Wednesday 16 November 2011

Duff McKagan's Loaded at the Garage

Okay, I'd promised this review to a friend of mine last week and never got around to writing it until now. People who know me or have read any of my previous blogs raving about this band will probably see me as quite biased. So to begin with I'll say that whereas I've never seen this band play badly, I have seen them play shows that I don't think live up to what they are capable of.

The most recent of those was earlier this year at Donington Park's Download Festival. Once again, they didn't play badly, but there was a problem... they were on the main stage. Absolutely amazing to see a band like that on the main stage, and it was a great opportunity for them, but it made it clear to me that they are not a band that thrives on a larger stage. Along with the actual music being played, the quality of Loaded shows relies on the energy that the band and audience feed to each other. On a large stage, that's not possible. You could say that about any bands I suppose, but I think there is a big difference between a band that is meant to play large stages, and a band that is best viewed in a small sweaty club on a stage too small to contain all of the personality's playing. Later in the day, I saw Korn who are one of the former. For Loaded small, raw and sweaty is where they belong.

The very definition of that was the second time I saw the band play back on their UK tour in support of the 'Wasted Heart' E.P. back in 2008. The show was at Nottingham's Rock City, in a room that can't have more than a 200 capacity, with a stage only just big enough to fit all four band members. I was lucky enough to be on the barrier to witness Duff McKagan, Mike Squire, Jeff Rouse and Geoff Reading play one of the greatest shows I've ever been to in my life, if not the best.

I specifically mention that one, because it's so hard to top that show that it is a truly impressive feat that last week's show at The Garage came such a close second. Playing a well-balanced set between material from their albums, as well as a few choice covers that delve into Duff's back-catalogue, Duff, Mike, Jeff and Burke Thomas (filling in for Geoff Reading's replacement, Isaac Carpenter) played 90 minutes of non-stop raw rock n' roll, starting with three tracks from the bands most recent album, 'The Taking'.

Other than the tracks from 'The Taking', and the previous album, 'Sick', the real treat was hearing songs from the band's debut album 'Dark Days' that haven't been given a live airing in some time (most notably the title track, and 'Wrap My Arms'), as well as a couple of impromptu tracks not originally on the setlist. At one point, just before the acoustic section of the evening when Squires had just set up his acoustic guitar and getting ready to play 'You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory', Duff suddenly enquired, "is she really goin' out with him?".... yep... next came three quarters of the band playing The Damned's punk classic 'New Rose' whilst Mike had to quickly change back to his electric guitar. It's nice to see that there's still room for spontonaeity in rock n' roll sometimes. Not quite as amusing, but apparently 'Wasted Heart' wasn't originally meant to be played either.

As great as it was, though (and it was great), it's about time Loaded play more of their own material instead of falling back on old GN'R/punk covers. Not that I don't like hearing those songs, and I'm all for having a couple of them in the set, but 7 of 19 songs is a bit much.

Executioners Song (from Wasted Heart E.P./The Taking)
We Win (from The Taking)
Dead Skin (from The Taking)
Sleaze Factory (from Sick)
Dark Days (from Dark Days)
Seattle Head (from Duff's Beautiful Disease/Dark Days)
So Fine (Guns N' Roses track from Use Your Illusion II)
Wrap My Arms (from Dark Days)
Sick (from Sick)
Good News (Neurotic Outsiders song)
Cocaine (from The Taking)
Your Name (from The Taking)
Lords of Abbadon (from The Taking)
New Rose (The Damned cover/from the Guns N' Roses album, The Spaghetti Incident?)
You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory (acoustic) (Johnny Thunders cover/from the Guns N' Roses album, The Spaghetti Incident?) - ends with a singalong of GN'R's Patience
Wasted Heart (acoustic) (from Wasted Heart E.P./Sick)
Attitude (Misfits cover/from the Guns N' Roses album, The Spaghetti Incident?)
Dust N' Bones (Guns N' Roses song from Use Your Illusion I)
It's So Easy (Guns N' Roses song from Appetite For Destruction)

Loaded were supported by Riot:Noise and Dear Superstar. I've known Martin, Riot:Noise's singer for years thanks to the Velvet Revolver forum, and until last week every time they've somewhere I could get to I've always had something else that needs doing, or know money for travel/tickets. I was beginning to think I'd never see them, and when I finally did, I was not disappointed. They played a strong set including the one song that I knew well - 'Never Wrong' - and ending on a fantastic rendition of a song called 'Fight The People'.

Dear Superstar is another story. Their singer obviously thinks that he is a rock star already from that swagger he obviously thinks makes him look cool. A note for everyone it may involve... it takes a certain type of person to walk around a stage like that and look cool. If you're not that kind of a person, you just look like a twat. Dear Superstar's singer looks like a twat. An incredibly creepy twat who likes looking directly into people's eyes with a murderous kind of look that I can't help but think he believes is a sexy look. This could all be forgivable if the songs were good, but... well. "Damn your damn religion", is the most hilariously awful attempt to be controversial I've ever heard in song lyrics. Maybe if it was the 1950's it wouldn't be so funny, but this is a world which has Marilyn Manson and Trent Reznor in it. Hell, even Lady Gaga does a better job of controversy. All of this combined left me struggling (and failing) to keep a straight face throughout their set.

