Karnivool, Over-reactor, Shockone @ The Corner Hotel, Melbourne (9-10/06/2011)
The announcement of Karnivool's only Australian tour for 2011 had me so excited, particularly as the Melbourne shows would be in such an intimate venue - the Corner Hotel. Karnivool have had such a huge impact on my life, mostly over the past year, and knowing I would be seeing them in such a small venue, with the possibility of new material to be played, was good enough to make my year; it's safe to say that the same can be said for many other hardcore Karnivool fans.
The Corner Hotel was completely sold out for these two shows, and punters gathered in the venue eager to witness what would be a pretty special couple of nights.
Over-reactor, compromising of Ezekiel Ox and Cory Blight brought their confronting death-hop performance to the stage shortly after doors opened. Ox immediately engaged the crowd with his eccentric dancing, jumping into the middle of the crowd and singing from there to entice viewers into joining in with the performance, as Blight took control of the drums on stage. Over both nights he demanded the audience's participation, encouraging them to jump around with him. Despite some minor mic problems on the second night, Ox clambered onto the barrier and declared that "This is the most energised I've been all evening!" Both nights, the band ended their set with Chris Cheney from The Living End, who joined the band on stage to perform Something More, and, on the Friday show, a little bit of Somewhere Over The Rainbow - yes, the song from the Wizard of Oz. The crowd was all over the pair by the end of their set, and they left the stage to the sound of appreciative cheers.
Shockone was up to entertain the crowd next with his drum and bass remixes. Due to being tucked away in the corner next to the merchandise stand, I failed to realise he was actually in the room playing the music until Ezekiel Ox pointed this out on the Friday night. The crowd grew restless due to the lack of a rock performance on the main stage, and were visibly getting bored of the remixes. Karnivool are known for pulling out random bands that embody genres that are slightly different from Vool's sound, but unfortunately, this completely different music style just wasn't suitable for this particular audience at all.
After what felt like an unnaturally long wait, Karnivool took to the stage, opening the show with a soft, alluring introduction to Goliath which had also been used on their 2008 tour. Goliath officially opened the set, and the crowd on both nights reacted very differently - Thursday night, the crowd were not particularly rough during the first few songs, but Friday night had the audience, majority of which in the first few rows were males, going absolutely insane, and crowd surfers headed over the top of me in both the first song and Simple Boy, as us along the barrier felt our ribs crushing against the metal bar from the pressure of the crowd.
Third song of the set was one that only several crowds had witnessed previously: The Refusal. The track is very heavy for the majority of the way through, with the usual scattered time signatures all the way through the song. Bassist Jon Stockman adds vocals onto this track for the first time, yelling out the words with Ian Kenny several times during the song. The setlist on Thursday night had Sky Machine, another new song (and from what I vaguely heard during Karnivool's soundcheck, it's much slower than The Refusal), included on it, but halfway through the set Drew was telling the band not to include it, most likely due to time constraints. A shame really, as they didn't play it on Friday night either.
The erratic attitude of the Friday night audience allowed the band to feed off their energy, producing the most incredible and awe-inspiring Vool sets I've witnessed. The crowd just simply put all their effort into basically going crazy throughout every single song; Thursday night had the crowd relaxing slightly during slower songs such as Umbra and Deadman, but even during those songs on Friday night the audience did not ease up at all. As per usual, C.O.T.E., Themata, Roquefort and Set Fire To The Hive had the audience on both nights jumping around and yelling out the words.
Synops also introduced the encore at both gigs, earning a huge cheer from the crowd once it began. It was an excellent surprise to see this one live; from my point of view, the track is one of Karnivool's most underrated songs, if not the most underrated. The song contains enormous power live, and knowing how rare it is to see this song performed in the Karnivool live show made it all the more special.
The show on Thursday ended with New Day - which is a personal favourite of mine, in terms of the song itself and the absolutely perfect finish to the set it brings. The feeling of hearing 850 people around you screaming out the lyrics replicating the emotion that the band brings to the song always sends chills down my spine. On Friday night, it ended the main set, and this show also saw the inclusion of Change at the end of the show. It was my first time witnessing Change finishing the performance, and as much as I adore the song, I prefer it to close the main set. However, it's always fantastic to witness the song live, taking the crowd on a journey as, once again, the band pours so much of their own emotions into the song.
Both nights were treated to practically the same setlist, however, the band recognised that many people had come to both shows and thus, tweaked it slightly for us, keeping a minor element of surprise. It was interesting to experience how different the two shows were; despite appearing somewhat tired (clearly having had a rather big night the evening before) the band put on such a strong performance on Friday night, and the crowd was much, much more involved in the performance than the previous night. It was visible to everyone who attended both shows that although the Thursday gig had been fantastic - as always with Karnivool - the next night was definitely something very, very special. The entire band appeared more involved in the performance, and Kenny interacted more with the crowd too, constantly coming to the front of the stage and reaching out to shake those in the first few rows hands.
