Silent Planet – Club Academy 25th January Review.

So we are nearly a month into 2025 and this was the first gig that I have attended and it was back at Club Academy, a venue that will always be hit and miss. Silent Planet was bringing their tour to Manchester joined by support acts: AVOID, VEXED , and Like Moth To Flame presented by Tapestry Promotions.

This is going to be a very interesting review to write as we are now four days after the show, and I have to admit I am only just starting to remember some sections of the night (more on that later).

Before I get into the review, Silent Planet is an American-based metalcore band formed in 2009. They are comprised of Garrett Russell, Alex Camarena, Thomas Freckleton & Mitchell Stark. The tour is the album tour for 2023’s Superbloom.

Kicking on the evening was Seattle based AVOID. They came out to huge applause and also immediately had the crowd opening up the pits and crowd surfing their way to the front of the venue. These guys were new to me but the crowd’s love of this band is easily justifiable.

They were able to bring an energy to the smaller venue that I have seen some bands struggle to do with bigger crowds in venues like O2 Ritz. The set featured their latest new single Burn and If It Hurts which at the time of the gig had only been released a day earlier.

They were able to get the crowd behind them and delivered on their promises of a heavy set and I am hoping it won’t be long before we get to see them back in Manchester.

Following on from them was VEXED. The only English band on the set and they didn’t let us down. Megan Targett’s vocal ability was some of the best I have ever gotten to see live and her screams rival male singers in the genre (If not doing it better).

Opening track Anti-Fetish was my personal favourite of the 7 song set building up the presence of each band member until immediately dialling it up to 11 with the vocals. Its refreshing to get to see a lot more female led metalcore bands on the tour circuit in the last year and they are constantly outdoing themselves every single time.

The energy didn’t slow down from AVOID for one minute and I pity and envy anyone in the pits for this show as they were most likely completely worn out and we were only half way through.

Now I have to admit this is where my memory starts to fail me for the evening. Next up was Like Moth To Flames. The nine song set opened up with Habitual Decline. If I thought the gig was rough then Manchester proved they could be even more brutal to the point the barrier was visibly shaking at times when the crowd jumped up and down.

You’ll Burn is where things took a bit of a turn and is where my mini rant will begin. We all know and love to hate Showsec and they’ve done it again. The crowd had been surfing since the first band which would hopefully make you think they would be on top of it with keeping an eye out. This couldn’t be further from the case.

During the song, they were not paying close enough attention to ensure the safety of the audience of the show and failed to notice a crowd surfer coming towards barrier. The lack of noticing this was the ultimate factor which led to the same man being dropped over the barrier onto my head.

It was from this moment that I suffered a slight concussion and was very much so out of it for the remainder of the evening and my memory isn’t the best. I don’t blame the band or the venue itself as it wasn’t there faults but it is another reminder of Showsec once again not having enough staff at these shows to ensure that safety of people attending the show was always being maintained.

This leads on to Silent Planet. I’m really upset that I can’t remember all of this show as they are a band that I have wanted to see live for a long time leading up to this show. I feel lie it would be unfair of me to give their set a proper review as what I do remember is too fragmented so I’m going to instead leave my thoughts on what I do remember.

Garrett coming out wearing no shoes or socks was definitely a choice but I have so much respect for it and provided for one of the funniest double takes I have ever had at a gig.

Offworlder & Collider were amazing to hear live and really show the potential that the band have going forward and proved that they could easily perform bigger shows and would deserve to get to do so.

I finally got to hear Trilogy which being the song that got me into the band was a great feeling and was incredible to get to watch be performed.

My fingers are crossed that these guys get booked to play at Download as I really want to get the opportunity to see these guys perform live again (Hopefully not concussed this time). It certainly has kicked off 2025 with not only a great gig but one that I will ironically remember for a very long time.