Written by:	Darkside Momo, FreakyMarge
Published:	February 26, 2009
Event:	Gojira: French Tour
Location:	Le Bikini, Toulouse, France
Galleries:	Gojira + Trepalium + Dwail, Toulouse, France, 07/02/09 by Moocher (30) Trepalium + Gojira - Toulouse, France, 07.02.2009 by FreakyMarge (38)

Momo: This cold Saturday evening here in Toulouse saw many people coming to see nowadays' biggest French metal band: Gojira.
Marge: Yep, the best venue of Toulouse welcomes one of the best French metal bands that Saturday. The Bikini is known for its perfect acoustics, and we were quite impatient to see the phenomenon-band playing live here.

Dwail
Momo: Well, the Metalstorm delegation was delayed at the entrance... So we completely missed Dwail's show. And we were not alone in this case, because most people took their time to come, it seems.
Marge: For my part, I've heard very enthusiastic reviews in the public. I had the opportunity to see Dwail performing a few days later, and the show was full of energy, straight to the point, with a good communication with the crowd. The band is from Toulouse and has a good fan base in the city and all around. They play as often as they can, and that was a great opportunity for them to open this show tonight.
Momo: So check their myspace to make up your own mind about it.



Trepalium
Momo: After the really cool interview we made earlier (available soon!) with these guys, I was really curious to see them live.
And well, this was a blast! Their groovy death metal is really good and mosh-pit friendly. Oh well, I suppose, because we're already facing the main problem of this evening: the audience. Not reactive, quite dull and soft... So you've guessed, there were nearly no mosh-pits, and not that much headbanging either. Sure, the new album wasn't released yet, but the new songs are catchy and aggressive as hell, and the band was full of energy and conviction.
But well, whatever.
Marge: Trepalium had the tough role to play just before Gojira, but I think their performance has convinced the most of the crowd, even if it stayed quite static. The third album of the band is very promising, and I think that they gave a very good idea of what we will find in it this night. Not that easy to describe their music, full of various influences. The jazzy parts were very interesting, bringing to their performance an original and personal side. I think that Trepalium has found a real identity and their show was a good combination of non-compromising violence and a real groovy playing. To finish the set, we had a stage diving form the singer, and an evident feeling of pleasure to have played here from the entire band.
Momo: But well, as the band told us before, had the audience been better, they would have asked for a 'wall of death'. You know the stuff: separate the crowd in two, and then... Mosh!
And I agree, XIII, their new album, is VERY good. Check it out!



Gojira
Momo: As usual, Gojira, faithful to its namesake, just crushed everything in its path. Tight, precise, technical, groovy, you name it.
Joe was, as always, concentrating on singing, while Christian and Jean-Michel were more active, moving here and there, headbanging, and so on.
And, as I said earlier, the audience was a lazy one. Sure the cheering and support was there, but the moshpit didn't last long (and it wasn't huge either).
Roughly one half of the songs they played were taken off The Way Of All Flesh (including The Art Of Dying!, while the other half were songs taken from their three previous albums, with an emphasis on From Mars To Sirius (Backbone, From The Sky, Flying Whales).
Marge: Gojira was awaited tonight, but as you've read it, the crowd was quite calm and still. I think we could explain that by the fact that a lot of different audiences came to listen to them. Not only a pure death metal public, accustomed to be very demonstrative, but also a more progressive public, or people who were here to discover them [Momo: and also young kids not yet used to mosh pits...]. Moreover, the music itself of the band can really be enjoyed internally and deeply, while concentrating on the aura of the musicians, the perfect alchemy between them, and the complexity of the compositions. This band has to be seen on stage for sure. Even if you don't really know them, or if their music didn't convince you on CD already, it will be a perfect way to understand why Gojira is becoming that popular. The music, the lyrics and the atmosphere are perfectly mixed, and gave us the proof that metal, even quite extreme, can be profound and performed with a real sensibility and a feeling of, yes I can say that, love. We're proud of Gojira here in France, and I think you'll definitely understand why by seeing them live.



Momo: Well, you'll have understood, this was a great metal evening. So catch Trepalium and the big green beast if they play near you!

All pics by FreakyMarge, except Dwail's photos by Moocher