Papa Roach - 28.5.01 - Manchester Apollo
Its on a night like this that you really understand the rock ethics. You can only understand it if you're down the front feeling it to the max. The pit is where the congregation goes to worship the preacher of the day. Tonight that honour goes to Reverend Coby Dick - chief ambassador for Nu-Metal, sports metal or whatever tag the media wish to adorn him with. The moral of todays tale is that "honesty is not always the best policy". Perhaps a little easy to spit out but when the media survives on soundbites "wetting your bed in your teenage years" is not the best thing to admit to a eager young journalist.
But when Coby hits that stage the people understand his pain. "The Last Resort" perhaps the only suicide song of recent history to hit the top five. Its either a depressing statement about the mindset of todays youth or its simply a banging rock tune and I'd place my bets that its somewhere in between. While there may be a few audience members tonight that really identify with divorce, binge drinking and suicide there will be several more who are here simply cos "Papa Roach are like way cool, man". Sometimes you crave for the old days of rock when it was more underground and a little more alternative. There must be some older members of the audience here tonight that are in total shock at the tweenagers in Slipknot and Korn tops.
After what was a disappointing show at the Academy earlier in the year its good to see that the guys have got their shit together. While at times "Infest" can seem a little one-dimensional when taken to the arena's it really works cohesively. The album worked through one by one with a cover from Faith No More and the reggae stylings thrown in the melting pot you really start to find out what the band are about. When the crowd are told to "bounce on the heads of the person you hate" there a tremendous sense of relief as you mosh to the pounding bass lines.
Papa Roach - cheaper than therapy and a hell of a lot more enjoyable. Who needs those Prozac pain killers when you have Coby Dick and his merry men. Take once daily and as required until the next time.
Alex McCann