Killing Joke, Death Valley High. The Limelight Belfast (31.10.16)
Going by the amount of gigs I've attended over the years, you'd think it was about time I'd learned the valuable lesson, that the majority of these gigs will not live up to my expectations. But sometimes (on very rare occasions) they do, and will actually transcend them. So I imagine that's what keeps me sort of interested these days, and still going back for more. Tonight though, would certainly end up being put in the former category, rather than the latter.
We were strolling along Ormeau Avenue approaching the Limelight, a guy & girl passed us on the inside left, they then tried to enter the Limelight by the emergency / loading doors, which were both locked. At first I didn't recognise who the guy wearing the horrific sky blue plastic pac-a-mac, with a bum bag around his waist ensemble was. Then I spotted the short bleached dreads peaking out from below the visor he had on his head, I instantly knew it was Martin 'Youth' Glover, the record producer & bass player from Killing Joke. I didn't have a camera or a pen handy, so I said nothing and just made my way into the venue behind them, though through the actual entrance this time, I might add.
This was an early start Halloween show, and unsurprisingly at 18:45 the place was far from full, but not empty. 'Death Valley High' (who I was looking forward to checking out) took to the stage with their horror movie dialogue backing tapes playing at approx 19:00, and it was immediately apparent that their vocal sound mix was far from perfect. This tech gremlin dogged them until the end of their set, 30 minutes or so later. They battled hard to win over an impassive audience, with their unfamiliar (to these shores) electro goth rock originals, and old school Marilyn Manson / Nine Inch Nails visuals, but to no avail. The disappointment and frustration was written all over the band members faces by their last tune, I was familiar with some of the songs, and I thought they were decent. In the right circumstances, and with a clued up audience there is no doubt in my mind that they would put on a good show. But this is Belfast 2016 style, and the older gig going punters (unlike in Dublin) are no longer as open minded to new bands and their music (local or international) as they once were.
As soon as their last chord was struck, Death Valley High didn't even get a chance to catch their breath, because of the Limelight's special early evening restrictions for tonight's show. They had to promptly remove all their gear from the stage, and then stack it at speed on the footpath in the street outside, before humping it all again down to their parked up van & trailer a couple of hundred yards away. This was to facilitate Killing Joke, who were also under the gun timewise. Their road crew had to quickly prepare the stage for the headliners, with very little change over time between both bands, and there wasn't even a backdrop.
When Killing Joke's eerie chanting intro tape started, I was up to this point genuinely expecting the band to take this show by the scuff, and really go for it. If only because of the 13 year gap since their previous one and only visit to Belfast, jeez! I think we deserved it. Unfortunately an uninspiring version of The Hum kicked off the proceedings, and I can honestly say here and now that I only saw the devil twinkle in Jaz's eyes twice, first time appropriately it was during Exorcisim, and then again during Pandemonium.
Jaz actually performed the whole show wearing a long black coat, and without breaking a sweat. Accompanied by minimal on-stage movement, that kind of said it all.
Yes! Killing Joke were reasonably tight (but were also pretty loose at times), highlights for me were Eighties, Pssyche, European Superstate (more just for the song , rather than this performance) & I'am The Virus, though so many of their songs that I love were missing. But then again with such an extensive back catalogue, it's obviously impossible to please everybody, and I absolutely accept that. Getting older (yeah! whats new, we all are), and the return of the now chilled out hippyesque 'Youth' seems to be softening the bands once over-whelming live menace and aggression. Going by tonight's performance the congenial original line up were for me noticeably unlike the angry & assertive take no prisoners outfit with the late Paul Raven RIP on bass, who destroyed this very same venue back in 2003.
The vocals / sound mix was pretty much crap for both bands, and the strict curfew messed up the Killing Joke set-list. Which meant planned encores including Empire Song & Wardance, were sacrificed for the literally hundreds of teenies waiting impatiently in the massive queue outside to gain entry into the venue for its cash cow Halloween club-night. Why Killing Joke couldn't re-arrange their set to suit the restrictions imposed, I don't know. Quite Disappointing!
