[kj] Auckland & Wellington gig reviews

[Jari Pakarinen]

Thanks :)


2013/6/17 Brendan Quinn <bq at soundgardener.co.nz>


> Hi all,****

>

> ** **

>

> What can I say. Waiting this long for Killing Joke to play NZ was totally

> worth it. The experience started with seeing the amazing documentary

> premiere in Auckland, sitting a few seats down from Jaz and family, then

> seeing Killing Joke perform in Auckland with my little sister, my fellow

> stalwart Kiwi Gatherer Johnny and his lovely wife Jo and their friends,

> then a road trip down to my favourite place in the world Wellington to see

> Killing Joke again – listening to a CD I made of the tour setlist, and

> finally unexpectedly getting to hang out with the band for a few hours

> afterwards.****

>

> ** **

>

> The documentary and Q&A with Jaz set the tone for everything that followed

> and provided context and meaning to the whole experience. From that point

> on I decided to try an experiment – to see if I could do as suggested in

> the doco, interpret events on a deeper level, and use the experience to

> provide focus, inspiration, direction, understanding…and I have to say, it

> worked. ****

>

> ** **

>

> Johnny’s review of the Auckland gig was spot on – tiny venue, packed full

> of intense but generally good natured people, bit of an odyssey to the bar

> and back to get a drink, fucking amazing performance, and yes I wore a

> Soundgarden t shirt to a Killing Joke gig. However it was an original,

> faded, 1994 Superunknown Screaming Elf t shirt signed by Ben Shepherd – and

> I guess I must have missed the memo about only wearing a band’s t-shirt to

> their gig! I also have to point out that when I hugged Johnny’s wife Jo

> goodbye she exclaimed “God you’re drenched” – by which she really meant

> “God you rocked out way harder than Johnny” ;p****

>

> ** **

>

> Anyway yes, the venue was packed to the gills, although not uniformly,

> cutting across sideways to get a final drink just before it kicked off

> (Eyes Wide Shut music) required all my years of gig diplomacy and munter

> management skills - by which I mean I sent my little sister. Haha.****

>

> ** **

>

> I’ve read a few reviews, one of them mentioned being packed far too tight,

> poor sound, fights, not being able to see anything, but personally it’s

> hard for me to comment because I was very close to the front, and being

> 6’3” I never have a problem seeing anything, in fact I’m usually more

> concerned that I don’t stonewall the people behind me. I also read some

> comments in that article about lame old people standing still, so fuck

> knows…can’t have it both ways. I didn’t see anything in the crowd that you

> don’t see at pretty much every gig, think it’s a storm in a teacup started

> by someone who had a bit of a valid point about over-crowding but took it a

> bit far. ****

>

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>

> The sound was fine, except too loud, past the sweet spot where extra

> volume doesn’t add impact, but shit I was having fun either way. ****

>

> ** **

>

> Killing Joke’s impact on stage, it’s hard to say because I’m such a huge

> fan and had decades worth of restrained fandom to vent, and I’d be

> preaching to the choir because it seems that everyone but for us Kiwis had

> seen Killing Joke before, but holy shit. I don’t think I stopped moving. I

> was totally exhausted, hoarse, and deaf at the end, with a huge grin on my

> face, buzzing. I knew the setlist cos I had looked up the Aussie gigs, it

> was exactly the same as the other gigs on the tour except for the we got 5

> songs vs 3 for the encore: Bloodsport-Madness-Change-TDARS-Psycche, the

> first two being additions. We certainly earned it! Change was amazing, much

> more powerful live than I’d have thought, one of the stand-outs to me, as

> was TDARS, MINOG, Beautiful Dead, Pssyche…it’s very hard to pick songs out

> individually.****

>

> ** **

>

> My sister and I drove down the next day to the Wellington gig, about a 8-9

> hour drive. I was worried that either the band would be tired from the

> night before, or I wouldn’t have as much energy after blowing my load at

> the Auckland gig  the night before, on top of the road trip, hangover,

> being hoarse etc. Not a chance – I’d say it was as good as, if not better

> than the Auckland gig, I was right up front and centre in front of Jaz and

> even more amped than at Auckland, esp for the encore. Stunningly powerful

> performance.****

>

> ** **

>

