Madina Lake

After winning a lump sum of money on the TV reality show Fear Factor, twins, Matthew and Nathan embarked on their career as four-piece band, Madina Lake. They invested their winnings in recording their first studio album, buying a tour van, and buying reliable equipment to last, whilst they tour. The emo, post hardcore quartet gained quite a following over the years especially with their album, “From Them, Through Us, To You”.
The house lights dim, after a blindingly awesome set from support act, Halifax. It is a cold winters night at the O2 Academy in Birmingham. As the house lights dim, the crowd cheers louder, and louder. Their album opening electro orchestral piece “The Auspice” plays louder and louder setting the pace for what is going to be an incredible electric set from Madina Lake. They take to the stage one by one, before going into their song “Here I Stand”, as the beat drops, the whole room is jumping up and down to the beat, and there is a burst of a mosh pit in the centre of the room. There are some fantastic melodic sing-alongs with the audience to this opening track. There’s a moment that you realize as an audience member with a hoarse voice that this band wrote and entire album of hits with more hooks than a pirate convention. The hook of “One Last Kiss” is so big it could probably catch a great white shark. Despite their success, the Leone brothers remain humble, throughout the set, being continuously thankful to the audience for being so responsive, and singing along to nearly every word of every song.