mockbee wrote: ↑Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:03 pm
I've been getting into the Malicious Damage release, oh wow.
This Lokerse Seeing Red performance seems even better than the release.
So good.
Panda, did you see them on that tour? Was that the best that you have seen them, or what was the best tour you saw?
Yeah, I caught them on this tour at the El Rey Theater in Hollywood on Nov 14, 2003. It was one of the best shows I'd seen from them, in large part because I'd only seen them once before in the mid-80's and I was really excited to see them again after nearly 20 years and really digging the (then) new album.
The El Ray is a pretty intimate venue, holds maybe 800 people, all GA so it was the perfect place to see a band. I remember getting there a bit early before dusk and people just starting to file in just as the doors opened. Bassist Paul Raven in camo face paint and oversized hoodie was talking with people in line - dude looked like the unibomber. The opening band was Amen, a very briefly known punk/metal band that was mostly jeered by the KJ audience, especially after the final song in which the obnoxious singer tried to climb the lighting rig and fell a whole 5 feet down on the stage, literally crying that he had broken his arm.
Killing Joke's set was pretty much identical to the set in the Malicious Damage video. They had been playing "Loose Cannon" in the set but had dropped it and slotted in "Follow The Leaders" in it's place by the time I saw them. One thing that really sticks in my head about the show was there was almost constant overwhelming hum/feedback from Geordie's guitar and rig the entire show. I was really tempted to go to a show in San Diego a day or two later but blew it off. It turned out only about 20 people showed up for that show and reportedly Jaz was either sick or fucked up and put on a really poor performance. I think they fired their drummer after that show when he didn't make the flight to a few following dates in Australia.
Probably my favorite Killing Joke show of the bunch I've seen to present day is the 2008 Hollywood House Of Blues show which was part of the original lineup reunion tour.