The next band was Gallows: I’ve seen them live twice before – at Taste of Chaos in 2008, when I knew nothing about them and was impressed by their combative energy, and at Soundwave in 2010, (now a fan) where I spent their ferocious, uncompromising set in the eddies of a turbulent moshpit.

However, those shows were led by Frank Carter, whose frayed-wire charisma was the best thing about the band. Since then, he’d been replaced by Alexisonfire’s Wade MacNeil and I was …skeptical that anyone could match up to Frank’s long shadow.

Their surprisingly short set had opener “Misery” as the only track from the excellent Grey Britain, while “Abandon Ship,” “In the Belly of a Shark” and “Orchestra of Wolves” appeared from Orchestra of Wolves. The rest of the set were newer tracks, which were …fine, although I did really enjoy the short-lived hardcore onslaught of “True Colours.”

MacNeil, all enthusiastic gusto, did a solid job on approaching Carter’s growling fury on the older tracks. I did get goosebumps during “Orchestra of Wolves,” a song that’s basically impossible to fuck up. But his rant about songwriting felt off, given it came before belting out two songs he hadn’t written.

Read about Sleeping with Sirens/Cypress Hill here.