[kj] Killing Joke : The Roundhouse, London – live review (Louder Than War)

Thu Nov 22 15:15:47 EST 2018

https://louderthanwar.com/killing-joke-london-live-review/

*Killing Joke : The Roundhouse, London – live review*
Written by Keith Goldhanger 22 November, 2018
[image: Killing-Joke.jpg]
*Killing Joke*

*Roundhouse, London*

*November 17th 2018*

*Another Killing Joke review of another Killing Joke gig. This time Keith
Goldhanger goes along to reminisce and put into words what it can be like
to see a band like this so many times over the years.  Photos by Svenja
Block.*

Old blokes wearing Harrington Jackets and Idles T-shirts.

We were all out tonight, standing alongside blokes in their Motorhead
T-shirts, their mates, sons, daughters, wives and re-acquainted school
mates in their newly purchased Killing Joke T-shirts as well as the odd
Eagulls ,Fat White Family, five Siouxsie and The Banshees, four Ramones and
seventeen T-shirts bearing the name of Nirvana on display (we didn’t really
count them).

For a few of us this is a time to remember one or two absent friends who
would have attended this if they were still around. Forty years is a long
time, most of us here will have friends we raised a jar to tonight before
returning to the perimeter of the mosh pit and realising we can’t go any
further forward without the risk of getting injured in some daft way. The
band themselves raise a glass to the departed Paul Raven. It’s one of the
unfortunate realities we share after such a long time.

[image: Jaz.jpg]

What makes an evening such as this a great occasion is the recognition that
whilst the years may have not been kind to some of us the music of Killing
Joke has continuously got better and anthems such as Love Like Blood,
Change, Requiem, Eighties, Wardance (there’ll be a set list up on the ‘net
somewhere) still don’t sound terrible, long past their shelf life like so
many other bands’ music that we’ve crossed paths with in the distant past.
Then to top it all off we still have a band currently in possession of a
barrel of new tunes that a few of us haven’t been making enough effort to
get familiar with yet. Tonight it is reinforced that this band are still
just as brutal, fierce, sincere and thrilling as they were when we first
witnessed a few songs at a CND rally in London’s Trafalgar Square in 1980.
. . .

KILLING JOKE - CND Rally, Trafalgar Square, London 26/10/80 (Full Set)
<https://youtu.be/NBw3W3zh-ew>

*‘ This aint gonna change anything, bombs aren’t gonna be stopped being
made, they’re still gonna be dropped, what’s the point ….? we might as well
just have a laugh instead’ – Killing Joke, CND rally 1980.*

That was an afternoon that we doubt has ever been matched by anyone in the
capital. The Pistols at the 100 club would have been rubbish. The Stones in
Hyde Park was probably rubbish also but witnessing Killing Joke’s
appearance in front of every leather Jacket wearing, crazy hair coloured
fag smoking teenager on a Sunday afternoon has still never been bettered.
One of the biggest demonstrations in London ever according to some reports
and somehow underneath Nelson’s Column where earlier speeches by amongst
others, Tony Benn and Michael Foot had been taking place were Killing Joke
(and The Pop Group).

That’s where all this began for some of us.

[image: jaz3.jpg]

A big Saturday night out a few decades later then. One that precedes the
over ambitious breakfast, glass of water and return back to bed the next
morning. This isn’t a night of nostalgia though, this is another Killing
Joke gig. A gathering of people still ‘preying together and staying
together’ and celebrating the new tunes as much as the old songs from past
albums.

The band themselves still look as magnificent as they ever have done. Jaz
Coleman in his now trade mark boiler suit, white face make up, big eyes,
big voice and master of the room as he maintains an intensity that he’s
never let go of over the past four decades.

Drummer Paul Ferguson plays the drums as they were intended. No sloppy
fills that annoy and slow down. That would be terrible, this is the
opposite of terrible thankfully. Imagine being able to plug your guitar in
every night and play the intro to Requiem. You can see why they do this on
a nightly basis (tonight is the final night of the ‘Laugh at your peril
tour’). It looks fun, we would all love to be in this band, they make it
look easy but we know it certainly isn’t.

Killing Joke have reached the tail end of 2018 as the best of the old lot.
A new generation already exists of twenty somethings referencing this band,
a band that currently sit comfortably amongst the bands we hear today when
we switch on our radios or wander along to one of the many small venues
that have always been as instrumental in allowing us to reach evenings such
as these as the bands and entourage themselves.

The idea of going to see Killing Joke yet again can also be a horrifying
one for some of us. Its a kind of defence mechanism one has to posses in
order to prevent getting onto Eurostar, booking numerous hotels and seeing
as many of this bands shows as you can cram in. There’ll be many people
that do this, we were tempted ourselves and you can spot the people in the
room that have achieved it as they say their farewells and take more photos
of each other as the rest of us go searching for a last pint before
participating in whatever it is we will wake up regretting the following
day.

Attending a Killing Joke gig is one you can still rely on though and this
is something you cannot expect from many acts that have been active for
this long. We still don’t know which of today’s young bands will still be
able to tread these same waters themselves in three decades time, the
statistics aren’t great, there won’t be many. Watching a band (still) in
their prime is very different to watching a band with a wry smile, a puff
and a pant. Killing Joke, thankfully fall in the former category. A unique
position to be in especially with over fifteen albums to chose their set
from.

Like a Factory Floor show or those techno nights we went to in the 90’s we
know what we’re getting before we walk through the doors. We know we won’t
get the chance to nip away for ten minutes whilst an acoustic guitar comes
out so we hit our groove from the first four bars and are still lost in
this for a couple of hours until the guitar stops, the bass has stopped
prodding us in the chest, the lights come back on and we are told to leave,
just as some of us have done over the years or in some cases many times
over recent weeks.

Another thunderous display by Killing Joke then to savoir amongst the
others we will never forget. Still throwing out a set of angry loud mid
paced tunes full of twists and turns that no one else has come close to
bettering. Still here and still in their prime.

[image: jaz1.jpg]

Tonight’s show just like many other Killing Joke shows around the world was
another night full of familiar faces we recognise but are unsure if these
are people we ever met. The same people we imagine who marched against
bombs nearly four decades ago, attended many other events that we all
raised our pints too and all know a decent tune when we hear one. Forty
years and still getting better, still being one of the most earnest and
committed bands around today, still reminding us that there’s nothing wrong
with going out and having a laugh whilst the big wide would is still just
as fucked up as it ever was.

Which could be why they’re still finding new fans along the way. These
would be the ones crowd surfing we imagine whilst some of us are now
standing a little further back concerned again about the state of our knees
before going home again and being concerned again about the state of this
bloody country we’re living in.

Everyone in this gathering, out again on a Saturday night still ‘ avin’ a
fukin’ laugh’ as requested back when we still lived at home with our
parents. Powerful, brutal, still brilliant and still not over.

Here’s to the next ten.

[image: jaz2.jpg]
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