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Killing Joke - Star Theater, Portland OR - September 2, 2018
[from London UK] CockyYetSweet secured
me a ticket and then I came to the horrifying conclusion that I couldn’t think
of a single song I loved from this band. And I call myself a high school
industrialist. I KNOW I had a Killing Joke album, by which I mean, I had a
Killing Joke cassette tape J J I was just more of a
Ministry, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy girl. During the show, I recognized “Eighties.”
“Love Like Blood” by youtube too. And, in the end, I decided they’re not really
industrial. They’re rollicking goth punk, goth rock. They reminded me most of
Fields of the Nephilim, or a harder Bauhaus. It was an amazing volcanic show. They
were also anarcho punk (“Follow the Leaders”) – I was overcome with hero-worship
when the lead singer’s between-song commentary was exclusively political - no segueway,
no crowd fluffing, just ‘have you heard what’s happening with the whales?’ Sometimes
they were atonal and inaccessible like Skinny Puppy but it never stopped being
a riveting show. And CockyYetSweet’s harmless-guy friend had told me tales of how
they had tickets for Killing Joke’s last show in Portland, which got cancelled,
in sum, because the lead singer is a mentally troubled artist type. I.e., my
type, to my lifelong detriment. The lead singer was a dead ringer for Ozzy,
Robert Smith, although I kept thinking of him as the Roky Erickson of goth punk,
with his sort of disjointed constrained mannerisms. Another band member, weirdo
British, had white dreads, a visor, and a shirt to expose his chest hair. Best
show in a long time.
[from London UK] CockyYetSweet secured
me a ticket and then I came to the horrifying conclusion that I couldn’t think
of a single song I loved from this band. And I call myself a high school
industrialist. I KNOW I had a Killing Joke album, by which I mean, I had a
Killing Joke cassette tape J J I was just more of a
Ministry, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy girl. During the show, I recognized “Eighties.”
“Love Like Blood” by youtube too. And, in the end, I decided they’re not really
industrial. They’re rollicking goth punk, goth rock. They reminded me most of
Fields of the Nephilim, or a harder Bauhaus. It was an amazing volcanic show. They
were also anarcho punk (“Follow the Leaders”) – I was overcome with hero-worship
when the lead singer’s between-song commentary was exclusively political - no segueway,
no crowd fluffing, just ‘have you heard what’s happening with the whales?’ Sometimes
they were atonal and inaccessible like Skinny Puppy but it never stopped being
a riveting show. And CockyYetSweet’s harmless-guy friend had told me tales of how
they had tickets for Killing Joke’s last show in Portland, which got cancelled,
in sum, because the lead singer is a mentally troubled artist type. I.e., my
type, to my lifelong detriment. The lead singer was a dead ringer for Ozzy,
Robert Smith, although I kept thinking of him as the Roky Erickson of goth punk,
with his sort of disjointed constrained mannerisms. Another band member, weirdo
British, had white dreads, a visor, and a shirt to expose his chest hair. Best
show in a long time.
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