Hundred Reasons are no strangers to the stage. With their first EP coming out in the dim, distant past of the year 2000, they’ve put in the hard graft and the tour bus-miles to be a polished act in front of a live audience, but for this final (ever?) live show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, they wanted to go out with a bang. They wanted to take it up a notch, and how do rock and metal bands accomplish that feat? They follow in the footsteps of Metallica and go classical. Not a full-throated orchestra, but the string section that joined Hundred Reasons for the middle part of their show added a whole new dimension to their music and made old songs new again.
Before Hundred Reasons took the stage, it was up to New York based four-piece Rival Schools to get the crowd warmed up, and while the audience was definitely more familiar with the headliners than the support act, Rival Schools did an admirable job of kicking things off with a slick and polished performance, which is impressive given the band’s penchant for going on hiatus for a decade or two. Their set list included almost all the singles the band has released over the years, and focused mainly on classics from their first two albums.
Hundred Reasons wasted no time when they hit the stage, opening with the title track of their latest album, ‘Glorious Sunset’, a particularly apt title for this final gig, before dipping into their back catalogue with the foot stomper that is ‘Answers’ from the band’s debut album. If we’re being brutally honest, a big, imposing venue like the Albert Hall is the kind of place that highlights every flaw in a vocalist’s performance. Colin’s vocals can sometimes be a little uneven in the softer parts of the songs, but when the man let rip for the chorus of ‘Answers’ his voice came alive and filled the hall with a confidence and power that showed he’s not lost a beat in the 25 years the band has been doing this.
Tearing through the first part of the set, the band then briefly bowed out to give the string section time to come and get set up and while it’s perhaps a little cliché these days when it seems every rock and metal band has tried out adding strings or brass, there’s no denying that it works. The addition of the strings made old songs new again, weaving seamlessly with the guitars, bass and vocals. Crowd pleasers like ‘I’ll Find You’ and ‘Silver’ found a whole new level, while slower tracks like ‘Oratorio’ and ‘Falter’ were all the richer and more poignant for this new addition, every song ably and enthusiastically assisted by a crowd who knew every word.
The band didn’t keep us waiting too long when it came time for their encore. No strings this time, just the band making sure that when they said goodbye it was going to be on a high, and the audience was there for it. By the time the band hit their penultimate song ‘No Way Back’ most of the seated audience were on their feet and down in the crowd there were crowd-surfers aplenty and even a circle pit.
While it’s a shame to say goodbye to Hundred Reasons, this was a hell of a way to bow out. So did they succeed? Did they burn out, rather than fading away? Did they leave us with a beautiful corpse? Hell yes.
