Lacuna Coil and Straight Line Stitch at the Roadmender

It wasn’t too long ago when I was told that Lacuna Coil was coming to the Roadmender in Northampton. I can’t remember how I found out though, I think it was someone from the Duston Players who told me, but that’s beside the point.

The one thing I kept thinking was “Why the Hell are Lacuna Coil coming to Northampton?”. I mean, I like Northampton, it’s not the best place in the world but it’s my home. But, it’s Lacuna Coil! They’ve been to the greatest cities on the planet! Rome, London, Antwerp...Northampton?

Anyway, so I went to the Roadmender and, once I got in, I saw a poster read ‘Lacuna Coil plus guests’. Which was a surprise since when I bought my ticket online, there was no mention of a supporting act, not one I saw anyway. Looking around the merchandise I found that the supporting act was Straight Line Stitch, a band from Tennessee, Kentucky. I was actually thinking they were from Tennessee, I’m not sure why, something to do with Paramore for some reason, but I had no idea why I was thinking Tennessee.

Having not heard Straight Line Stitch before, I was thinking it would be a similar act to Lacuna Coil. Since the band had a female singer, I was expecting a soft vocalist with a dash of alternate metal.

 

Boy was I wrong.

I instead listened to a Slipknot-style vocalist. Alexis Brown (the lead singer of Straight Line Stitch) had an Angela Gossow singing style, and she was headbanging so hard I thought her head was going to snap off.

But it was a pleasant surprise. Whilst they did struggle to get the audience going at first (the atmosphere got better as it went on) I really enjoyed their performance, with songs like Tear Down the Sky (it’s the one I definitely remember the name of, sorry Straight Line Stitch). When they finished their set I went straight to the merchandise bit and bought their CD The Fight of our Lives. And, the really great thing Straight Line Stitch did, was to actually go out into the main hall of the Roadmender and meet the people. I thought that was a really great thing they did, coming out and actually having a chat with the listeners. They had such a long queue, by the time I got to her Lacuna Coil were starting their set. But it was a great opportunity to have a chance to talk to the lead singer Alexis, as well as get her autograph on the CD I just bought, as well as buy their tour date T-shirt alongside Lacuna Coil’s.

And they had such a great sense of humour, they laughed when someone from the crowd said “Turn it up to 11!”, and when someone else yelled “Take your top off!”. Alexis asked bandmate Jason (at least I think it was Jason) showing one of his moobs in response, saying she didn’t have anything underneath her top, to which another member of the audience yelled “That’s what they all say!”. That member of the audience would later meet Alexis with me afterwards where they had a laugh.

Then Lacuna Coil hit the stage, and by God they were awesome! We were treated to some old classics like Enjoy the Silence and Swamped, as well as recent songs Spellbound and Wide Awake, and songs off their upcoming album Dark Adrenaline like Trip the Darkness and Kill the Light, it was a great blend of entertaining music. And there is one thing that happens when a band truly rocks:

They blew the stage.

Oh yeah! They literally blew the stage! Okay not literally. During the song Daylight Dancer, the power blew out. You know a band is awesome when it does that! I’ve now seen Alkaline Trio (at the Roadmender aswell), Avenged Sevenfold, Hellyeah and Stone Sour before this event, and none of them had done that before. Of course the audience, including myself, started joking that Lacuna Coil was too much for the Roadmender stage.

But it did mean that there was an unexpected interval whilst they sorted out the power, which meant less stage time for the ever beautiful Cristina Scabbia and her amazing voice. With the fire alarm going off as well, no-one had any idea what to do; the band didn’t know what to do, the audience didn’t know what to do, the people working at the Roadmender didn’t know what to do. The audience were hesitant to leave, especially those at the front as they feared losing their place.

But eventually Lacuna Coil hit the stage again, and they were absolutely fantastic. I don’t know if Lacuna Coil met up with the audience after the event because I left before the surge of people towards the door, though in all fairness I should have asked someone, now I feel I’ve wasted an opportunity. And it turned out that this was their second performance in Northampton, having done one the previous year.

And you know what? If I get to see Cristina Scabbia again I will go see them again! With a better camera!