Review: The Banner - Kingston Fighting Cocks - 29/10/08

Its been a two year wait, but The Banner have finally made it back to the UK. Tonight's stop is The Fighting Cocks in Kingston, a small 80 capacity room at the back of a pub. It's small, intimate and the perfect place for a hardcore show.

As soon as The Banner hit the stage with 'Venom and Hope', the New Jersey five piece give it their all. Spending most of the time of their set performing in the crowd, the hardcore kids get completely into it. Despite the fact Joey's voice is going and has busted his lip on the microphone, this doesn't stop him for putting on an incredible live set. We hear a mixture of tracks for all their records, to hear new track 'The Wolf' live is something everyone needs to see for themselves. After a short 25-30 minute set, the band close the set by telling the crowd, 'if you like what you hear, message us and we'll send you all of our albums for free' when launching into 'Funerals'.

The Banner are possibly one of the best hardcore punk bands going. They are not making music to make money or be the biggest band in the world. They are not trying to be huge rock stars, its their life. New Jersey hardcore doesn't get any better then this.