Combichrist @ The Glass House 6/16/09

I thought Peter Murphy said goth was extinct? Well it seemed to be the exact opposite that night at The Glass House, a venue where one should not throw stones. But as Demetri Martin once said, “How about no throwing stones regardless of housing situation?” Anyways, ramble on…

Marzinay and I missed Dismantled, the first band on the bill. (PS – thanks for taking the pics!) We got in just in time to see Aesthetic Perfection. The whole band showed great energy and definitely warmed us up for what was going to come. The crowd showed their respect by starting the mosh pit before the set ended. They said they would be performing in LA again in November. I will be there.

Up next was Julien-K, which started as a side project by Amir and Ryan from Orgy. To me they sounded like a mix between KMFDM and Apoptygma Berzerk, which isn’t a bad thing. For sure they did not sound like Orgy 2.0. Like Aesthetic Perfection, they kept the energy going and certainly did not kill the mood. They seem to already have a pretty big following as most of the crowd already knew their lyrics.

Finally the main event was about to begin. No Dust and Bones this time, although some of us in the crowd were already singing it. Those who have seen the last two Combichrist tours know what I’m talking about…

Andy and the crew came out at full force opening with All Pain Is Gone. Up next was Today I Woke to the Rain of Blood which kept us jumping to the beat. At this point I decided it was time to make my way into the pit. I forced my way from the right side of the floor to the middle just in time for the start of I Want Your Blood. The pit was pretty much nonstop for the whole night, as was the awesomeness of the band. Joe Letz is becoming one of my favorite drummers and Trevor makes them a lot more fun to watch than from when Kourtney Klein was on percussion.

One of the things I was thinking about at the last couple of shows is I’ve seemed to be focusing on what songs the band didn’t play instead of what they did play. But that wasn’t the case this time with Combichrist as they rolled out all the favorites. Maybe because it’s their 2nd tour this year and they have a better feel for what the crowd wants.

The rest of the set (not in this order) went like this: This Is My Rifle, Electrohead, Get Out of My Head, Fuck That Shit, Get Your Body Beat, Blut Royale (dedicated to the other bands on the tour), Sent to Destroy, Shut Up and Swallow, Deathbed. Then the encore consisted of This Shit Will Fcuk You Up and What the Fuck is Wrong With You.

So after my 5th time seeing Combichrist, they once again hath fucketh this shiteth upeth!

:Q:

NIN/JA May 20, 2009 at Verizon Amphitheater

There were a lot of upset people at the Irvine show on May 20, 2009. NIN opened for Jane’s Addiction! I, like many people in the audience, was not expecting that at all. The show was promoted as NIN with Jane’s Addiction. (NIN/JA 2009 Tour) I did not pay to see Jane’s headline. I guess my fault for showing up late, got there and NIN was already on stage. Trent had a stage made up of only bright white lights, very simple. Only songs I got to hear were, Echoplex, Day the World Went Away, The Hand that Feeds and Head Like a Hole. I tried to enjoy what was left of the show but was so disappointed that I had pretty much missed their last show.

After a short stage change, both bands keeping it simple; Jane’s had a movie that showed the importance of the band’s return to children who never got to see them live. Jane’s also had huge Betty Paige/pin-up look a likes as part of their set. They started their show with, Three Days. Watching Perry Farrell is always entertaining, he is so eccentric! Dave Navarro was great on lead guitar and didn’t look bad shirtless!

The only highlight for me was watching someone throw a shoe at Perry Farrell and him throwing it back and it getting tossed back to him.

NIN final tour and they open for Jane’s Addiction……wtf!

Zyner

5/27/09 @ The Palladium

The Prodigy is the law. You can’t break the law. Destructo and Glitch Mob know this but they still managed to warm up the crowd to a decent level. I thought it was weird that they didn’t have a break between the 2 DJ sets, but whatever. On to the main event…

The Prodigy opened with World’s On Fire from the new record Invaders Must Die. They came out relentlessly and never let up. The crowd gave it all back jumping, moshing and singing along all night. The band hardly breaked between songs and the energy just kept going. Playing guitar/bass for the band was Rob Holliday, who has also been a member of Marilyn Manson’s band. They also had a live drummer but I don’t know who it is. Other tracks played from the new album were the amazing track Omen, Run With the Wolves, Take Me to the Hospital, Warrior’s Dance and of course the title track. We were also treated to Comanche from the bonus disc The Lost Beats EP, which they used to end their set pre-encore. Old favorites of the night included Their Law, Breathe, Poison, Firestarter, Voodoo People, Diesel Power, Smack My Bitch Up and Out of Space, which was the last track of the night.

Surprisingly (maybe) none of the tracks from Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned were played. I would’ve loved to hear Girls or Spitfire. I also wanted to hear Funky Shit, but since they had to fit in all those new songs, of course some old tracks would have to be cut.

Zyner got to see the show from the front row and not only got some amazing pictures, but Maxim’s wristband as well! Yes she washed it… I was in the pit of course

This was the 1st time seeing the band for both of us and hopefully not the last. Liam, Keith and Maxim delivered and delivered hard.

:Q: