LIVE FROM THE PIT: Poison The Well, Bodyweb and Killingmesoftly

The Manchester leg of Poison the Well’s The Opposite of December’s anniversary tour was brimming with passion and nostalgia: playing the classic 90s metalcore album in full to a dedicated room of 90s and 00s kids who were screaming it right back to them. 

To start the evening was Leeds quintet Killingmesoftly, who introduced themselves with a premixed creepy lullaby/scream combo to set the tone for their hardcore-adjaent sound. Their instrumentals sounded fantastic, with the lead’s soloing layered atop the other guitars in harmony backed up by chaotic drumming; the vocalist’s screams were captivating with their passion and their pitch, at some points resembling clucking but overall reminding of Laugh Tracks Bryan Garris. The other issues to note were that of the microphones not being loud enough from the crowd - the clean backing vocals from the rhythm guitarist couldn’t be heard, nor could the clean vocals from the main vocalist, and the two attempts he did make at talking to the crowd were muffled. Nevertheless, Killingmesoftly still went down great in the O2 Ritz, and sans the mic issues sounded phenomenal. 

Bodyweb

Second in support were more Leeds natives Bodyweb, who brought the crowd into their set from jump with the first of regular calls to come closer - not heeded for fear of stepping into the pit where a patron cartwheeled his way around during the set. Bodyweb is an electro-infused metalcore 5-piece, with their lead vocalist and Dj bringing the energy throughout their half an hour. Their sound reminded of a chaotic higher power with more hard vocals, though in terms of the programmed elements it would have been interesting to hear more of the hardstyle loaded into their entry music throughout their tracks. 

The main event Poison the Well started a timely 5 minutes early to play 1995’s The Opposite of December in full, starting with album opener 12/23/93 with reserved energy to a pleased crowd, who joined in with their songbird clean vocals as A Wish for Wings that Work played out. Frontman Jeffery Moreira addresses the crowd for the first time afterwards, revealing a crowd full of returning fans before telling the O2 Ritz that their newest album has wrapped recording of their most recent album before playing newest release Trembling Level then getting back to the album of celebration for this run. The years have been kind to poison the well with their sound still as resonant 30 years on: Moreira’s rough hardcore screams are complimented well with his songbird clean vocals, while punchy crowd favourites such as Slice Paper Wrists lend themselves to the crowd getting more rowdy as the set wore on. 

Poison The Well

The second half of Poison the well saw the energy set in as the next crowd favourite Meeting Again for the First Time rang out, followed by a more punk influenced Artist’s Rendering of Me, the more melody-driven Letter Thing and an emotional reprieve in For a Bandaged Iris. The joy of an anniversary tour is that it gives fans old and new the chance to enjoy the seminal works of bands they love or grew up with, shown most by a guy at the front of the O2 Ritz who spent the full hour jumping, spinning, and grabbing his friends as if his inner child was out to play, or the fella who throughout the evening moved his child between each area of the venue to introduce him to the music he grew up with.

 Both band and crowd were engaged and passionate about the songs they were playing and happy to share it with one another; by the end they had wished Josh a happy birthday and Moreira jumped off stage to lean into his crowd for closing song Nerdy, grabbing onto hands and shouting with the fans to finish a Saturday night in Manchester with a strong sense of community built with love and consolidated over time.

Words: Julia Brunton

Photos: Isaac Laing