Machine Head: Live Review

By guest writer Jenna MacPhee

18th February 2010, Brixton Academy, London England: My first chance to see Machine Head headlining their own tour came on the 18th of February 2010 at London's legendary Brixton Academy. I had seen them 12 times previously but only as a support act, co-headliner or at a festival so I was very, very excited to finally see them playing their own headline tour. I was particularly excited to see them at Brixton as their live Elegies dvd was filmed here and it's one of my all time favourite live music dvds.

The Black Procession tour consisted of four bands - Man Must Die, Bleeding Through, Hatebreed and of course, Machine Head. I wasn't bothered about seeing any of the other bands to be honest, it was all about Machine Head for me. We got to the venue just in time to see Hatebreed. Standing at the back for their set, we had an awesome view as the floor of Brixton is slanted, so you can see over everyone's heads. I knew alot of my friends like them and I really was quite impressed.

I can't be at the back for one of my favourite bands, it would kill me - so after Hatebreed had finished we made our way down to the front and easily got about 2-3 people from the front on the left side. At around 9.15pm, Ozzy's Diary Of A Madman starting playing over the PA, announcing Machine Head's imminent arrival. You could tell the die hard fans in the crowd by who reacts to this song playing!

The intro for Clenching The Fists Of Dissent has one of the greatest build up's in any metal song for me - it's rather reminiscent of Metallica's Battery. The acoustic guitars building up and up until a wall of metal riffage smacks you square in the face. Once this song started, the entire floor exploded. It was just a sea of circle pits and hair flying. No time to rest after that song following it with the mighty Imperium which is probably my favourite Machine Head song. The crowd was singing along so loudly and knew every word.

Robb (Flynn, vocals and guitar) announced that on this tour, they'd be playing some new stuff, some old stuff and some never played before stuff and then came the UK debut of Bite The Bullet from their incredible Through The Ashes Of Empires album. They've been touring on the back of The Blackening for three years now and this was the first headline tour they'd done behind it so there was quite alot played from this album. As it's my favourite Machine Head album, I had no problem with that whatsoever!

A real surprise came in the form of the live premiere of All Falls Down. That one really came out of left field but it was amazing. Then came crowd favourite, Aesthetics Of Hate. When Machine Head had played in Vienna, they'd got a fan called Peter up to play this song and Robb told the crowd that they'd invited him over to see the London show and told everyone about the You Tube video. I had seen this video before the show and thought it was just so cool of the band to do that - but then even cooler to invite him to another show and tell the crowd about it. Backstage, the band had been presented with a plaque which certifed The Blackening silver in the UK. Robb thanked us all very much for supporting them and said that the award should be given to us, not them. He then proceeded to hand the plaque to a lucky fan in the front row!!

Old had the crowd bouncing up to the ceiling which is just such a fun thing to do. I love being in the crowd when everyone's jumping - it's just so much fun. A chance to rest came afterwards with personal favourite, The Burning Red. Robb's vocals were outstanding on that one. Another surprise next with Exhale The Vile from the much underrated Burning Red album - it was awesome!! Before the show, I'd said that I really wanted to hear Block as it's my favourite from Burn My Eyes. Imagine my excitement when Robb announced, "From our very first album Burn My Eyes, this is FUCK IT ALL!!!!!!". The pits for that song were crazy!! It would have been one huge pit but as I said before, the floor of Brixton is slanted (due to it being an old theatre) and so there are bars sporadically placed throughout, preventing a crush at the front but also preventing huge circle pits!

The encore was the epic Halo and Machine Head's anthem - Davidian. The crowd gave every last bit of energy they had and so did the band. This was the first time I'd been to Brixton and instantly it has become one of my favourite venues.

Clenching The Fists Of Dissent
Imperium
Take My Scars
Bite The Bullet
Ten Ton Hammer
Now I Lay Thee Down
Beautiful Mourning
All Falls Down
Aesthetics Of Hate
Old
The Burning Red
Exhale The Vile
Bulldozer
Block
Encore:
Halo
Davidian

21st February 2010, O2 Academy, Birmingham England: The next stop on my mini Machine Head tour was Birmingham. We got to the venue earlier this time so managed to catch Bleeding Through's set. They were ok but nothing that I would go nuts over. Hatebreed were killer once again and had the crowd jumping and headbanging from their very first song. For a support band to invoke that kind of reaction is admirable to say the least. We worked our way down to the front again, on the right side this time, and (im)patiently awaited for Machine Head

Opening with the one-two punch of Clenching and Imperium is just incredible!! I often wonder what it was like to see Machine Head before they had written those songs, cos none of their other songs work as well as these two do as openers. True to Robb's word, they did change up the setlist going into the thrashfest of Struck A Nerve which kicked off several pits from the get-go. I remember how surprised I was to hear that when they played the Sonisphere festival at Knebworth. I love not knowing the setlist as surprises like A Nation On Fire are totally unexpected. It really was amazing to hear live.

