I’ve
never thought of myself as the best reviewer,
I try to give a nice review of how the bands I
see are and go into some depth about how the gig
was, but trying to write this review is hard,
not just because I can’t spell, but because
this gig disappointed me so much, and it’s
not the fact the band where awful (as they weren’t)
it’s just I don’t know how to get
across the pure boredom I felt watching them.
The room was bustling when I arrived and it’s
clear that Karnivool have a fan base, but just
like me, its clear people hadn’t really
heard of them as when I entered the venue I saw
a couple giving their ticket’s away as they’d
just come to see the support band and didn’t
really care about the main act. The room was freezing
so I don’t know how people took to Tesseract,
as I missed them, but it didn’t look like
the crowd had been going crazy. In fact it looked
like this crowd, that was a mish mash of trendy
hipsters, guys in metal t-shirts and the occasional
brightly coloured rock t-shirt, had all been funnelled
into a venue to see a random band that none of
them new who it was. I get to the photo pit thinking
I’ve got 10 minutes before the band get
on stage, and then I wait… and wait…
and wait. Eventually things kick off at almost
quarter to ten, almost 45 minutes after they were
due to
go on! And this was with no technical issues,
and no craziness from 3 support bands (as there
was only 1), it was just a relaxed we’ll
take our time as the crowd looked at their watches
and tapped their feet.
Karnivool take to the stage in darkness, after
their roadie had to take to the stage twice to
get the sound desk to start presiding’s.
They came out to some plodding ambient noise,
which was coming across the room great, it was
just a shame it was just that… noise. They
sounded slow and boring, the crowd didn’t
look interested, after their initial cheers everyone
seemed to mooch around, with just one fan that
I could spot singing along, and he was probably
louder than the singer, whose mic clearly wasn’t
turned up and just floated around in the background.
The members all looked like they were in different
bands (just like the crowd), with the singer looking
like he was in a boy band with his plain white
t-shirt and wispy hand movements, whilst the bassist
jumped around manically to music that was barely
even fast enough to bob your head too in a Kanye
West t-shirt, one guitarist was rather wrapped
up in his laptop and in pulling wounding facial
expressions whilst the other guitarist looked
like Scrublious Pip but bored out
of his mind. I know that what they were wearing
means nothing, but this mish mash of styles carried
over to the music where each person seemed like
they were playing in a different band. There set
list consisted of Last Few, Am War, Themata, Goliath,
Simple Boy, Eidolon, All I Know, Sky Machine,
We Are, Refusal, Set Fire, Aeons, Alpha Gama and
New Day.
Overall I can say that I have never been so bored
at a gig and I’m the man who fell asleep
to Red Hot Chilli Peppers whilst they played Throw
Away Your Television. They sound quality was great(except
for the quiet mic), the guys where all talented
musicians with some great riffs being thrown out
amongst technical knowledge by using the laptop
and effects vocals, but there was just something
missing and that was crowd engagement, honestly
the crowd looked like they were enjoying the show,
but at the same time, they were quiet and stuck
to the spot, and I know people will say it’s
just the type of music and how I’m missing
the point(which I hope I am) but I was disappointed.
I would give them another chance, as it’s
unfair of me just to write them off, but hopefully
it won’t be any time soon.
Karnivool 2/5
Review By James Daly
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