So last Tuesday I had the pleasure of seeing Combichrist live. You wouldn't think that an RnB club would be a suitable venue for a band that classifies themselves as elctro-industrial, but that night, it was the perfect venue for them.
Combichrist - The Robin 2, Bilston. 26.05.2009
First of the many support acts was DeviantUK. Now, I don't mind them, I think they're a good band, but there was nothing very special about thier performance. Maybe it was because they did a better job during the Legion:Gothica event at Eddies from earlier this year. They just don't really feel like the type of band to warm up a crowd, though they still put on a decent show.
Next up, Uberbyte. There was much better crowd interaction this time round, and even some comical moments (the lead singer decided that "Bilston" didn't sound rock enough, so he called us "Cleveland", amongst other locales. But that's something you probably had to be there for.) The transition between male and female vocalists interested me, and they did a fine job, even if there were a few technical issues to begin with. Thier style and attitude went down quite well, a pretty good warm up job then. Oh, and did I mention that they were cosplaying D-Gray Man? Extra brownie points from me for that one!
The final support of the night was Aesthetic Perfection. They had a much heavier style than the other bands, which fitted in with the Combichrist style perfectly. It was an excellent performance from this act. I have to say, this was my favourite of all the supports, but then AP were the last support on, and the atmosphere had been set by then, so maybe that's an unfair judgement.
Finally, the main act, Combichrist, who put on an incredible set, throwing out tracks at a blisteringly amazing pace. It was non-stop action all the way through, they litteraly threw the crowd into a frenzy of raving/dancing/whatever you like to call it. Crowd interaction was spot on. They played tracks from thier latest album, Today We Are All Demons to thier greatest hits so far, with perfect pacing and execution. Highlight tracks of the night were deffinitely Electrohead, Sent to Destroy, I want Your Blood, and, the end of the main set; Shut up and Swallow. Then the encore tracks This Shit Will Fuck You Up (with the lead singer getting the entire crowd chanting the lyrics, which is the origin on this blog title) and What the Fuck is Wrong With You were a perfect climax for the night.
Overall, a fantastic gig, which actually suprised me. I knew Combichrist would put on a decent show, but I never expected it to be this good! The slew of great support acts really helped too, and made it well worth the money (girugämesh could learn a lot from this.) This was deffinitely one of the best gigs of 2009 so far.
Showing posts with label may. Show all posts
Showing posts with label may. Show all posts
Monday, 1 June 2009
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
"There's a pileup of lesbians on the motorway!"
I'm really no good at updating this blog am I? I was supposed to update this quite a while back now, but due being so stupidly busy (and having stupidly late nights) the past week or so, I haven't got round to it. So now, here's a rundown of when I went to London... over a week ago. I'll get to the subject of the blog title in a bit.
So yes, on 16th May I buggered off to London with some mates to see a j-rock band called girugämesh. First though, and the most obvious stop for me in London, was a quick trip to Camden Town. Now, if you're into rock or alternative styles, then Camden is the place for you. Peronally, it's my favourite part of London, there's so much to see and buy. My wallet now weeps. Naturally, we made a stop into a shop Called Sai Sai. It sells clothes based on the Visual Kei style, a form of Japanese music, blended with a unique fashion style (that's sort of gothy, and heavy on image.) Needless to say, I spent a ton there. They also have a shop over the road from there, the name of which escapes me now, but check them out if you're into that kind of thing!
After a quick drink, we headed to Cyberdog. It's more heavily based around fashion relating to EBM music, Cyber Goth and raving, butI'd deffinitely recommend a visit purely for the experience. As you walk in, there's two suspended platforms with two dancers dancing in them. An escolator trip downstairs, and it might as well be a nightclub that sells clothes/fashion accessories, seriously! UV lighting is used throughout, giving it a high atmopshere, and there's EBM music blasting out the speakers, with a DJ plahing the tracks. Did I mention there's a few pannels that light up behind them? It's brilliant! The prices were a bit ott though, so we left without purchasing much.
The gig was slowly approaching, so we decided to get some food and have a quick chill out. We found an excellent Chinese Cafe, which I can't remember the name of, which is a shame, as I'd highly recommend it. I had a really nice cocktail that had about three types of alcohol in it, and strawberry. And we all shared a few courses. If you're ever in Camden, it's just past the main market, heading away from the underground station. After paying, we headed to the gig.
girugämesh - Islington Academy, London. 16.05.2009
We made it in good time, a few minutes after we arrived, the band came on. There was no support, or any of that nonsense, so it ws straight to the action! We were quite far back, but it was a smallish venue, so that was fair enough.
It has to be said, they put on an excellent show! The crowd was intense, they were going absolutely mental! The band really kept the crowd going, and the action only slowed down during the slower, more melodic songs. For some reason, they played a few of these slower songs later on, which seemed a tad random, surely mixing the setlist up a bit would have worked better? There were a mix of tracks ranging from thier newer material, to a few older ones. Even if things got a little sluggish, they still had the majority of the crowd under thier control.
