Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
December 6th 2014, The Wiltern, Los Angeles CA: New Orleans sludgelords Down began a US headline tour on the 1st of December, aptly titled ‘The Punk Rock But Kinda Not’ tour, with Down and main support Orange Goblin bringing the stoner/sludge to the American masses and opening acts B’last and King Parrot blending in with the punk. The lineup looked absolutely stellar on paper, and it remained to be seen whether it lived up to its potential in reality. Down were on a mission to give fans one hell of a good time with a few tunes off of their two latest EPs and a selection of older material to go with it. Five days into the tour, Down and company descended upon downtown Los Angeles for a gig at the Wiltern last evening. The last time I saw Down was at this very venue in 2009, with Melvins, Weedeater and Danava. Down comprised a much different cast of members back then, and I was most looking forward to discovering whether the current version of the band would match up to the powerhouse that was their old lineup.
The queue of ticket holders waiting outside the venue started forming as early as 5 PM and was considerably long by the time doors opened at 7. The atmosphere was festive as a large majority of the Los Angeles metal community was in attendance to support and enjoy this event. In the buildup, Live Nation made extremely strong efforts to promote the show through a slew of ticket giveaways, which definitely made the show a success. It was smart of them to ensure that the venue was packed one way or another. It’s certainly better to have people inside the building, as those that won free tickets would most probably pay for parking at the venue and might potentially purchase other items during the show. Concert promotion these days is severely lacking, in my opinion, and Live Nation’s strategy towards this show was a refreshing change from the norm.
Australian grind/punk outfit King Parrot took the stage at 8 PM to a sizable audience and by the time they were done, not even a single attendee was left unimpressed, such was their impact level. Having previously seen them headline the Satellite, I already knew what to expect but was still treated to a fascinating variation of the King Parrot show as frontman Matt Young ran amok on this relatively vast stage and triumphantly succeeded in his attempts to get the audience involved. He kept urging people in the ‘floor’ sections to move to the ‘pit’, but he was perhaps unaware of the fact that the Wiltern sold separate, higher-priced tickets for the pit section for this show and hence the floor ticket holders couldn’t move forward even if they wanted to. He constantly sprayed many in the front few rows with water and ran through the crowd on a couple of occasions, even reaching the first floor level at one point, much to the delight of people in that section. The last song of the set also featured a brief appearance by Phil Anselmo. Overall, it was a very G.G. Allin-inspired performance, sans the defecation, and was a show in every sense of the word, complete with short shorts and butt cracks. If you haven’t seen King Parrot yet, you must.
Related: In-depth Interview With King Parrot Frontman Matt Young
King Parrot links: facebook | twitter | instagram
Playing their first gig of this tour, Santa Cruz/Los Angeles hardcore punk veterans B’last were next to take the stage. Led by vocalist Clifford Dinsmore and featuring in their ranks bassist Nick Oliveri, B’last put forth a solid performance but it has to be said that it might have been the wrong place and the wrong time for their set. The audience was still recovering from King Parrot’s insane onslaught and theirs is a tough act to follow for any band on this planet. Besides, the echoey nature of the Wiltern’s sound and its overall atmosphere wasn’t really suited to a band like B’last. I’ve seen them play off-the-chain shows at places like the Echo, and this B’last experience was not quite the same, not really through any fault of their own. I absolutely love B’last, and I know for a fact that there will be a better B’last show in Los Angeles in the not-too-distant future.
B’last links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
England’s best-kept metal secret for the past 20 years, cult heroes Orange Goblin got their turn to showcase their wares to an appreciative audience and made great use of it with a righteous 40-minute set. The towering personality of singer Ben Ward made an immediate connection and vocally he was able to reach out to the entire theatre, while his band mates effortlessly laid down some highly enjoyable heavy music. I’m still in awe of their 2012 seventh studio album ‘A Eulogy For The Damned’ and strongly feel it’s their best work, so I was eager to hear material from it. They didn’t come until towards the end of the set but it was completely worth the wait, and rocking out to the songs ‘The Fog’ and ‘Red Tide Rising’ along with members of Holy Grail, who toured with Orange Goblin last year and unsurprisingly knew every single word, was one of the highlights of the evening from my perspective. The set was missing ‘Acid Trial’ and ‘The Filthy And The Few’, two other massively great songs off of ‘Eulogy …’, but other than that, Orange Goblin proved themselves more than worthy of their billing on this lineup and came across as a pleasant surprise to those unfamiliar with them.
