OFF: Killing Joke

[Nick Medford]

Saw KJ at the Astoria on Saturday night- I know quite a few on the list
have a healthy appreciation of the Joke (and maybe some people were there?)
so here's a brief report- excellent gig, very intense at times. Jaz Coleman
still has that uniquely strange stage presence. Emphasis was on the
faster/harder/heavier stuff- lots of pounding tribal rhythms. Line-up was
Jaz, Geordie, Raven, plus a drummer and keyboard player, neither of whom I
recognised, though I think the drummer may have been Ted Parsons (who
played with Raven in Prong). They were augmented by a violinist on the
opening number and the encore, neither of which were familar to me, but on
this evidence I need to plug the remaining holes in my KJ collection as
these were among the highlights. The encore was a soaring, Arabic-flavoured
song- can anyone reveal what this was?

Unlike most bands, KJ select the records played over the PA prior to the
gig themsleves- building up to the gig with the Sensational Alex Harvey
Band's Faith Healer was an inspired choice- mucho atmosphere generated.
Once they came on they kicked off with the aforementioned unidentifiable
(by me) opener and then the set went something like this:

Requiem
Total Invasion
Wardance
Blood On Your Hands
Empire Song
The Wait
The Fall Of Because
Tension
Seeing Red
Kings And Queens
Frenzy
The Death And Resurrection Show
Dominator
Pssyche

plus the encore as above

There were a few other songs played, none of which I can name off the
top of my head- I'd love a full setlist if anyone's got one. I was slightly
disappointed they didn't play The House That Pain Built, my favourite track
off the excellent new album, indeed one of the best songs they've ever done
IMHO, but then again, the new numbers they did play didn't sound as strong
live as I'd expected. The older material, however, came over very
powerfully. The sound could have been better at times (as per usual at the
Astoria).

KJ are still out on tour I think. Incidentally, do they vary the setlists
from gig to gig? I saw a review of the Leeds gig a few days before this one
which mentioned them playing Asteroid and Follow The Leaders, neither of
which were aired on Saturday.

Nick