Hello,

A mere £23 to see two fairly influential bands in a relatively compact venue, you say? Alright then, you've twisted my arm...actually I have seen Wobble/Wardle, on a couple of memorable occasions when he reunited with his fellow ex-PiL partner-in-crime, Mr Keith Levene to play the LP 'Metal Box' and it was a fairly jaw-dropping experience both in terms of the musicianship and also the larger-than-life persona.

Anyway, this time Wobble and his latest incarnation of 'The Invaders' were hired to warm-up the almost-capacity crowd (c.1300 punters) for the headlining headbangers, Killing Joke. How many times have you been at a show and seen the venue packed-out for the support act? Pretty much a one-off I would guess, much like the object of our fascination, hah-hah! Wardle affected a Frankenstein/zombie stagger onto the stage to a massive cheer and allowed a tech to remove his milinery, place his bass around his neck and then replace his milinery, all the while stifling a smirk. He started playing right away and his band all flowed into 'Poptones'...wow!

One of the striking things about Wardle is how good a bandleader he is- a natural at interacting with the crowd (it helps having his past history of mayhem'n'learning, perhaps) and is terrific at encouraging and working with his band, who are all quite a bit younger than he is. The guitarist in particular came in for some comedy at times with his boss affecting some dance moves or trying to get them moving in sync a la Shadows: you could see the bloke visibly relax (he sounded like a young Levene btw!) and they were smiling away for the duration.

I had no clue as to what might be next and lo and behold, it was a take on the Harry J. Allstars classic, 'The Liquadator'. Sheer joy! About halfway through the number J.W. quietened things right down and said that we were to pretend that we were in the recording studio and then he called-out to the sound engineer, asking for some delay on the guitar, then reverb on the drums and so on, adding layers of sound until all that was missing was his bass: he then reckoned that while the guitar was obviously important, if he were to liken it to an animal it would be a meerkat, whereas the bass has no natural predators- it's the king of the jungle, hah-hah!

Then we were into an almost reggae-fied version of 'Public Image' with Wardle placing very great emphasis on the closing lines, "...my own creation..." etc.. So no chance of that reunuion with John Lydon just now, ahem. 'Fodderstompf' was another gem and with us going a bit potty for all this he then announced that he knew what we were thinking: although this was all ok, what we had come to hear was some jazz, and he could understand that, hah-hah! Then they played a terrific version of the 'Theme From Get Carter': I managed to stop grinning like an eejit just long enough to film a bit of it...

[www.youtube.com]

It was criminal that these guys only had 45 mins maximum- if I'm honest I would rather have them headline but no matter...it's just fantastic to see and hear them play!













After about a 20 minute delay the house lights went dark and then the mayhem kicked-off! The first few songs from Killing Joke were effing loud, pounding and intense. And that's probably underselling them, hah-hah! This was my first exposure to them- I knew that they would be a tad strident but this was going some. Jaz Coleman was perpetual motion, either staccato or creeping menacingly, all the while singing like his life depended on it and cutting a figure somewhere between Alice Cooper and Micky Flanagan! Blimey.

A mosh-pit had started from the first song and it didn't really let-up for their 100 minute set- amazingly I didn't see anyone go over the barriers at the front. Maybe it was an age thing, hah-hah!

The Wait
Autonomous Zone
Absent Friends
The Fall of Because
Eighties
The Beautiful Dead
I Am the Virus
Exorcism
Delete
Money Is Not Our God
Requiem
Dawn of the Hive
Panopticon
Love Like Blood
Into the Unknown
Asteroid
Pssyche

Encore:

Turn to Red
Wardance
Pandemonium

I didn't know any of the songs: strangely enough that didn't seem to matter because they were played with such force and conviction that you just went with it. How many shows have you been at where the singer made mention (briefly) of the case for the Iraq War, The Chilcot Inquiry, the environment? Coleman announced that he was ashamed of himself for the reaction to the people fleeing Syria, amongst other places. Where was our compassion, he wondered before launching into another number. It wasn't haranguing the audience, more like wondering aloud.

He later said that he was from Cheltenham and that the next song was about his birthplace and more particularly the surveillance centre there. He wondered why we didn't seem bothered by it but then reasoned, "...but that's ok...because I am!". Unless he's a very fine actor he definitely fits into the 'he means it, man' category, although along with the manic stares and chest-beating there was the occasional smile too. Thank Goodness.

In a parallel universe somewhere are Killing Joke in the middle of a residency at The O2 and did I just see the perennial outsiders U2 in Manch last night? Nah, thought not!









Cheers,

Simon.

"Money Is Not Our God", one of their best tunes imo...

Killing Joke, the other greatest rock & roll band in the world.

www.rsundercover.eu

Looks like it was a fantastic show. I'm a pretty big Jah Wobble fan. Kind of rare in the states. I forget the exact title but I found his autobiography in a used book store. It was a good read. Very interesting life. Another 1 of my favorite big in Britain not so much in the states bands is actually playing here in 2 weeks. Primal Scream. They've only played in Seattle once before when Screamadelica was out. It was a memorable show in a small club. I got to know Andrew Innes a little & hopefully will be getting together when they are in town. They are co-headlining with the Cult. Hopefully will get more than 45 minutes of Scream!

Great venue.

.....

Olly.

You get about, Si

Thanks for another great report!

Killing Joke is an incredible band. Love them.