KILLING JOKE AND SWIMMING
LONDON ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL 01/04/11
Conversations outside the concert hall covered the strange fact that Killing Joke always seem to play different venues in London and also that their support bands are not exactly compelling. It was mentioned that years ago they did rather have a thing for the now closed down Hammersmith Palais and that they also once played there with Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry and The Guana Batz supporting (Nov 1986 fact fans). Times may well have changed but nobody back then would probably have envisaged that the reformed original line-up would go from strength to strength 25 years later and play to a packed to capacity prestigious venue like The Royal Festival Hall. This show was part of the Ether Festival and saw a motley crew filing to the venue on April Fools Day to witness the jesters playing amongst the likes of tributes to composer Iannis Xenakis and Louis Andriessen. It could have been Jaz having a laugh and not doing Killing Joke material for all we knew but luckily this was not the case.
Popping in to see what the oddly named support band Swimming were all about I noted that this act all seemed fairly young (certainly compared to the headliners) and although playing to a very diminished audience were holding their own and not drowning on the stage. Seagulls and biplanes held attention on the big backing projector and their music was very cinematic in a post rock kind of way. It would appear that the band were hand picked by KJ and I enjoyed what I saw, their shoe-gazing sensibilities were dreamy and evocative and more muscular segments were energetically vocalised and had a spark and vitality about them. I am as guilty as all the others leaving empty seats but on the strength of what I caught Swimming will go far.
It was all about the main event though really and the austere fusion of soundtracks from Blade Runner and Eyes Wide Shut sparkled with the magick of what was to come and proved a fitting intro. As soon as the band came on and ploughed into ‘Unspeakable’ the front few rows of seats were vacated and those of us taking photos were instantly swamped by enthusiastic fans. Security wisely were staying out of it, tonight was not the night to usher fans back to seats and nobody behind was sitting down.
We were confronted by the mad jester himself Jaz Coleman, a gibbering mental case dressed for war in combats. To our right was the imposing figure of Youth, strumming the bass and dressed in anti-goth white suit looking like an English gent who had popped out for a stroll down the beach. 5th member Rez Udhin whose keyboard playing should not be understated was behind him and to our left was the black clad militaristic guitarist Geordie Walker. It was a shame we couldn’t really get a good look at drummer Paul Ferguson but he made up for lack of appearance with solid driving sound. Greedily scanning the 20 track set list as the group went into ‘Live Like Blood’ [sic] as it was entitled there, it was obvious we were in for a glorious night. We had a good mix of the old ‘Change,’ ‘Bloodsport,’ Primitive’ and the new ‘This World Hell,’ ‘Ghosts Of Ladbroke Square,’ Depthcharge and those anthems that simply could not be ignored ‘Wardance,’ ‘Requiem’ and ‘The Wait.’
The band seemed happier than the last couple of times I had seen them, really getting into their groove and at times smiling, almost looking pleased to be here. It was reciprocated as well as could be in a seated venue with a feeling of adoration (except in song) all around. I would personally have loved something off Brighter Than 1000 Sons or Extremities but guess you cannot have it all and we were wowed with both ‘Communion’ and the excellent encore piece of ‘Pandemonium’ from that particular album anyway. The rants were kept down and there was little talking between songs, perhaps everything that could be said was being shown on the projector anyway. We were constantly bombarded by the sights of the apocalypse and destruction of mankind, a chilling vision of the near future perhaps and naturally going into overload as the rallying of ‘Asteroid’ was flung out the speakers.
So a triumphant gig and it is incredibly great to see that Killing Joke can fill a venue this size still with no problems at all. In my mind they are one of the most relevant bands on the planet and it’s excellent to see that I am not alone with this viewpoint. New album is being finished and will hit in plenty of time before we meet up with our 23/12/12 demise, hopefully we can fit some more shows in like this one too!
Pete Woods
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