Funeral For A Friend, Duchess York, 11 February 2013

Walking into the Duchess on a Monday night is usually a quiet affair - there may be tens of people milling around the stage area, at best a small queue at the bar. Not so for Funeral For A Friend's resurgent gig, the venue was packed to the rafters. People had turned out in their hundreds to see Wales's finest hardcore band grace the stage, with support fit for an arena. And rightly so.

Still haunting ten years on.

'Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation' is one of the most seminal albums of the 00's, heralding a new age in the Valley hardcore scene. I remember queuing at Track Records to lay my paws on the album on the day of release, running to college and playing it non stop on the Walkman, the college stereo, anything that was capable of loud sound. Within the week a group of us were obsessed with the record, the soaring vocals, the anger, the noise, the quiet, the lyrics, everything about it, down to the artwork.

Standing in the crowds as the immediate punch of 'She Drove Me to Daytime Television' hits, it's hard to believe 10 years has passed since the debut landed and 13 since the band formed. It's timeless, the effects  no different now than a decade before. The crowd erupts, the moshing begins and all is well with the world once more.

Ffaffing around at the circus.

Make no mistake, Funeral For A Friend are a band in rich form, sounding better than ever before with a unity on stage that is palpable. Offering up a greatest hits setlist with lashings of the new album it's a great gig to be part of and equally brilliant is Matt Davies's insight into tracks, history, future. It's a rarity to be involved in a gig that looks back, looks forward, with all the intensity as first time round with circle pits a plenty. 

There is a poignancy within the gig, time marches on and it's clear it's taken its toll on the band personally but they stand on the stage survivors of the press, the publicity, the fame and the trappings. They're back and as the crowd sings 'History' into the night, it's clear Funeral For A Friend have an awesome future in front of them...the crowd, as ever, are at their feet waiting for the band's next move.