Live Reviews : Tomahawk @ Billboard The Venue, Melbourne 27/02/2013

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Tomahawk are a supergroup by anyone’s definition. Made up from members of Faith No More (vocalist Mike Patton), Helmet (drummer John Stanier), Mr Bungle (bassist Trevor Dunn (and Mike Patton)) and the Jesus Lizard (guitarist Duane Denison), Tomahawk made people stand up and take notice when they formed in 2000. Despite their creative might, Tomahawk feels like a band that never quite met their potential. After four albums involving a mix of semi experimental and mainstream songs, their incredibly diverse sound has produced mixed result.

Still, their appearance at Billboards in Melbourne was a sell out, and given they are adding these shows to their soundwave performances, it’s clear there is a strong following for their music.

After half an hour of looped native American chanting, Tomahawk hit the stage to Mayday.

One line into their second song, Flashback, Patton’s microphone died. His solution? Dive head first into the crowd. Making his way back on stage, he finished the song on the backing microphone, and showed every other band how best to overcome technical difficulties.

The band sounded great on stage, as you’d expect from musicians of this calibre, and Patton is constantly altering his voice on his personal soundboard.

Rape this Day and Captain Midnight had the crowd completely involved, but like their music, the crowd’s excitement was similarly diverse throughout the set. After four albums, they have a solid setlist, but still don’t have enough songs which blow your mind to make their show a great one.

Finishing their set with Totem, arguably the highlight off Anonymous, the band decided that that wasn’t enough and honoured the crowd with a second encore with their cover of country song Just One More.

They didn’t exactly end the show with a bang, but maybe that’s just Tomahawk’s style.

Review by Matthew Dworak

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