The Limelight's money grabbing antics, did affect both bands in the end. And their security staff's over zealous mis-treatment of paying customers, moving people around like they were sheep towards the exit, then out of the venue the moment Killing Joke had left the stage, was nothing short of a disgrace.
Joe Donnelly Belfast 01.11.16.
We were strolling along Ormeau Avenue approaching the Limelight, a guy & girl passed us on the inside left, they then tried to enter the Limelight by the emergency / loading doors, which were both locked. At first I didn't recognise who the guy wearing the horrific sky blue plastic pac-a-mac, with a bum bag around his waist ensemble was. Then I spotted the short bleached dreads peaking out from below the visor he had on his head, I instantly knew it was Martin 'Youth' Glover, the record producer & bass player from Killing Joke. I didn't have a camera or a pen handy, so I said nothing and just made my way into the venue behind them, though through the actual entrance this time, I might add.
This was an early start Halloween show, and unsurprisingly at 18:45 the place was far from full, but not empty. 'Death Valley High' (who I was looking forward to checking out) took to the stage with their horror movie dialogue backing tapes playing at approx 19:00, and it was immediately apparent that their vocal sound mix was far from perfect. This tech gremlin dogged them until the end of their set, 30 minutes or so later. They battled hard to win over an impassive audience, with their unfamiliar (to these shores) electro goth rock originals, and old school Marilyn Manson / Nine Inch Nails visuals, but to no avail. The disappointment and frustration was written all over the band members faces by their last tune, I was familiar with some of the songs, and I thought they were decent. In the right circumstances, and with a clued up audience there is no doubt in my mind that they would put on a good show. But this is Belfast 2016 style, and the older gig going punters (unlike in Dublin) are no longer as open minded to new bands and their music (local or international) as they once were.
As soon as their last chord was struck, Death Valley High didn't even get a chance to catch their breath, because of the Limelight's special early evening restrictions for tonight's show. They had to promptly remove all their gear from the stage, and then stack it at speed on the footpath in the street outside, before humping it all again down to their parked up van & trailer a couple of hundred yards away. This was to facilitate Killing Joke, who were also under the gun timewise. Their road crew had to quickly prepare the stage for the headliners, with very little change over time between both bands, and there wasn't even a backdrop.
When Killing Joke's eerie chanting intro tape started, I was up to this point genuinely expecting the band to take this show by the scuff, and really go for it. If only because of the 13 year gap since their previous one and only visit to Belfast, jeez! I think we deserved it. Unfortunately an uninspiring version of The Hum kicked off the proceedings, and I can honestly say here and now that I only saw the devil twinkle in Jaz's eyes twice, first time appropriately it was during Exorcisim, and then again during Pandemonium.
Jaz actually performed the whole show wearing a long black coat, and without breaking a sweat. Accompanied by minimal on-stage movement, that kind of said it all.
Yes! Killing Joke were reasonably tight (but were also pretty loose at times), highlights for me were Eighties, Pssyche, European Superstate (more just for the song , rather than this performance) & I'am The Virus, though so many of their songs that I love were missing. But then again with such an extensive back catalogue, it's obviously impossible to please everybody, and I absolutely accept that. Getting older (yeah! whats new, we all are), and the return of the now chilled out hippyesque 'Youth' seems to be softening the bands once over-whelming live menace and aggression. Going by tonight's performance the congenial original line up were for me noticeably unlike the angry & assertive take no prisoners outfit with the late Paul Raven RIP on bass, who destroyed this very same venue back in 2003.
The vocals / sound mix was pretty much crap for both bands, and the strict curfew messed up the Killing Joke set-list. Which meant planned encores including Empire Song & Wardance, were sacrificed for the literally hundreds of teenies waiting impatiently in the massive queue outside to gain entry into the venue for its cash cow Halloween club-night. Why Killing Joke couldn't re-arrange their set to suit the restrictions imposed, I don't know. Quite Disappointing!
The Limelight's money grabbing antics, did affect both bands in the end. And their security staff's over zealous mis-treatment of paying customers, moving people around like they were sheep towards the exit, then out of the venue the moment Killing Joke had left the stage, was nothing short of a disgrace.
Joe Donnelly Belfast 01.11.16.