Lamb of God

w/ DevilDriver, Shadows Fall, High on Fire

Metro City, Perth – 18th December 2009

So after hearing the door were at 8pm for Lamb Of God you’ve got to metro’s at 7:45, waited in line for a good half hour then get in just in time to see Shadows Fall setting up. Hang on, after closer inspection you realise that they’re packing up and it’s Devildriver‘s gear that they’re setting up! After quickly interrogating a random punter, you find out that yes, Shadows Fall have indeed finished playing and are bailing to catch a flight back to Massachusetts. Apparently the doors opened fifteen minutes earlier. A bit of a blow to any Shad’s fans who were still stuck outside being frisked by large Maori security guards. Not the best way to start a three band international line up.

After some squabbling and finding a position in the top tiers of Metro’s – if that’s any indication of the  crowd size, the second level was in fact open and did look nicely filled with punters-a few comical moments from the roadies playing Top Gun licks and Devildriver were ready to go.

After a long intro, Devildriver hit the stage like a freight train with End Of the Line. During the chorus Randall Blythe ran onstage and helped out with vocal duties, setting the overall bromance tone for the gig. Devildriver have a reputation for great live shows, and tonight was no exception, trying desperately  to capture that awesome band-is-on-the-same-level-as-the-fans vibe that Pantera set so many years ago. A noticeable thing about Devildriver is that there really is no absolute stand out musician, they’re just a tight mechanical unit with plenty of miles clocked up touring, which is evident when you see them live. Dez Fafara is a solid front man, who cut his teeth in his previous band Coal Chamber, commanding the crowd through several chants, sing-along’s and obligatory middle fingers in the air- which Dez reckons you will never survive in this world without. This was followed by Dez berating the top level patrons, saying they were pussies and to stay up there holding their girlfriends hands and drinking their overpriced beers. Devildriver set came to a close with Meet The Wretched, Dez explaining to the crowd that in 48hrs he’d be home eating pussy and smoking legal weed, leaving the crowd a tad peckish for an encore and hope  that they will headline their own tour soon.

The main course was still to arrive tho, as the readies then whisked away DD’s gear and constructing the  last pieces of the huge production of the headlining Grammy nominated act Before too long we were treated  to the Metallic-esque intro of The Passing straight from the new disc Wrath. It was an amazing intro and  you could almost feel the audience quivering like neurotic chihuahuas in anticipation of the opening track. They weren’t disappointed as they pummeled the crowd with In your Words followed by Set to Fail. The hits kept a coming with very little objection from the crowd who on all levels, were milling and moshing in ultimate appreciation.

Blythe eventually told the crowd that this was going to be their last show of 2009 and that he was adamant  that it was to be a fuckin’ corker. He wasn’t wrong. With such a vast back catalogue, every song was  celebrated as important and had as much interaction as the other. Ruin, Hourglass, Omerta and Laid To Rest  joining the slew. Hard to pick a stand out moment, that’s for sure. Blythe was an uncontrollable mad-man,  jumping in the crowd for the climax of Now You’ve Got Something To Die For. Lead axe-man Mark Morton  showed of his talents many times, especially in the catchy solo of Walk With Me In Hell and next to the  solid rhythm guitar work of his significant other Willie Adler in a 80’s spotlight moment during a instrumental piece.

The admirable thing about LOG is they’re all excellent musicians in their own right. Everyone has their  place and yet everyone gets to shine the audience in their own way. Bassist John Campbell’s beard seems to  be getting longer and greyer, giving him a gandalf-like quality as he and drummer Chris Adler hold down  the rhythm end with un-parallelled tightness.After an unstoppable barrage of songs, LOG finished with the ultimate crowd sing along Redneck, Blythe commanding his choir like a mad stick-like scarecrow out the front. That was not however the last song. It felt as if the bar was being raised with each song and to put the cherry atop the mountainous cake, John Boeklin, drummer from Devildriver, joined them for a great rendition of the classic closer, Black Label. Boeklin even taking Adler’s guitar and finishing the song with that unmistakable last riff.

A fucking great gig from a band well on their way to global metal dominance and coming very close to that once thought unreachable popularity of their predecessors Pantera.

Setlist:

DevilDriver

End Of The Line
The Mountain
Pray For Villains
Clouds Over California
Fate Stepped In
I Could Care Less
Back With A Vengeance
Before The Hangman’s Noose
These Fighting Words
Meet The Wretched

Lamb Of God

The Passing
In Your Words
Set to Fail
Walk With Me In Hell
Now You’ve Got Something To Die For
Ruin
Hourglass
Dead Seeds
Omerta
Guitar Solo
Grace
Broken Hands
Laid to Rest
Contractor
Reclamation
Redneck
Black Label

Review by:  Owen Thomas