Both shows had been fantastic, and it was clear that the small, intimate venue had been far too tiny to completely encompass the sheer enormity of Karnivool's sound; however, the atmosphere at these smaller shows are always more intense and electric, for both the audiences and the band. It's obvious that the band are enjoying these shows as much as the crowds, it having been so long since they've seen us Australian crowds - anyone who is going along to a show on this tour has so much to look forward to.
Georgia Hunter
The Corner Hotel was completely sold out for these two shows, and punters gathered in the venue eager to witness what would be a pretty special couple of nights.
Over-reactor, compromising of Ezekiel Ox and Cory Blight brought their confronting death-hop performance to the stage shortly after doors opened. Ox immediately engaged the crowd with his eccentric dancing, jumping into the middle of the crowd and singing from there to entice viewers into joining in with the performance, as Blight took control of the drums on stage. Over both nights he demanded the audience's participation, encouraging them to jump around with him. Despite some minor mic problems on the second night, Ox clambered onto the barrier and declared that "This is the most energised I've been all evening!" Both nights, the band ended their set with Chris Cheney from The Living End, who joined the band on stage to perform Something More, and, on the Friday show, a little bit of Somewhere Over The Rainbow - yes, the song from the Wizard of Oz. The crowd was all over the pair by the end of their set, and they left the stage to the sound of appreciative cheers.
Shockone was up to entertain the crowd next with his drum and bass remixes. Due to being tucked away in the corner next to the merchandise stand, I failed to realise he was actually in the room playing the music until Ezekiel Ox pointed this out on the Friday night. The crowd grew restless due to the lack of a rock performance on the main stage, and were visibly getting bored of the remixes. Karnivool are known for pulling out random bands that embody genres that are slightly different from Vool's sound, but unfortunately, this completely different music style just wasn't suitable for this particular audience at all.
After what felt like an unnaturally long wait, Karnivool took to the stage, opening the show with a soft, alluring introduction to Goliath which had also been used on their 2008 tour. Goliath officially opened the set, and the crowd on both nights reacted very differently - Thursday night, the crowd were not particularly rough during the first few songs, but Friday night had the audience, majority of which in the first few rows were males, going absolutely insane, and crowd surfers headed over the top of me in both the first song and Simple Boy, as us along the barrier felt our ribs crushing against the metal bar from the pressure of the crowd.
Third song of the set was one that only several crowds had witnessed previously: The Refusal. The track is very heavy for the majority of the way through, with the usual scattered time signatures all the way through the song. Bassist Jon Stockman adds vocals onto this track for the first time, yelling out the words with Ian Kenny several times during the song. The setlist on Thursday night had Sky Machine, another new song (and from what I vaguely heard during Karnivool's soundcheck, it's much slower than The Refusal), included on it, but halfway through the set Drew was telling the band not to include it, most likely due to time constraints. A shame really, as they didn't play it on Friday night either.
The erratic attitude of the Friday night audience allowed the band to feed off their energy, producing the most incredible and awe-inspiring Vool sets I've witnessed. The crowd just simply put all their effort into basically going crazy throughout every single song; Thursday night had the crowd relaxing slightly during slower songs such as Umbra and Deadman, but even during those songs on Friday night the audience did not ease up at all. As per usual, C.O.T.E., Themata, Roquefort and Set Fire To The Hive had the audience on both nights jumping around and yelling out the words.
Synops also introduced the encore at both gigs, earning a huge cheer from the crowd once it began. It was an excellent surprise to see this one live; from my point of view, the track is one of Karnivool's most underrated songs, if not the most underrated. The song contains enormous power live, and knowing how rare it is to see this song performed in the Karnivool live show made it all the more special.
The show on Thursday ended with New Day - which is a personal favourite of mine, in terms of the song itself and the absolutely perfect finish to the set it brings. The feeling of hearing 850 people around you screaming out the lyrics replicating the emotion that the band brings to the song always sends chills down my spine. On Friday night, it ended the main set, and this show also saw the inclusion of Change at the end of the show. It was my first time witnessing Change finishing the performance, and as much as I adore the song, I prefer it to close the main set. However, it's always fantastic to witness the song live, taking the crowd on a journey as, once again, the band pours so much of their own emotions into the song.
Both nights were treated to practically the same setlist, however, the band recognised that many people had come to both shows and thus, tweaked it slightly for us, keeping a minor element of surprise. It was interesting to experience how different the two shows were; despite appearing somewhat tired (clearly having had a rather big night the evening before) the band put on such a strong performance on Friday night, and the crowd was much, much more involved in the performance than the previous night. It was visible to everyone who attended both shows that although the Thursday gig had been fantastic - as always with Karnivool - the next night was definitely something very, very special. The entire band appeared more involved in the performance, and Kenny interacted more with the crowd too, constantly coming to the front of the stage and reaching out to shake those in the first few rows hands.
Both shows had been fantastic, and it was clear that the small, intimate venue had been far too tiny to completely encompass the sheer enormity of Karnivool's sound; however, the atmosphere at these smaller shows are always more intense and electric, for both the audiences and the band. It's obvious that the band are enjoying these shows as much as the crowds, it having been so long since they've seen us Australian crowds - anyone who is going along to a show on this tour has so much to look forward to.
Georgia Hunter