[kj] London Gigs...my thoughts.....

[Termite]

Glad that someone has posted the setlists, I was going to post them, but would have had to have done both nights in album order rather than in setlist order....so yep they played on the second night Empire Song I believe if I remember right before they played Pandemonium, either before or after The Wait not sure which, but it most certainly was played.

Anyway, onto thoughts of the gigs.  Obviously everyone is going to have differing perspectives on things, depends on your mood, where you are standing, whether you watched, whether you danced etc etc....in the 90's I was always at the front of KJ gigs battered and bruised feeling the intensity...these days older I prefer to stand further back and "mildly" feel the intensity of the songs.

So from my point of view, first night standing left of centre, and second night right of centre enough shy out of the zone of the mayhem mosh pit, my collective thoughts of the nights were this :

1st Night, technically brilliant, band played almost faultlessly, crowd were more moody & intense, so were KJ....far more emotive in that aspect, witnessing Colesy's artwork flicking through the screens either side was a joy, and everything about it seemed more professional than the 25th anniversary gigs.  Seemed to be less smoke than the second night and so had a clearer view of the stage.  The band seemed so much more youthful, happily working together as an outfit that seemed to be enjoying the occassion with all of its intensity along with quite a moving "minutes" silence for Raven before launching a very celebratory Love Like Blood where you could feel our gatherers hearts lifting the roof off the venue.

Personal highlights for me the 1st Night were the intense onslaught section of Follow The Leaders, The Wait and Psyche before the celebratory Love Like Blood to finish it all off, I found sadly the song I was looking forward to the most "Unspeakable" to be slightly muddled, and I do have to say that at times Geordies guitar was either too far down in the mix, could have been where I was standing or the acoustics of the venue though, who knows.   Overall a very professional, and intense set, naturally being both the first two albums it was pretty much an onslaught.

The second night *just* managed to get into the venue before the band came on stage, no thanks to the venue car park signs and the apparant lack of knowledge after the signs petered out of knowing where the hell to park, but didn't want to spend another ridiculous £9.60 for two on the tube to travel just 4 miles from the hotel to the venue.

Bristling through a very annoyed crowd that seemed to want to hold their crowded spot at the horrid railed off section at the back of the standing area to then be able to get a decent spot in the less than crowded proper standing area we found the mood a lot better, celebratory, people seemed to be enjoying themselves, friendly, maybe owing to a less intense set.

Strangely, however, whilst still a very enjoyable experience (at least mood wise probably better than the 1st night) I have to say, technically and I also think maybe spiritedly the band were not.  They were tired, faults abound, including a very very bad renedition of "Communion" Jaz faultering the 1st verse opening with the start of the second "I saw a man, i knew his face, he called my name"  seemed to me besides gatherers clearly just enjoying dancing to the music, the onslaught of the tour is beginning to take its toll, and I am sure the band in much need of a rest before the US leg of the tour now.

Songs were rushed through, everything seemed more hurried, and after coming on for just a two song encore, the band hurriedly left the stage, Geordie stood with yet another bottle of wine held aloft a "cheers" gesture to the crowd, and it was over, albeit the lights coming on, us gatherers heading for the exits feeling it wasn't over, the lights dimming again.....a wait....a further wait...lights still dimmed, chants, whistles, claps....more of a wait...then....drumsticks thrown out, setlists passed down, lights come back on, nothing...

So an enjoyable experience as far as us gatherers being in celebratory mode, but certainly not the best of Joke performances, not to say it was bad, just had its faults and was hurried....highlights for me were, and probably even better than the first night "The Wait", "Money Is Not Our God", and most certainly a song I wanted them to play and didn't think we would get "Pandy's", probably my fave of the night, even more suprisingly, both my wife and myself are not keen fans of "Asteroid", and yet that proved to be another highlight, mainly due to Big Pauls drumming which was played with such malevolent force I thought the skins were gonna come of the kit.

Wouldn't have missed both nights for the world though, and its great to see the band together enjoying it, just hope they get to rest now before giving a taster of themselves as a revigoured outfit to the American gatherers......
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: jpwhkj at aol.com 
  To: gathering at misera.net 
  Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 7:30 PM
  Subject: [kj] London gigs


  What a cracking pair of gigs!  Unfortunately circumstances meant that I barely made it to the pub on Friday, and not at all on Saturday, but nonetheless the Gathering was definitely out in force.

  Set lists:

  3/10/08
  Requiem
  Wardance
  Tomorrow's World
  Bloodsport
  Complications
  SO 36
  Primitive
  Eighties
  Fall of Because
  Tension
  Unspeakable
  Who Told You How?
  Butcher
  Madness
  Exit
  Follow The Leader
  The Wait
  Pssyche
  Love Like Blood
  Change
  Are You Receiving?

  4/10/08
  The Hum
  Change
  Pssyche
  Love Like Blood
  Eighties
  Whiteout
  Exorcism
  Labyrinth
  Black Moon
  Turn To Red
  Communion
  Money Is Not Our God
  Asteroid
  Timewave
  The Wait
  Pandemonium

  encore:
  Pandys
  Wardance

  (I could have sworn that they played Empire Song, but it's not on the cd.  Anyone...?)

  Seeing the original line-up (plus Reza) was absolutely amazing.  All of them were on top form.  Geordie was - as usual - in another world, just him and his guitar, coaxing out that unique, unearthly noise.  Jaz was trimmed down and very focused. Big Paul was a powerhouse.  How KJ have missed his driving force!  Youth was in his element, very funky.  It hit me once again how much of a dance band Killing Joke are, even when the surface of a track is hard-edged punk / metal / whatever, underneath is this driving bass and drum.....

  I was reminded of the Transmission gig a while back, when I saw Big Paul and Youth together on the stage for the first time, and I was struck by the incredible link between them.  At the time, I thought that was the closest I'd come to seeing the original Killing Joke, but no...

  Top moments: a lot of tracks are aired regularly anyway, but I love Pssyche so much that I don't care!  It was amazing both nights - perhaps better on the second night?  But the highlights were definitely the rarer ones, primarily from WTF on the first night:  Who Told You How was a massive tribal stomp.  Butcher was stunning - one of my favourite KJ tracks anyway.  Follow The Leaders, Unspeakable, and Exit were also very powerful.

  Worst thing: the lighting. Don't know if it was deliberate, but it was pretty hard to actually *see* the band.  Has it been like that at other gigs?

  There was talk of pre-Christmas gathering.  Sounds like a good idea to me...

  Jamie



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