Live Review: Soil w/The Union Underground, (hed)p.e. and Nonpoint at The 1865 in Southampton!

The penultimate night of the Soil “All Scars” tour finds us at a sold out The 1865 in Southampton to witness four American bands of a certain vintage. These bands are all working class rock stars, musicians who have spent the past 25 or 30 years touring the Globe, playing their music and making enough money out of it to have a career while looking after families back home. They may not been millionaires but they’ve lived and are living what so many of us call the dream and there’s a lot to be said for that.

Opening are The Union Underground [8/10] whose 2000 debut album “An Education In Rebellion” is a monster that has lasted the test of time. 239,736 monthly listeners on Spotify alone is testament to the albums longevity. The four piece give us a 30 minute set that includes a new cut in “Faith Collapsing” that would be right at home on that album as well as stand alone single “Across The Nation” but in truth it’s the 24 year old material that people want to hear. Each of those tracks gets treated to horns in the air and an audience sing-a-long from the Alice In Chains inspired “Killing The Fly” to the groove laden “South Texas Death Ride“, the bands early Rob Zombie stylings giving them that industrial tinged sound. Of course monster hit “Turn Me On “Mr Deadman”” goes down like an ice cold beer on a scorching hot summer’s day, the band enjoying the audience singing the lyrics back throughout. It’s an absolute pleasure.

Next up are Nonpoint [10/10] a band who we have waited to witness since the year 2000 and they do not disappoint. “Victim” and “What A Day” back to back get the crowd jumping with every single member of crowd singing along. It’s it the dawn chorus when they come out swinging with “Ruthless” , the Fort Lauderdale five piece knowing exactly how to get a party started. They gave us a choice, fists in the air, bodies in the air or bodies in the pit and everyone obeys, the audience literally in the palm of the bands hands. Amazingly Elias Soriano shows no sign of age with his voice and nails everything perfectly, giving a masterclass for younger vocalists in the process. They were never going to be able to cram in all the songs we wanted to hear but a very special rendition of “Alive and Kicking“, the anthem to get you through tough times is masterfully done and provides all the nutrients we needed. All that’s left is the barn storming scream-a-long that is “Bullet With A Name” that gets everyone off the floor for one last time.

As Jared Gomes points out during the set, in the states usually (hed)p.e. [10/10] would go out before Nonpoint but as veterans who have played these shores many, many times for this run they’ve been switched around. A career spanning set gets underway with “No Way Out” and “Rat Race” from last year’s Grammy Award nominated album “Detox” which the four piece manage to squeeze another five percent more energy out of tonight. Kurt Blankenship is armed with a five string bass and delivers the groove with Nathan Javier’s seven string guitar getting the party started. While there is no official word, the last time Jeremiah “Trauma” Stratton was pictured with the band was at Louder Than Life Festival at the end of September but permanent or temporary the new as yet unnamed drummer knows exactly what he’s doing. Short and fast, the Hardcore Punk of “Peer Pressure” get the pit going before a funky, reggae infused rendition of “Killing Time” takes us back with Gomes bringing out the melodica for the first time. After a call and response take on “Raise Hell” which finds the audience chanting “get the f*** out!” at the top of their lungs in the chorus, Elias Soriano from Nonpoint appears on stage with beers for this brothers. He then joins them for a take on “Get Up, Stand Up” by Bob Marley which is the Chef’s kiss with everyone in the crowd joining in. When you see (hed)p.e. live you know they don’t play the tracks as they are on the records, cutting things short or extending them out as they please to create a unique energy. Naturally “Bartender” and “Renegade” bring the curtain down on their electrifying set, the four piece dragging out the later before organising a wall of Death before one final extra verse and chorus. Southern California’s finest always leave you wanting more, so we hope they’re opening when Nonpoint come back in 8 months time as a headliner.

While tonight’s set is billed as being all “Scars” as they celebrate 23 years of their 2001 album, the American Alternative Metal act that is Soil [9/10] have a few other ideas up their collective sleeves. Two songs from the album don’t appear in the set in “New Faith” and “Why” absent without leave while two additions are made at the end. They take to flight with “Breaking Me Down” with vocalist Ryan McCombs appearing to struggle with generating the power in his performance. In truth it’s as if he hasn’t done enough vocal warm up work before the show because he gradually gets better over the set. Guitarist and backing vocalist Adam Zadel looks like he belongs in Type O Negative and his higher pitched additions are a nice touch. “Unreal” is a huge sing-a-long moment with middle fingers raised all around before McCombs shows great humility in thanking everyone for allowing the band to live their childhood dream and spend their lives playing shows and touring the Globe. The music begins with the fans and ends with the fans and it’s true. Saving the best until last the quartet rip out a barn storming rendition of their mega hit “Halo” with its aggressive hook and get a pit going before departing the stage. It’s early and they quickly return to chants of “one more song” for two more. Their of era cover of “Black Betty” by Ram Jam is immense live with so much more energy than the recording and a blistering piece of lead work from Zadel and “Pride” from the follow up album to “Scars” in “reDefine” finishes the set in style. They may not have released any new original material since 2013’s “Whole” but everyone loves an Alice In Chains inspired Nu-Metal classic.