However, there was one huge problem, the gig finished way to early. They arrived on stage sometime after 7, and the set ended abnormally early, just before 8.30. They could have easily squeezed in about 4/5 more tracks, and that would have been prerfect. The crew spent a while setting up for the encore too... which ended up being a mere one song. Don't get me wrong, it was still a great show, just at a ticket price of £20, you'd expect a tad more for your money.
Setist
INTRO
Break Down
ULTIMATE
FREAKS
Angry Juice
ALIVE
CRAZY-FLAG
Dance Rock Night
Shadan
Enishi
Crime -tsumi
Gamble
DEAD WORLD
puzzleishtar
Patchwork
Vermillion
Smash!!
evolution
--------------
shining
Ross Noble - Things. Birmingham Hippodrome 24.05.2009
If you know Ross Noble, then the reason for the blog title is clear, he is completely out of his mind, but in a hilariously good way! This is easily one of his best tours, he had a lot of great material to work with, all executed in Ross Noble perfection; he had evryone in stiches, me included. There's way too many things (no pun intended) to list that he covered, but trust me, it was all fantastic. It was great to hear he now has a daughter (and all the hilarious shenanigans to do with looking after her), so conradulations to him and his wife! Sadly, his house burnt down, but, as he put it, he's now "techincally married to a homeless person", so at least he could joke about it. Fair play to the man. If you're seeing him on tour at any point, you're in for a treat! If not, then just get the Things DVD when it's eventually released. It's worth it, trust me.
So yes, on 16th May I buggered off to London with some mates to see a j-rock band called girugämesh. First though, and the most obvious stop for me in London, was a quick trip to Camden Town. Now, if you're into rock or alternative styles, then Camden is the place for you. Peronally, it's my favourite part of London, there's so much to see and buy. My wallet now weeps. Naturally, we made a stop into a shop Called Sai Sai. It sells clothes based on the Visual Kei style, a form of Japanese music, blended with a unique fashion style (that's sort of gothy, and heavy on image.) Needless to say, I spent a ton there. They also have a shop over the road from there, the name of which escapes me now, but check them out if you're into that kind of thing!
After a quick drink, we headed to Cyberdog. It's more heavily based around fashion relating to EBM music, Cyber Goth and raving, butI'd deffinitely recommend a visit purely for the experience. As you walk in, there's two suspended platforms with two dancers dancing in them. An escolator trip downstairs, and it might as well be a nightclub that sells clothes/fashion accessories, seriously! UV lighting is used throughout, giving it a high atmopshere, and there's EBM music blasting out the speakers, with a DJ plahing the tracks. Did I mention there's a few pannels that light up behind them? It's brilliant! The prices were a bit ott though, so we left without purchasing much.
The gig was slowly approaching, so we decided to get some food and have a quick chill out. We found an excellent Chinese Cafe, which I can't remember the name of, which is a shame, as I'd highly recommend it. I had a really nice cocktail that had about three types of alcohol in it, and strawberry. And we all shared a few courses. If you're ever in Camden, it's just past the main market, heading away from the underground station. After paying, we headed to the gig.
girugämesh - Islington Academy, London. 16.05.2009
We made it in good time, a few minutes after we arrived, the band came on. There was no support, or any of that nonsense, so it ws straight to the action! We were quite far back, but it was a smallish venue, so that was fair enough.
It has to be said, they put on an excellent show! The crowd was intense, they were going absolutely mental! The band really kept the crowd going, and the action only slowed down during the slower, more melodic songs. For some reason, they played a few of these slower songs later on, which seemed a tad random, surely mixing the setlist up a bit would have worked better? There were a mix of tracks ranging from thier newer material, to a few older ones. Even if things got a little sluggish, they still had the majority of the crowd under thier control.
However, there was one huge problem, the gig finished way to early. They arrived on stage sometime after 7, and the set ended abnormally early, just before 8.30. They could have easily squeezed in about 4/5 more tracks, and that would have been prerfect. The crew spent a while setting up for the encore too... which ended up being a mere one song. Don't get me wrong, it was still a great show, just at a ticket price of £20, you'd expect a tad more for your money.
Setist
INTRO
Break Down
ULTIMATE
FREAKS
Angry Juice
ALIVE
CRAZY-FLAG
Dance Rock Night
Shadan
Enishi
Crime -tsumi
Gamble
DEAD WORLD
puzzleishtar
Patchwork
Vermillion
Smash!!
evolution
--------------
shining
Ross Noble - Things. Birmingham Hippodrome 24.05.2009
If you know Ross Noble, then the reason for the blog title is clear, he is completely out of his mind, but in a hilariously good way! This is easily one of his best tours, he had a lot of great material to work with, all executed in Ross Noble perfection; he had evryone in stiches, me included. There's way too many things (no pun intended) to list that he covered, but trust me, it was all fantastic. It was great to hear he now has a daughter (and all the hilarious shenanigans to do with looking after her), so conradulations to him and his wife! Sadly, his house burnt down, but, as he put it, he's now "techincally married to a homeless person", so at least he could joke about it. Fair play to the man. If you're seeing him on tour at any point, you're in for a treat! If not, then just get the Things DVD when it's eventually released. It's worth it, trust me.
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