The venue was really small but the place was totally rammed and it was so hot in there. I was drenched from head to foot. The crowd were again, really really loud which is always great to hear. Another song that I was really wanting to hear live was Seasons Wither and my wish was granted after The Burning Red. It always reminds me of the Elegies dvd. The setlist wasn't too different from London but hearing A Nation On Fire and Seasons Wither meant I didn't really care! Haha!

Clenching The Fists Of Dissent
Imperium
Struck A Nerve
A Nation On Fire
Ten Ton Hammer
Now I Lay Thee Down
Beautiful Mourning
Aesthetics Of Hate
Old
The Burning Red
Seasons Wither
Bulldozer
Block
Encore:
Halo
Davidian

23rd February 2010, O2 Academy, Glasgow Scotland: The last and final stop on my little tour was at my local stomping ground of Glasgow, Scotland. I was really looking forward to this show as I know how amazing the Glasgow metal crowd is. I got there in time to see the first band, Man Must Die (who are actually from Glasgow) and they weren't really to my taste but the rest of the crowd seemed to like them and gave them a good reception. Again, I'd gone up front on the right side and had an excellent view of the bands. I enjoyed Bleeding Through alot more than I did in Birmingham for some reason. I was trying to conserve my energy and not rock out too much but Hatebreed were just too good to stand still to!! During their set I'd managed to get one person from the barrier and I hoped I'd be able to find an opening to squeeze onto it sometime.

I was a little apprehensive about the crowd when I first went in. At 25, I felt like one of the oldest people there since the average age looked like about 16!! I shouldn't have worried and had faith in my fellow Scots cos they didn't let me down. During Imperium, someone on the barrier moved away and so I managed to squeeze myself onto the barrier, much to my sheer delight! Apparently at shows, I have a premanently huge grin stuck on my face and during Take My Scars, Adam (Duce, bass) was smiling back at me alot, giving me these really cheesy grins. He'd done the same in Birmingham, or so I thought, but you can never be too sure as the 10 people around you probably think he's looking at them too. This time I was certain tho. After the song, he aimed his pick at me. It bounced off my hands, but the security guard gave it to me. Yay!

All Falls Down got it's second airing that night and it was just as good as the first time. During Bulldozer, Phil (Demmel, guitar) came right down off the stage onto the flight cases that were in front and was singing along with us. The circle pit for Struck A Nerve was just sick! I'd never seen a pit that big since I saw Anthrax playing Indians at the Academy way back in 2007. Before the encores, the "Machine Fuckin' Head!!" chants were deafening. This soon changed into a rousing rendition of the Scottish national anthem, Flower Of Scotland. It really was amazing to hear it and it's the only country in the world I have heard do that and at a metal gig of all places!!

My favourite part of the night came during Halo. Robb always gets the crowd to clap along and as the song gets quicker, he always says, "a little faster please" to get the crowd to clap quicker in time with the song. Because I'd seen them so much, I knew all of these little things Robb says before and during each song. I knew this bit was coming up and at the time was looking at Adam as I mimed this bit along with Robb. Adam starting cracking up completely which just made my night and we both were having a laugh about that. It was really cool that I caused that much of a reaction. During that song, there was wave after wave of crowd surfers coming over our heads. I'd never seen that many at an indoor gig before. After Davidian, Adam threw his wristband at me but unfortunately I didn't manage to get it.

It was an amazing gig to end my dose of live Blackening but I really can't wait until they write a new album and come back and do it all again!!

Clenching The Fists Of Dissent
Imperium
Take My Scars
Bite The Bullet
Ten Ton Hammer
Now I Lay Thee Down
Beautiful Mourning
All Falls Down
Aesthetics Of Hate
Old
The Burning Red
Exhale The Vile
Bulldozer
Struck A Nerve
Encore:
Halo
Davidian

Check out the band at www.machinehead1.com!

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