Music > Live Reviews

Funeral For A Friend - Dashboard Confessional

The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

14/10/23

On what was an incredibly stormy night, Funeral For A Friend celebrated twenty years (to the day) of their debut album

Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation with a powerful, joyous performance driven by two decades of yearning to be understood.

Funeral… had brought some friends along for the ride and opening up were The Nightmares. Hailing from Newport, South Wales they took to the stage with a sense of confidence and belief in their abilities. And with songs as brilliant as ‘Heartess’ they are absolutely ones to watch.

Playing on the full tour and second on the bill were undoubtedly the biggest Emo legends in existence. Chris Carrabba and his Dashboard Confessional songs are the staple diet of any Emotional playlist. From the off it was a full on, sing-a-long set as they opened with ‘Don’t Wait’ then continued to race through their catalogue.

‘Screaming Infidelities’ ‘Vindicated’ and set closer ‘Hands Down’ were an absolute triumph. Fans screaming along like the high school students they once were, singing every line and reaching every note as the band smiled in approval. The longevity of Dashboard is based on their ability to make their audience feel as if they are being listened to as much as being performed in front of. Long may they reign.

Headline act Welsh Post-Hardcore heroes Funeral For A Friend took us on a nostalgic yet extremely fresh journey through their aforementioned debut album. The format was simple, play the songs from the record in order, however it didn’t feel trivial and each track exploded into life.

It was clear very early on that lead singer Matthew Davies-Kreye was struggling with his voice. Unable to reach the high notes, he confessed early on that his vocal cords weren’t in the best of shape. This only seemed to galvanise the fans who sang every single word for him. Fair play to Matthew for performing, others might have cancelled especially given they have a huge homecoming gig 24hrs later.

Highlights of the album set were the big hitters ‘Juneau’ ‘Rookie Of The Year’ and ‘She Drove Me To Daytime Television’ along with a truly stunning version of ‘Storytelling’

It was a powerful, epic journey through an album that has stood the test of time and still remains true and honest.

Davies-Kreye spoke passionately about inequality and how we should all get along no matter our differences be they political or otherwise. This sparked an argument between two folks stood behind me, they seemed to settle their differences with apologies pretty quickly though and that’s all we can really ask for these days.

The album set closed with ‘Novella’ each band member leaving the stage individually, slowly bringing the song and album to a stop. This worked really well as we got to appreciate each musician and their craft.

We’re then treated to a five-star, five song encore with three of the songs taken from the bands other huge album ‘hours’

The sold-out crowd were equally as appreciative of these tracks as much as the ones that came before ‘Streetcar’ saw the headbangers down the front fully engaged whilst those further back nodded along in appreciation and approval.

To close was a 1-2 punch of ‘Roses for the Dead’ and ‘History’ the latter seeing every single person in the room raising their fingers for one last salute. What the future holds for the band is anyone’s guess, but they can always rely on their solid back catalogue and army of reverent fans to keep their hearts and status high. Norwich salutes you.