Orange Goblin links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
At 10:35, amidst loud chants and roars, our headline act Down appeared on stage and went about putting forth a truly crushing performance for the next two hours. The ‘photo pit’ at this venue is the ADA ramp between the pit and floor sections, and as soon as Down started their set, a large number of floor folks stampeded into the pit, and I had to act quickly and move aside to avoid being trampled. Things had already reached boiling point and the atmosphere in this place was amazing. Each of the older songs was greeted with unanimous approval from this horde of fans. As frontman Phil Anselmo said a few words of tribute to Dimebag Darrell and the band played ‘Lifer’ straight after, the entire audience went nuts. But the three newer tunes were equally well-received, ‘Witchtripper’ off of the 2012 ‘Down IV – Part 1’ EP presenting a stripped-down approach and revisiting the classic sound of the band, and ‘We Knew Him Well’ and ‘Conjure’ off of the 2014 EP coming across as decidedly heavier and doomier than most of Down’s past work.
Patrick Bruders on bass and Boddy Landgraf on guitar filled the shoes of their predecessors excellently, while the old firm of Anselmo, Keenan and Bower gave this audience plenty of reason to rejoice. In comparison to his performance in 2009, in all honesty Phil Anselmo sounded far better and carried a much stronger stage presence. He left no stone unturned in proving that he still is one of the greatest frontmen in metal, and that the combination of his vocal delivery, stage banter, and command over the audience is truly second to none. It was a sheer privilege to bear witness to his exploits on this stage.
On paper, a set of 14 average-duration songs over a period of two hours might seem like it didn’t give the attendees enough music, but Anselmo’s interactions with the crowd as well as his band-mates between songs is quite an integral part of the show. Without that, it wouldn’t be a Down show and Anselmo wouldn’t be Anselmo. They jokingly broke into snippets of David Essex’ ‘Rock On’ on two occasions, and there were plenty of hilarious moments throughout the set otherwise, including Anselmo pointing out at a troublemaker in the front row, calling him ‘Larry from the Three Stooges’ and instructing him to stop fighting with others around him. Down ended with an encore treat comprising crowd favorites ‘Stone The Crow’ and ‘Bury Me In Smoke’, members of the opening acts taking over all instruments mid-way through the latter to bring an aptly cordial close to the event as members of Down took a breather and soaked in a well-deserved applause.
The evening as a whole was a religious experience for worshippers of heavy music, and attending it should be a no-brainer for residents of any of the towns this tour is visiting in its remaining two weeks. Sludge is Down, and this show went on to re-establish the truth to the statement beyond any doubts whatsoever.
Down links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
Set List:
01. Lysergik Funeral Procession
02. Lifer
03. Hail The Leaf
04. Witchtripper
05. We Knew Him Well
06. Something
07. Ghost Of Mississippi
08. Losing All
09. Pillars Of Eternity
10. Temptation’s Wings
11. Conjure
12. Eyes Of The South
Encore:
13. Stone The Crow
14. Bury Me In Smoke
Remaining Tour Dates:
12/07/2014 Ace of Spades – Sacramento, CA
12/08/2014 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
12/10/2014 Showbox at the Market – Seattle, WA
12/11/2014 Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
12/13/2014 Union Hall – Edmonton, AB
12/14/2014 Flames Central – Calgary, AB
12/15/2014 Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA
12/17/2014 Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
12/19/2014 Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
12/20/2014 Gas Monkey Live – Dallas, TX
12/21/2014 Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
The Wiltern links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram