May 18, 2007 4:07

Gallows open Great Escape with controversial show

Meanwhile Foals pay tribute to Gwen Stefani

Photo Gallery: Gallows
Photo: Tim Cochrane

Gallows opened Brighton festival The Great Escape tonight (May 17) in controversial style.

Guitarist Steph Carter was forced to leave the stage early on during their Club NME set at the Komedia venue.

His brother and vocalist Frank told the crowd his “head was sliced open from his own guitar”.

The guitarist left the stage, visibly bleeding, after the first song 'In The Belly Of A Shark'. He then returned, only to be seen to by someone who attended to his head on stage.

Carter also dedicated a song to NME's James Jam, and gave a shout out to Australian band The Scare, calling them “crazy Aussies”.

Earlier on, Foals paid tribute to Gwen Stefani with bassist Walter Gervers singing “This shit is bananas- B-A-N-A-N-A-S,” a line from Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl'.

The biggest cheer of the evening came about for the song 'Hummer', which singer Yannis Philippakis introduced by saying: "You might have heard of it. It's been a MySpace success."

The Great Escape is set to continue tomorrow night (May 18), with coverage, including NME.COM's special live blog, coming straight from the south coast.

Still not seen Gallows live? Wondering what all the fuss is about? Keep visiting NME.COM, in the coming weeks we'll be presenting the whole of the Club NME gig from The Great Escape on May 17.