Almost a month ago (where did time go, go wonder), I realised that I had lost one of my insoles. As the old lady I am, I have to wear these bad boys in my shoes and if I don't, I have horrible back pain, ankle pain and knee pain. So, for a month, I looked for them, wore my Dr Martens boots (aka the only shoes I can wear without these little things) and suffered from pain so intense I could barely get dressed and wanted to throw up. Yes, that kind of pain. I dragged myself to a podiatrist who informed me that it would cost me £300 to replace the insoles, and I had only one solution in front of me : going back to France to sort the issue home.

As they take several days to be made, I had a look to see if any bands were playing, and to my delight, I found out that Crossfaith were gracing Paris with their presence.

I discovered Crossfaith in 2012 when I went to my very first Hit the Deck Festival, in Nottingham. I remember wanting to watch the likes of Kids in Glass Houses, Deaf Havana or The Summer Set, and my friend, who had checked out every single band on the line up, told me about Crossfaith because they were a "Japanese metal band". It seemed unusual enough, so we headed to Stealth (if I'm not mistaken) and I was positively blown away. Since then, I had seen them at various festivals, including the very first edition of Paris' Damage Festival, in the Trabendo, the venue the Japanese outfit were set to headline all by themselves.

Thanks to a very kind and loving RER A train that decided to randomly stop in the middle of the line, I arrived slightly late for openers The One Hundred. I had heard a lot about them, mostly thanks to my friend Abbie, (Yes, this is another case of "my friend likes them so I was interested"), but I had yet to check them out. 

You know how, when I wrote about Parkway Drive destroying Paris, I mentioned we were a tough crowd and we usually have two default options, 

a) not turning up, 

b) looking like we'd rather have our eyeballs taken out with a teaspoon? 

It seems that now, we have a third one.

c) actually enjoying watching live music and getting involved with support bands.

A shout out is needed because I was so surprised by the crowd I stopped dead for a second in a "what the fuck just happened?" fashion. This is Paris we are talking about. Cold, judgemental Paris. Not "we're totally going to crowdsurf, stagedive and spontaneously open this shit up for the support" Paris. You can easily imagine my surprise at how incredible that crowd was.

Their awesomeness was, of course, met by the band on stage. The One Hundred are still in the small band phase, with sheer enthusiasm sweating through every note they play, and you will have noticed by now, this is something that hugely appeals to me. I like it when bands look happy to be on stage, don't take the chance for granted, and the London based outfit ticks all these boxes.

They also tick the musical quality boxes in style. It is obvious why they have been chosen to support Crossfaith, for their two styles get along like a house on fire. They are energetic, every single song is catchy and makes me do a horrible dad dance from the top of my stair, frontman Jacob Field is super charismatic and runs about the place whilst still sounding brilliant, the rest of the guys interact with the crowd... The One Hundred are everything you could want from a support band and more, and considering the crowd's enthusiasm and participation, it was hard to believe it was their first time in mainland Europe. It is fairly obvious that thanks to their catchy hooks and high quality live performance, the Londoners will go far, and yes, you have guessed it, I am so totally sticking around to have a terrible dad dance. 

It is about nine o'clock and it is now time for the headliners, Crossfaith. heading straight from Osaka, Japan. The least you can say is that they know how to make an entrance on stage - voiceover telling you when the show is starting, catchy music playing through the venue speakers, members getting on stage one by one... No wonder why the crowd adoringly cheers from the get go. 

And also starts moshpits and circle pits and walls of death from the get go. When frontman Kenta Koie asks the crowd to burn the place down, you almost wonder if it is going to happen for real. And why not, after all. This entire show is crazy from start to finish.

I could say Crossfaith are intense, but it doesn't seem like the right word. They are one of these bands who give a hundred percent of what they have as soon as they walk on a stage, and come to think of it, they might even give more than a hundred percent. They want the crowd to set the venue on fire, but they are on fire themselves already. Keyboardist Terufumi Tamano is unstoppable, climbing on his tables and stands and occasionally crowdsurfing, because why the hell not, after all. He might be standing at the back of the stage but his presence is so noticeable and important that he almost is a second frontman. Let's be honest, at times, it feels like this band has five frontmen. 

Crossfaith might strike anyone as a party orientated band, thanks to their electronic sound and tracks such as the well-known Jägerbomb, which speaks to me on a spiritual level, but we should never overlook how utterly talented they all are. First, no one should ever refuse to acknowledge the talent it obviously takes to write such an endless collection of catchy songs, and second, they have brilliant musicians. One of the set's biggest attractions is drummer Tatsuya Amano's solo to start the encore - five minutes of pure bliss and incomprehension on my highly uncoordinated part. (I am one of these people who can barely walk five minutes without tripping or falling over, how do people produce moments like these with a drum kit?) Completed by the impeccable performance of guitarist Kazuki Takemura and bassist Hiroki Ikegawa, Crossfaith show they are a stupidly, perfectly talented band. There is just talent everywhere. Not just Jägerbombs. (Even though there is nothing wrong with a Jägerbomb overload, you know)

They are in Europe as we speak to promote their newest record, Xeno, and a good chunk of the setlist is extracted from it. Yes, this is literally just an excuse to say how much of a banger Wildfire (which studio version features Skindred's vocalist Benji Webbe) is, and it sounded ten times bigger live. I like it when bands can do this. It's a great thing to be able to make great tracks on record, but what makes them brilliant is often how you play them live. Crossfaith can do that effortlessly. Just watch the crowd go mental at the encore, composed of their cover of The Prodigy's Omen and their most famous song, Monolith, and you'll realise that this band can do big things.


The only thing I would recommend now is to give the Japanese a listen and get yourself to one of their shows if you like to be mindblown. Everyone does. You can also give a try to The One Hundred - considering their performance at the Trabendo, it doesn't sound like a bad idea either.
The evening was a complete success and yes, I'll make sure I catch The One Hundred at Slam Dunk, and yes, I cannot wait for Crossfaith to find their way back to Europe again.