Written by:	Darkside Momo
Published:	October 11, 2010
Event:	Killing Joke 2010 Tour
Location:	Bataclan, Paris, France
Galleries:	Killing Joke in Paris, 27 September 2010 by Darkside Momo (9)

This show in Paris has quite an eventful story in itself. At first it was supposed to take place the 19th of April, but the whole tour was delayed, because the new album itself (then still tentatively named "Feast Of Fools", but now called Absolute Dissent) was delayed to september. Fear gripped the fans, but the band did keep its promises, the tour finally happened and the new album saw the light of day.
The other problem was that, one week before the show, openers The Young Gods sadly announced they were forced to cancel, due to technical problems (that, and Hellfest's generator, makes me fear about a possible curse on this great band...). Too bad, really, as I was particularly thrilled to see them again, for real...
Well, anyway, the Bataclan (that's the name of the venue) was full of people on this relatively cold September night. And what's nice with Killing Joke, is that their following is really varied; therefore, you could see in the crowd metalheads, old punks, goths, indus freaks, whatever. Great!


Mars Red Sky

This band define themselves as rock/psychedelic/shoegaze. Yeah, I guess that's as good a definition as it goes. It's pretty sure the shy attitude of the guitarist/vocalist fits in, as do the convoluted, often moody, compositions.
All things considered, their music was not bad at all? But not really impressive either to these untrained ears - yeah, I'm not familiar with that kind of soft rock. It's no wonder I preferred the instrumental track; not that the singing was bad (it wasn't) but I'm not a fan of these mostly clean, sometimes-pretending-to-be-a-bit-agressive vocals. The whole audience was politely receptive, and appreciated the music, but not more than a nice appetizer, I guess?
The drummer deserves a special mention: he was totally in it. Serious at first, he went more and more crazy as the show went on, giving everything he had without restraints. Respect.

On the whole, nice but not overwhelming.
Myspace




Killing Joke

A simple way to describe the show could just to label it "awesome" and leave it at that.
But hey, truth is always a bit more complicated, and that wouldn't give the band justice anyway.
But once they started, the front rows went nuts, and the pit was full of people half dancing (tribal dancing, I mean), half moshing. As befits Killing Joke's unique blend of music.


And the venue quickly became really hot, and we continued to mosh, dance, whatever. The finale with "Asteroid", "The Wait" and "Pssyche" was pretty damn explosive!

And the front rows were not the only ones sweating and giving all they had. Jaz Coleman looked more like a mix between a psychopath, a guru and a crazed dictator than anything else. And his make-up, not unlike the Joker's, was quickly running down his face. Young was nonchalant, but smiled often, while Gordie Walker acted casual as always, all the while playing monstrous riff after monstrous riff.
And Jaz found the time for some little speech, with a special jab, when he talked about last Christmas in Paris. Like he said "I saw homeless people out there, and it was -11°C! Now I hope each one of you will spend a night in the cold like them, like a real French man!"
The sound? Well, the Bataclan is not the greatest venue ever in Paris for that matter, but it was on whole good, even on the balconies. Jaz Coleman was probably a bit under-mixed, but it wasn't to the point it became a problem.

The setlist, as you can see below, was mostly centred on the first, eponymous Killing Joke album, and on the latest child, Absolute Dissent. While I guess a more varied setlist could have been better (come on, nothing out of Night Time or Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell?), the old songs - much more heavy than on album - were loudly acclaimed by a gleeful audience, and the new ones sure didn't disappoint live? Almost all were instant crowd pleasers, "The Raven King" (an homage to the deceased Paul Raven) being the only one that I found disappointing compared to the album version. There was simply not as much emotion this time, I guess.

My main problem was the encore. It should have gone like this: "Primitive", "Complications", "Pandemonium", "Endgame". Pretty nice, right? Sadly, out of those only "Pandemonium" was played? I don't know why; a few people said Jaz Coleman was ill, but I didn't see or notice anything. Probably the curfew.
Anyway, it was one hell of a show, and I left literally dripping with sweat. The band was happy, judging on Jaz's heartfelt thanks and Youth's smile.



Setlist:
Originally, "Depthcharge" was supposed to be played between "Asteroid" and "The Wait".






Conclusion:

This show pleased almost everyone it seems, except for the usual grumpy geezers who thought it was better before. This show was too 'metal' I guess, as they glared accusingly at my Ministry T-Shirt.

Anyway, the real conclusion is: don't miss Killing Joke if they ever play near you, and join the urban tribal dance before the incoming apocalypse. Be quick, it's in 2012 (or so Jaz Coleman said, before introducing Asteroid)!


Again, many thanks to Alexandre M. and his colleague for the help and the photo pass!