Lithium Magazine

Review and photos by Mike Bax

www.killingjoke.com
www.myspace.com/killingjokeofficial

So much can change in seven months. Bearing a ticket that still said the original date of May 25th on it, I walked through the doors of the venue with high expectations indeed. Killing Joke’s new album release and tour were both postponed because the band consulted an astrologist and were told venturing anything new in April / May of 2010 would be a bad thing. Since the postponement of this original live date, Absolute Dissent (the band’s finest album to date) has seen a release, and I found myself going from wanting to hear a bunch of old Killing Joke material to instead wanting to hear the majority of the new album performed live.

Fortunately, Killing Joke aim to please, and the band delivered a 120 minute-plus live set that represented the majority of their finest material, spanning thirty years of albums. The first four songs of the evening were all about the eighties, with three songs from Killing Joke’s stellar 1980 debut album, played along with ‘Love Like Blood’, the band’s biggest club hit - still a favourite amongst fans.

The Phoenix was filled with used-up old punk rock fans (I proudly count myself amongst their ilk) and a few new youngsters eager to witness a thirty-year strong legendary band, live in concert. What was most amazing about the performance was how well Killing Joke’s new material fits in with their old stuff.  Sure, ‘Wardance’ and ‘Requiem’ were welcome songs in the evening’s lengthy set list, but ‘Ghosts of Ladbroke Grove’, ‘Eupopean Super State’, and ‘The Great Cull’ sounded just as fine as the older material. ‘Ladbroke Grove’ was a totally welcome addition to the set for me – Killing Joke’s take on dub music is one of the finest tracks on the new album, and was equally awesome performed live at the halfway mark of the show.

The performance wasn’t without warts however… the show started late and a few of the tracks seemed to get chewed up in sheer volume, making them seem a little unfriendly at times. A few of the songs failed to resonate with me (‘Fall of Because’ and ‘Madness’).  But, overall, it was pretty damn awesome seeing all four original members banging out a stacked set list of great material. The one-two-three punch of ‘Requiem’, ‘Primitive’ and ‘The Great Cull’ at the half way mark of the show was a sure sign of the band’s prowess.  With thirty years between those songs, they sounded like they could have been written just weeks apart when performed live, which was amazing.

Set List:
Tomorrow's World
Love Like Blood
Change
Wardance
Absolute Dissent
Bloodsport
Eupopean Super State
This World Hell
Fall of Because
Ghosts Of Ladbroke Grove
Madness
Requiem
Primitive
The Great Cull
Fresh Fever from the Skies
Asteroid
Depth Charge
The Wait
Pssyche
Complications
Eighties
Pandemonium