> We hung around after the gig, as the roadies were packing up I told Jason

> Bowld the stand-in drummer and Reza that it was an amazing gig and asked

> them to pass that on to the rest of the band. I sweet-talked the roadies

> and asked that they pass on my appreciation to the band, in particular one

> guy who may have been tour manager I’m not sure, anyway I’d found out his

> name, Diamond something (great guy)– he looked like he was straight of the

> music video for Come on Eileen.  Anyway I asked him for the setlist and got

> it…then about 10-15 mins after the gig had finished, a few of those people

> left in the venue were invited downstairs to a private bar to hang out with

> the band. I like to think it was because they noticed me going nuts at both

> gigs, but it might have been sheer persistence, brown-nosing, or I might

> have been standing next to a nice blonde they wanted to get downstairs, who

> knows =) Anyway we spent the next roughly 3 hours hanging out with Geordie,

> Youth, Jaz, and other assorted vagabonds. I got my setlist signed by all

> three, and I managed to have a good chat to each of them and mention

> something they had done personally that I appreciated. ****

>

> ** **

>

> Memories:****

>

> ** **

>

> Youth - talking about Ayahusca, DMT, shamanism, druidry, Neil Finn from

> Crowded House (“he’s just so CATHOLIC”), BPF’s tendonitis (elbows), Robert

> Anton Wilson, Steven Wilson and other producers, electronic music, New

> Zealand weed (great stuff – Geordie agreed but said he smokes hash), Paul

> McCartney, trying to type in something for him on his iPhone…magic.****

>

> ** **

>

> Geordie – early on in the night he walked up to the couches where some of

> us fans were hanging out with Youth and Jaz, and with no greeting,

> introduction, context or anything, he sits down right next to me and says

> “it took until age 47 to find the love of my life – she licks my ass while

> I’m drinking tea” –so fucking funny! I almost didn’t want to write that but

> the impression I got was that he gets a kick out of walking up to a bunch

> of random megafans and blowing their minds with an outrageous, surreal

> comment. Aah who knows, anyway I struggle to think of anything funnier I’ve

> ever heard. I was trying to imagine what I’d text to Johnny to try to get

> him to believe what Geordie just said but I wasn’t going to sit there

> texting. Anyway sharing a bottle of Jager with Geordie, passing it around,

> snorting some kind of tobacco or snuff – magic. No one told me how funny

> Geordie is! He was really animated…I told him I really dug his 2008 demos,

> asked him all sorts like whether that story from back in the day about when

> he played with Faith No More was true (him deleting the tapes and walking

> out saying “you’re too suburban”) – can’t remember what he said about that

> but he said he likes Mike Patton, he said “that guy with dreadlocks skips

> bands quick”, talking about Mike Bordin I think…said he likes Jimmy

> Chamberlain’s drumming.****

>

> ** **

>

> I had a chat with Jaz, he asked what I thought about the Death &

> Resurrection Show documentary, we talked about NZ Politics (he reckons the

> green party need to aspire to getting 50% of the vote)…I got him and the

> others to sign my set list…I mentioned that Jason the drummer did a good

> job and he walked off stony faced =) Hell of an intense guy.****

>

> ** **

>

> Anyway after a few amazingly fun and laid back hours it was all over,

> however I was left with what I thought was a bit of a holy relic, which I

> intended to share with Johnny –towards the end of the night my little

> sister handed me something and said “hey this is one of Youth’s joints - he

> dropped it and didn’t want it when I handed it to him!” – I kept it

> protected overnight and only noticed about 24 hours later that it was a

> nicotine patch rolled up into a cylinder. Rock n Roll!****

>

> ** **

>

> I have the signed setlist which I had to untangle because it stuck to

> itself, and lo and behold I have an even more holy relic – a ball of what I

> think looks like Jaz-hair that it picked up while it was on the floor by

> him! Oh the possibilities…of course I have started immediately on the

> occult path, I don’t know what a magickal relic of this nature is capable

> of, but I’m sure that’s a story for another day.****

>

> ** **

>

> Anyway, I have decided to renounce the industry I was working in, move

> back to my hometown and spiritual home Wellington, and become a druid.

