[kj] Live: Killing Joke - Laugh at Your Peril (We Are Cult) (Review of Nov. 14 - UEA - Norwich, UK)

[Paul]

http://wearecult.rocks/live-review-killing-joke-laugh-at-your-peril (Review
of Nov. 14 - UEA - Norwich, UK)

*Live: Killing Joke – Laugh at Your Peril*
17 November 2018 By Robert Fairclough

[image: Killing Joke.jpg]


*❉ Over Killing Joke’s forty year lifespan, the state of the world may not
have got any better, but that’s good for us as it’s the fuel they still
pour on their creative fire.*

[image: Poster.jpg]


*“Get off your fucking iphones! This is a virtual free zone… Turn round to
the person behind you and say hello… This is a neutral space where we can
enjoy ourselves!”*

It’s an appropriately stern instruction from singer Jaz Coleman, a pleasing
foregone conclusion that the Killing Joke front man would detest the
socially isolating nature of modern personal technology. It’s anathema to
the band’s philosophy of communal catharsis, in songs that turn modern
angst into minor symphonies of industrial rock.

Dressed in a flight suit, eyes wide, face painted white, hair wild, Coleman
twitches and jerks, like some US air force pilot marooned in the jungles of
South East Asia who’s undergone a shamanic conversion. He talks between
songs about a “new Cold War”,  SAS ‘advisers’ assisting the Cambodian
regime in the 1970s and Barack Obama increasing the power of the
surveillance state… Over Killing Joke’s forty year lifespan, the state of
the world may not have got any better, but that’s good for us as it’s the
fuel they still pour on their creative fire.

Mischievously billed as the *Laugh at Your Peril* 40th anniversary tour,
the 2018 gigs feature all four original members, who were there at the
start of Killing Joke’s unique sonic journey in 1978. As well as Coleman,
present and correct are Paul Ferguson (drums), Youth (bass) and guitarist
Geordie Walker, cranking out fractured power chords that sound like an
electric guitar scowling over a hypnotic backing of tribal drumming and
dubby bass. Early PiL is clearly in Killing Joke’s musical DNA, which may
be part of the reason why their canon has lasted so well.

Unspeakable (2005 Digital Remaster) <https://youtu.be/16i0R_vPfY0>

They’ve always been loud, but soon as the first song *Unspeakable* starts,
my ear plugs (given out free at the bar) pop out and are on the floor.
That’s impressive.

There’s a bias towards material from the first two albums, which is no
problem as far as I’m concerned: *The Wait*, *Pssyche*, *Requiem*,
*Unspeakable* and *Butcher* are as confrontational as ever, while the set
ranges – as far as I can tell – to 2013’s *The Death and Resurrection Show*.
Standouts for me are the brutal dance beats of *Follow the Leaders* and the
insistent military chant of *Eighties* (whose guitar riff was famously
nicked by Nirvana and slowed down on *Come As you Are*).

Killing Joke - Eighties <https://youtu.be/x1U1Ue_5kq8>

Killing Joke have produced a lot of material over four decades together and
at times their output has been tunelessly atonal. When that happens towards
the end of the set for a couple of songs, my attention wanders and I take
some time out at the bar.

A couple of pints later, I’m back down the front for an encore that opens
with their commercial high point, *Love Like Blood*. Reaching number 16 in
the UK charts when such things mattered, it was the Joke’s perfect
synthesis of gloomy, existential lyrics and prowling indie rock that, more
than any of their other songs, you can dance to. Two days later as I type
this, the chorus is still on repeat in my head.

Killing Joke - Love Like Blood <https://youtu.be/TnpwuRlXbhk>

Your 54 year-old correspondent takes to the mosh pit for *Wardance*,
throwing himself into other bodies and being thrown around like it was
1980. I used to be down here all the time at gigs, but time passes for all
of us and one full-on mosh is all I can manage these days. I think it’s
important to put in the effort for such an indie anthem like *Wardance*
because, soberingly, at this stage of the game I don’t know whether they’ll
ever play it again, or if I’ll see them play it again.

Wardance (2005 Digital Remaster) <https://youtu.be/u7Bq6Yp7S0M>

As the cacophony of the last song dies away, something wonderfully
endearing happens: for the first time this evening, a broad grin
illuminates Coleman’s face. Unlikely as it may seem for these merchants of
doom, the band meet for a group hug at the edge of the stage. In just over
an hour, Killing Joke have gone from condemning iphones to a group selfie,
with the Norwich crowd pictured cheering and applauding jubilantly in the
background.

The apocalypse may be nearer than ever, but in the hands of Killing Joke
it’s still one of the best nights out around.

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