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It’s only February, but I’d happily bet on tonight boasting one of the best tour line ups of the year. Heck, I would’ve bet on it when the tour was announced last year.

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As those from the cold outside take refuge inside the largest of the Academy rooms, Three Trapped Tigers warm up the crowd with their math-rock-post-punk-future-dance-music-these-guys-are-insane sounds. The three piece say that this tour has given them the chance to play on some of the biggest stages their careers have allowed so far, but the noise these three gentleman make fills the space on stage and gets some heads nodding from the crowd. A more intimate venue would better suit so that the crowd could see close up just how well these guys can play, but the band are playing to thousands of potential new fans on this tour and they play well. Welcome to the hundreds of newly converted Three Trapped Tigers fans. (3.5/5)

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Jason Butler is arguably one of the greatest frontmen to be unveiled to the rock scene in recent years and the large stage handed to him only pumps him up further. The rest of letlive. give energy back to the crowd but are constantly outshone by Jason. All eyes fixed as he creatively creates chaos throughout the set with a crew member on edge the whole time, leaping on to try and clean up whatever mess Jason leaves behind him. The new song gives the band a fresher sense of energy, understandably so seeing as the band have been touring the sounds from ‘Fake History’ for probably more than the usual 2 album cycles worth of time. Finally meeting with the crowd, Jason leaps into the public masses and makes sure that everybody is watching. Always exciting, always entertaining to watch and will always be worthy support to tonight’s headliners. (4/5)

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Lights down and on they walk. Deftones have had a lengthy career packed with releases along the way and their latest release ‘Koi No Yokan’ effortlessly highlights how brilliant they are and that there really isn’t anyone that comes close to what Deftones limitlessly offer. An abrupt launch to the set with ‘Diamond Eyes’, the clapping following that involving into newbie ‘Poltergeist’. There’s only a few other new songs in the set tonight, but with a discography as big and as rewarding as Deftones’ the set can easily be changed tour to tour, so songs such as ‘Headup’ heat things up even further before the encore. The sound is incredible, the lighting is blinding and every member has that groove in them. Sergio darts about more than usual and has certainly come into his own and Abe shows no sign of slowing down. But, as always, the king is Chino; effortlessly flowing around on stage, grooving and moving, and providing every charming whisper and haunting growl that he can. He commands the crowd like an army and has everyone at his every beck and call. It takes confidence and charisma to be the kind of frontman Chino is and he’s one of the best. Of course, he’s not the only member of Deftones. The combined live effort of every member live, as well as their talents in the studio, makes tonight as fantastic as every other show they play; all hail the kings. (5/5)

4.5/5

Words by Mikey Brown (@MikeyMiracle)

Photographs by J Leadbetter (@J_Clique)

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