> Although a part of me is wondering whether I should try to find myself a

> girl like Geordie’s got…that’s got to be a hell of a cup of tea!****

>

> ** **

>

> Hahahaha!****

>

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>

> Brendan****

>

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>

> *From:* gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net<gathering-bounces at misera.net>]

> *On Behalf Of *bongo

> *Sent:* Saturday, 15 June 2013 5:23 p.m.

> *To:* A list about all things Killing Joke, (the band!)

> *Subject:* Re: [kj] Auckland gig: FYI****

>

> ** **

>

> ok, tried to put some words together, not an unbiased rock critic review,

> but how my night went..****

>

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> me and jo (wife) drove down after work.. whangarei to auckland is a two

> hour drive, so made it to the venue when the doors opened... had car

> issues, but wont get into that - we made it there..****

>

> found jase and chars, then found a cheap piss shop and downed a few

> 8%ers.. found brendon & sister, talked shit outside for a bit and bumped

> into a few other friends... the support band i found out was a new mix of

> old bands - flotsam and jetsam of yesteryear, missed every note.. ****

>

> walked into the studio after support act finished. it was a bit packed,

> but all our group made it up the front stage right without much struggle,

> tho it was crowded we had space.. ****

>

> the few minutes before the band came on were filled with drug like

> ecstasy!  my plan was to stay with jo and co for most of the time, and

> thrash out a bit for my fav songs..... as soon as requiem started tho - i

> was off!  glasses off, serious time... ****

>

> i have no idea of the setlist, but of course i knew every goddamn fucking

> song and every fucking one was a fucking favourite that night!!! pssyche i

> knew would be good - it was... but as i said before TDARS had me near

> fainting/vomiting the most!!!  did i hold back? fuck no!  if you were up

> front, you knew i was there.. rough? a bit... was i a dick? maybe... did i

> care? no.  i kept an eye on the midget and watched myself around the guy in

> the wheelchair (near stage side), but apart from that, i was not standing

> still.****

>

> most others up front seemed pleased for the enthusiasm and when the guy up

> front stated blindly elbowing anything that touched him, me and a tall

> skinhead exchanged many sentences without words, and removed him from his

> treasured position simply by 'dancing' HA!****

>

> i think there was a small fight, didn't see what started it but i was

> shunted near them when they left the front... nothing major - just dumb.

> ****

>

> i'd really like to see a setlist to jog my memory... i have many memories,

> but they are all disjointed.. bloodsport (not change - dont think they

> played that??!), was joyous - geordie and youth facing off, playing off

> each other, and jaz in between yelling and screaming and smiling!!****

>

> three old mates simply rocking out together, they were loving it and we

> were loving it!****

>

> every song was great, altho i'm sure others complained of the sound. it

> was a bit loud!****

>

> went to the sidelines after a few songs, no jase or brendon in sight, but

> there was my wife, rockin by herself and looking at ease, comfortable in

> the chaos, and a bit sexy!  stayed with her for about half of MINOG then

> something else started and i had to go back into the middle, which was only

> about 4m away..****

>

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>

> all in all, my night was great, and Killing Joke done what i had hoped

> they would.****

>

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>

> never saw any of the band apart from onstage, youth was dj-ing an after

> party somewhere, but we left after saying goodbyes to everyone... ****

>

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> cheers.****

>

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> (now if you want a review with real goods punctuation n shit, ask that

> fucker who wore a soundgarden tshirt to a KJ gig!!!)****

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-- 
Jari
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