First gig of the year
Well, it’s a shame that it took until 8th March for my first gig of the year but I have to say that it was definitely worth the wait. Last night saw the return to my town of Napalm Death’s now annual Campaign for Musical Destruction tour and once again they had a great set of bands on the package.
Now I have to say here that I missed the first two bands despite them being ones that interest me. It’s a shame but I did not feel up to spending 4 hours standing in a hot venue paying extortionate drink prices. So far that reason we decided to skip the first two bands and drink in some pubs paying slightly less extortionate drink prices. So my apologies to Brat and Full of Hell, from what I was told, you were very good.
That does mean though that I did see two bands that I can talk about. One that I have saw plenty of times and one that I had never saw before. We start with the first time experience and that was Crowbar! The New Orleans four piece are legends in their own right and I was excited to see the sludge metal pioneers do their thing. Whilst it didn’t make a difference to me, having missed the first two acts, I do appreciate how this tour was booked, having a doom laden, slow down riff fest sandwiched between the grindcore so that you can catch a breathe and band your head. That being said, there were still plenty of pits!
Crowbar were excellent. I am very familiar with their classic album ‘Odd Fellows Rest’ and their latest album ‘Zero and Below’ but I am not too familiar with the stuff in between. That is going to change though, I can see me diving back and becoming a bigger fan after this. I swear I could feel my beard growing during their set.
Following Crowbar then was the headline act. The might Napalm Death. What more can you say about this band? We all know their place in extreme music history and they are revered for a reason. Every time I see this band they change the set list up, obviously a few classics like ‘Suffer the Children’ endure, but the energy and their message persists. You leave a Napalm Death show feeling tired but also energised and inspired.
One thing that was interesting with this gig however was that it felt more full and crowded when Crowbar were playing. This is not something I have experienced before but just shows the quality of the lineup. Overall it was a fantastic night and I’m not feeling too rough today. I can’t wait to see what the line up is like for this tour next year.
Hails!