’s wholesome enthusiasm, it was as if the band had been playing with him since the Runnin’ Wild days.

Trading in the unsurprising injurious beer can smashing for Jack Daniels and not a lot of coke, Lemmy Kilmister still lives on in the tributes conveyed by front man Joel O’Keeffe before tearing into their accolade to the late Motorhead front man, It’s All for Rock and Roll. Raising the cups of murky bronze liquid, one for each band member and a few to be shared and consumed by the crowd, ensured a raging headache for work the next day from a single sip. I did hope that no one had the flu or any other questionable illness...

The hysteria continued throughout the night as body after body got pulled out of the crowd, kicking feet missing sweaty faces by mere millimetres and some bruised mugs that weren’t so lucky. Emerging from behind the drum kit, Ryan O’Keeffe sounded the ear shattering air raid siren that instigates the encore of Live it Up, a song that breathed new life into the already exhilarated crowd. The man who had been shouting ‘raise the flag!’ whenever a single second of silence was available throughout the entire duration of the gig, finally got his wish come true as the last song of the night.

Before kicking into Raise the Flag, Joel O’Keeffe promised that they were going to finish the tour, go back to Australia, record a new album and would be back very soon. The venue went into overdrive as the band played their hearts out for the last song.

Proving themselves to their music and fans time and time again, the boys from Airbourne delivered an anarchic and frenetic performance that demonstrated just how committed they are to what they do, and their fans in turn are devoted to their music and energy.