LIVE FROM THE PIT: Biohazard, Sworn Enemy, Striking 13 and Cut Throat
- Lauren Wenham
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
There is something immediately different about a gig when the support bands are already playing as the doors open. At Manchester Club Academy, the room may have been relatively empty at the start of the evening, but the energy certainly was not. The fans who had made it in early were clearly the die-hards, and every band that followed managed to build on that atmosphere.
CUT THROAT were already on stage when the evening got underway, bringing a theatrical and entertaining performance to a room that was still filling up. It would have been easy for the lack of numbers to affect their energy, but they refused to let it. Instead, they played as though the room was already packed.
One fan in particular clearly knew every word, and the vocalist made a point of singing directly to them while standing on the barrier. It was a small moment, but one that summed up the relationship between these bands and the people who had come out to see them. Even before the headliners had appeared, there was already a genuine connection between stage and crowd.
As more people began to arrive, STRIKING 13 took things up another level. Their Apollo 13-inspired introduction immediately gave the set a sense of occasion, before the first mosh pit appeared and the room began to properly wake up.
The band's interaction with the crowd had already started before the first song. During soundcheck and while setting up the stage, the members were chatting and engaging with fans, creating a welcoming atmosphere before they had even begun performing. The drummer and vocalist were particular standouts once the set started, while the guitarist brought plenty of energy of their own.
The whole band seemed incapable of staying in one place. They swapped positions, climbed around the amps and constantly moved across the limited stage space, creating an entertaining kind of chaos. Even throwing T-shirts into the crowd became part of the show, with the band clearly having as much fun as the audience. The bassist playing one-handed was another impressive touch, adding yet another layer to a performance that never seemed to run out of energy.
What made STRIKING 13 particularly memorable, however, was how much time they spent interacting with the people in front of them. The connection never disappeared between songs, and even after their set they could be found taking photographs with fans. It was the kind of interaction that makes a smaller show feel personal.
If STRIKING 13 had brought the room to life, SWORN ENEMY appeared determined to tear it apart.
The mosh pit that developed was enormous, with the energy in the room immediately reaching another level. The vocalist spent much of the set in the photography pit, putting them almost directly amongst the audience and allowing for an extraordinary amount of interaction. Rather than creating distance between the band and the crowd, the performance completely blurred that line. Fans were moving constantly, the band were feeding off it, and the entire room seemed to be caught up in the same momentum.
It was the kind of performance that could easily have belonged to a headline slot. SWORN ENEMY were clearly enjoying themselves, the crowd were completely invested, and by this point there was very little left for the headliners to prove.
Then came BIOHAZARD.
The room was now packed, and the difference between the relatively empty venue at the beginning of the evening and what stood in front of the stage was striking. The band walked out to the Rocky theme, immediately setting the tone for what followed.
Opening with Urban Discipline, BIOHAZARD wasted no time reminding everyone exactly why they were here. The mosh pits were huge, although slightly less relentless than those during SWORN ENEMY, and the energy across the room was still incredible. The guitarist repeatedly made their way into the crowd, at one point attempting to crowdsurf before being unable to make it across the room. It was still one of those moments that made the distance between stage and audience feel almost irrelevant.
One of the most impressive things about the night, however, was how respectful the crowd remained despite the sheer amount of chaos. People encouraged each other into the pits, stopped to help anyone who fell, and made sure others were back on their feet before the madness continued. That attitude was reflected by the band themselves. At one point, the guitarist paused to pick up a fan's glasses from the photography pit. In the middle of everything happening around them, it was a small but brilliant reminder that the chaos had its own rules.
The set continued through Shades Of Grey, Fight To Be Free and Wrong Side Of The Tracks, keeping the room moving before Black and White And Red All Over brought another huge response. The crowd clearly knew what they had come to hear, with lyrics being thrown back towards the stage at full volume.
Eyes On Six and Five Blocks To The Subway kept the momentum going, but it was Fuck The System that provided one of the most memorable moments of the night.
The band's declaration of “Fuck the government” was met with an immediate response from the floor, including one particularly amusing shout of “Better than where you're from.” It was exactly the sort of interaction that only really works in a packed Manchester room, and the crowd were clearly more than happy to play along.
By this point, the distinction between performer and audience had almost completely disappeared.
A BAD RELIGION cover of We’re Only Gonna Die offered another moment of recognition before Punishment brought the room straight back into the thick of it. Ending with Hold My Own, the set felt less like a history lesson and more like a demonstration that the band's energy has not disappeared with time.
What made the evening work so well was not simply the size of the pits or the number of people moving. It was the community running underneath it all. From CUT THROAT playing to a handful of dedicated fans as if the room were full, to STRIKING 13 interacting with fans throughout their setup and performance, to SWORN ENEMY performing almost entirely within touching distance of the crowd, every band contributed to the same sense of connection.
BIOHAZARD ultimately had the difficult job of closing a night where the support had already set the bar extremely high. SWORN ENEMY could easily have passed for headliners, and STRIKING 13 had already turned an initially quiet room into a lively one. Yet the headliners proved exactly why they were the ones closing the night. The crowd were fully invested, the pits were enormous, and the band were willing to throw themselves directly into the chaos alongside them.
For a band with such a long history, there was nothing particularly nostalgic about the performance. It felt immediate, physical and alive. The evening was a reminder that hardcore works best when the barrier between the stage and the crowd becomes almost meaningless — and at Manchester Club Academy, BIOHAZARD made sure there was barely a barrier left at all.
Words and photos: Lauren Wenham
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