Killing Joke last ruled the roost last night.
The Ancienne Belgique is a good venue, a fact that becomes evident before you even reach the main hall. You can dump your belongings in a locker downstairs, so there’s no need to queue for a cloakroom ticket.
The various tour T-shirts were mostly sold out in my sizes, so that made the decision whether to buy one much easier. I have a wardrobe full of T-shirts, but it’s an old habit of mine to buy a shirt from each gig that I go to, just so long as the shirt lists the tour dates.
In the main hall, the support band were playing. It was some metal combo, but they were rather good. At the very least, they served to indicate that the venue had good sound.
The Joke took to the stage at 21:00, looking ready and in the mood. Without any ado, they launched into Requiem. The sound was crisp, clear and very, very loud. Around me, younger members of the audience, who weren’t even alive when this material was first released, hastily shoved yellow ear-plugs into their head. The youth of today…
The onslaught of the eponymous first album continued all the way through to Primitive. There were scarcely any gaps between the songs for the band to draw breath. The sound really thundered out of the PA, turning an unremarkable studio track like Bloodsport into an earth-trembling, chainsaw guitar wall of sound. You didn’t have to dance: the earth moved under your feet.
With no pause for thought, What’s THIS For…! continued the aural bombardment. Somewhere in the middle of it, Jaz announced “a change of plan”, at which point the band unexpectedly treated us to a stomping version of Eighties. I couldn’t tell you why, because it’s a track from several years later.
It was interesting to hear tracks that I’ve never heard live before, such as Madness and Who Told You How? And not just that, but also the fact that they were being played by exactly the same line-up that had originally recoded them.
During the encore, Jaz said a few words about dearly departed Paul Raven. He said that Paul would “always leave the band when the money ran out; like always!” and added, “But he would always come back if you waved more money at him.” Finally, he concluded “the world is a darker place for his loss”.
This was the prelude to another deviation from the period being aired tonight, as the band launched into what is perhaps their best known song, Love Like Blood.
Change was a particular highlight of the evening for me. I haven’t heard it sound so good since seeing the band in San Francisco a few years ago.
Needless to say, I’m looking forward to tonight’s gig, which will see the band fast-forward about thirteen years to the Pandemonium period. Apparently, that’s the band’s favourite album, but it’s also the album that Youth returned to the fold to record. Besides that, it’s one of my favourites, so it’s going to be a real treat to hear the entire album played live.
I’m not sure how to read this comment, and don’t take this personally, but… the youth of today is getting smarter. This from someone who is getting old enough to speak of the ‘youth of today’, as scary as that sounds, and who wears nice-sounding but very obviously sticking out earplugs to every concert. Unfortunately I learned a little too late, as evidenced by the consistent beep I hear in both ears.
The extreme effect can be seen in the movie “It’s all gone Pete Tong”, in which the protagonist realizes too late that he’s going deaf. It’s the extreme case, but from speaking to musicians it’s not unheard of. This article about acoustics in today’s concert halls and the need for ear plugs is also illuminating.
So, yeah… wear ’em while you still need ’em, dude. 🙂 There’s a reason the guys on stage have them in as well. They’re usually well concealed because they’re made using a mold of their ear, but they’re there.
On a medical level, I can’t argue with anything you say. Simply put, you’re right.
However, I’m a firm believer in If it’s too loud, you’re too old. In another words, if you want to stand at the front of a Killing Joke gig, prepare to have your ears bleed, not to mention the likelihood of flailing elbows in your ribs, the occasional head butt, etc. Otherwise, fuck off to the back of the hall.
I’m a few years older than you, so my ears don’t have to last as long as yours. It also depends on how many gigs you go to, of course, and what kind of bands you go to see.
I have reduced hearing in my right ear, due to many years of standing next to the speaker stack at the right side of the stage, which is where I needed to be to produce top-quality bootleg recordings.
Thanks to the vagaries of evolution, I’ve been equipped with two of these odd-looking appendages, so I’ve still got some mileage left.
To each his own. I don’t have any logical argument for sneering at people half my age wearing ear-plugs. It’s an emotional stance from someone of a different generation. Attempts to sanitise and render harmless the Killing Joke experience is to fundamentally fail to understand what you’re bearing witness to. It would be like wearing sunglasses at the cinema or wanking with a glove on.
As for the band, Paul Ferguson wore headphones last night, but that may have been to hear the complete sound, rather than block any of it. As for the others, I’d be surprised if they wore ear-plugs.