Review: Madina Lake at the Waterfront, Norwich

Madina Lake at the Waterfront, Norwich, 17/11/11 (support from The Super Happy Fun Club & My Passion)

Genre: Alternative rock/electro-rock/post-hardcore

Madina Lake make a triumphant, but rather ignored return to the UK almost 18 months after their last tour here. Kicking off with fellow Chicago natives The Super Happy Fun Club, the venue's only really half full. Which is a shame, really, because while the vocalist doesn't have much in the way of stage presence, their set is slick, polished and bloody good fun. Considering most of the crowd seemed to have no idea who TSHC are, they all got into the swing of things. Definitely a band to watch.

Next up are English electro-rockers My Passion. Plenty of screaming fan(girls) for them. Their set is heavy on material from their second album, which I'm personally not so keen on, but the energy levels rocketed, the crowd got moving and the venue actually seemed to be filling more. That said, their main vocalist has the strangest ability to irritate me without even trying – he just seems so very full of himself. But hey, the music's good and the crowd enjoyed it.

Audience suitably primed, Madina Lake took to the stage with all the energy they had on that last tour. It's so nice to see that – bassist Matthew Leone was severely assaulted last year and it's wonderful to see he's made such a great recovery. The crowd obviously agreed with me – this really was a triumphant return. Kicking off with Imagineer from the latest album, the set was non stop, rattling through a range of songs from all three albums. So, OK, Nathan Leone's vocals weren't great, but the energy and the atmosphere more than made up for it. And this time I managed to not to get stuck on the edge of a mosh pit. Happy times for me. Closing with the awesome Pandora, they left a thoroughly satisfied crowd, confident that Madina are back with a vengeance and a dogged determination to just keep going. All that said, it's such a shame that the Waterfront still wasn't full.

Madina Lake setlist:

Imagineer, Adalia, Never Take Us Alive, Let's Get Out Of Here, House Of Cards, Now Or Never, One Last Kiss, Howdy Neighbour!, Hey Superstar, Here I Stand, Welcome To Oblivion, They're Coming For Me, True Love, Me Vs The World, Pandora (encore)