A heresy finally corrected: I Prevail played their very first show in Belgium in a Trix soldout as f*ck this 14 March! Postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 5 Americans finally met their Belgian fans in a show that could have been insane but wasn’t because of wrong choices and especially technical issues.
We spoke a lot recently about Bad Omens as one of the biggest prospects in the metalcore scene right now, especially because of the huge success from their third album “The Death Of Peace Of Mind” and they fully confirmed our expectations live (read our live-report from their show in Paris). But another metalcore act from the US has also released a third powerful album in 2022 called “True Power”: I Prevail. Until March 2023, they had never been to Belgium even if they were in Europe in 2019 for the first time. We have the feeling they’ve been around for a while but they’ve been waiting the perfect timing to cross the Ocean.
To open this big headliner tour, they brought 2 acts who played more than once in Belgium already: Blind Channel who opened for Electric Callboy in this same venue last year and Trash Boat, one of the most touring bands around and who also played in this exact same room last Summer as opener for Enter Shikari. So, 2 bands that know the venue and area better than the headliner!
The Finnish act, Blind Channel, is the first one on stage. We discovered them a few hours ago when they’ve been selected to represent their country at EuroVision contest but didn’t had the same success as Maneskin but still finished at a very decent 6th place! Named as violent pop band, a name they created , they’re a bit a mix of everything: rock, nu-metal, metalcore, some electro vibes, etc. If you’re fan of Falling In Reserve, Linkin Park or Bring Me The Horizon all together, you should like them. Well, perhaps.
We were curious to see this band for the very first time, discover this band that went until the finale of Eurovision. If on album, a few stuff sound decent, it wasn’t the case live at all. The bad sound didn’t help but nobody seems to care about them and to enjoy their show (except a few fans front row). Too cliché, nothing really special.
Set-list: Alive Or Only Burning, We Are No Saints, Over My Dead Body, Bad Idea, Flatline, Balboa, Dark Side.
Main support here, Trash Boat, are obviously known by lot of Belgium. How could it be otherwise? They are around all the time since the pandemic is done! , Played at Graspop then a sick show at Jera On Air in June 2022 followed by a show at Trix on the same weekend opening for Enter Shikari, some shows again with Enter Shikari in Fall, now this intense tour with I Prevail, followed by an arena tour with The Offspring in May coming to Forest National, then playing again at Jera On Air in June 2023. What about tonight’s show then?
Sadly, the sound is a bit better but nothing spectacular. We have the feeling the mix is good but not loud enough. For ounce, we would have appreciated more decibels… The venue is packed now but the major part of the audience was seeing the band for the first time (asked by Duncan, lead singer) and didn’t enjoy it so much. The highlight of their 40 minutes set was their cover of Linkin Park, Given Up, that we heard at Jera On Air last year and which is still perfectly played! Obviously, the all crowd reckoned the song and sang along: fortunately!
Next to 7 songs from their latest full-length album “Don’t You Feel Amazing” and this cover, the 5 British also played their brand new song Delusions Of Grandeur. Sounding great live and giving a first idea of their next album, this song is great but didn’t get more reaction from the crowd. We guess maybe 20 people knew this one… It’s part of the business: tour on big tour in front of an audience that don’t care a lot about you as they don’t know your band, yet, but all fans you can win on a tour like this is a good thing, even if you don’t convince a lot during a night like tonight. If not in Brussels in 2 months, they should have a way better public at Jera On Air 2023 where they’re coming back! And so are we!
Set-list: Synthetic Sympathy, Silence Is Golden, Vertigo, Bad Entertainment, Given Up (cover), Delusions Of Grandeur, Alpha Omega, Don’t You Feel Amazing, He’s So Good.
It’s 9pm sharp and the lights are gone one more time to let appear the stars of the night on stage: I Prevail! The hype is real: new album, first time in Belgium, venue packed as f*ck. What else? Well… a decent sound. Especially. But also a better set-list and a long set too. The 5 Americans started with 4 songs of their brand new album, which were not always the most powerful songs, in a sound that didn’t give a good interoperation of their show at all. Maybe it sounded good in their in-ear but for us, with or without ear protection, it was the same. Some of us looked the show from the sound-desk and their sound-engineer didn’t look worry at all.
So, first issue: the sound. The guitars have never sounded great. More than once, we had the feeling the musicians didn’t play on the same tempo. The shows of I Prevail are supposed to be powerful: not tonight. Second issue: the set-list and choice of songs. It’s a promo tour obviously because the new album came out in 2022 but 4 new songs is a lot. Don’t forget that the initial tour was advertised as the “Trauma Tour” to focus on the previous album – which is their best so far. There were then too much ups and downs during the set which didn’t help to get a great intensity during 58 minutes. Because, yeah, here it’s the third issue: the length of the show. When you’re on tour to promote a new album which is your third one, we can obviously expect more than 1h of show! At 10pm, it was over. We almost never finish a show so early…
Set-list: There’s Fear In Letting Go, Body Bad, Bad Things, Self-Destruction, Come And Get It, Hurricane, Feel Something, FWYTYK, Breaking Down, DOA, Deep End, Scars. Encore: Gasoline, Bow Down.
This show was on the top 5 to not miss at Trix this Winter and we are glad we didn’t miss their very first show in Belgium. At least to get our own opinion. An opinion we can resume in 1 word: frustration. Frustration because of the bad sound. Frustration because of the bad musical choices. Frustration because it was too short.