Smashing Pumpkins at Brixton

Ever since Billy Corgan announced the return of The Smashing Pumpkins without founding members James Iha and D'Arcy Wretzky back in 2006, a lot of criticism has been leveled at him, some fair, some not. Of the former: Yes, he is incredibly arrogant with his head wedged firmly up his ass - although I have to add that this has always been the case. Yes, ever since he's joined Twitter his insanity is becoming more and more clear, from his rants about climate change being a fraud despite all evidence to the contrary, to his jumping on some even weirder conspiracy bandwagons (chemtrails, Billy? Really!?). And yes, he does tend to take himself far too seriously.

Of the latter: No, it's not impossible for a band to keep up its high standard with only one or two original members. No, the comeback album, 'Zeitgeist' was not the disaster that it has been portrayed as. No, a band shouldn't just go out and play the hits once they reach a certain age, and no, when selfish people decide to leave a show early because they're playing new material, he was not wrong for berating them. Especially when the new material is of the quality showcased last night at Brixton Academy, where they played a perfect mixture of old ('Window Paine', 'Geek U.S.A.'), new (six tracks from the soon-to-be-released 'Oceania', and two from the work-in-progress 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope'), familiar ('Siva', 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings') and obscure ('Starla', 'Frail And Bedazzled') tracks. In fact,take a look at the setlist in full:

Quasar (from Oceania)
Panopticon (from Oceania)
Starla (from Pisces Iscariot/I Am One B-Side)
Geek U.S.A. (from Siamese Dream)
Muzzle (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)
Window Paine (from Gish)
Lightning Strikes (from Teargarden by Kaleidyscope)
Soma (from Siamese Dream)
Siva (from Gish)
Oceania (from Oceania)
Frail And Bedazzled (from Pisces Iscariot/Siamese Dream outtake)
Silverfuck (from Siamese Dream)
Pinwheels (from Oceania)
Pale Horse (from Oceania)
Thru The Eyes Of Ruby (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness) - this song featured an extended outro which included parts of I Am One
Cherub Rock (from Siamese Dream)
Owata (from Teargarden By Kaleidyscope)
My Love Is Winter (from Oceania)
For Martha (from Adore) - one of the most epic moments of the night

ENCORE
Zero (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)
Bullet With Butterfly Wings (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)

People hoping for a greatest hits set were surely disappointed, but anyone just willing to take in whatever the band were willing to throw at us appreciated an epic set combining hard riffs (from both guitars and drums), soaring guitar solos and gentle balladry as only the Smashing Pumpkins can. The perfect example to draw from here is the rendition of 'For Martha', which seamlessly combined all of these elements into one of the most awe-inspiring and grand moments of the night. I was worried when I'd seen that the band had been ending the regular set with a track from the ultra-mellow electronica-tinged 'Adore', but they created an arrangement worthy of the rest of the set.

When the band first appeared with two tracks from 'Oceania' followed by a rarely played live B-Side, I thought that whereas Billy and the band which now includes guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Nicole Fiorentino and drummer Mike Byrne were firing on all cylinders, I'd be extremely disappointed by the reaction of the crowd. Fortunately however, it seems that their timid response was largely due to their lack of familiarity with the songs, and not through a lack of appreciation, as as soon as the first chords of 'Geek U.S.A.' rang out the energy picked up, and soared even higher as they went into 'Muzzle'. This subsided whenever new material would be played, but unlike the shows in the U.S.A. in which people would leave whenever a new track was played, the crowd at the Brixton Academy would listen attentively and genuinely seemed impressed with the tracks from 'Oceania' - which if live performances are anything to go by, could possibly be the best Pumpkins album since 'Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness' - although the two tracks from the much less accessible 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope' didn't seem to go over quite as well. If people haven't heard those songs, yet, they should head over to http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/ and download the ten tracks released for that project so far (they're all free!). They really do grow on you after a while.

Unlike Guns N' Roses - a band in a similar position what with only having one original member left - who make sure almost everyone in the band gets a spot of their own to showcase their skills, the Smashing Pumpkins prefer to let their performance of the songs themselves do the talking for them. Almost every song featured at least one solo from either Billy or Jeff, with the pair of them duelling on a couple of occassions, and channeling Scott Gorham and John Sykes in a guitar duet. For the 21 year old Mike Byrne, his moments came in the heaviest parts of the set - most notably 'Silverfuck'. As the replacement for Jimmy Chamberlin - previously the only original member other than Billy to still be around - Mike had a lot to prove, and I can safely say that I actually didn't miss Jimmy one bit. Finally, the beautiful Nicole Fiorentino got a chance to let loose during the extended outro of 'Thru The Eyes Of Ruby' with the riff from 'I Am One' (also the riff from Black Sabbath's 'Zero The Hero'... also the riff from Guns N' Roses' 'Paradise City'). Nicole really impressed me both with her bass-playing (I believe she's a much more proficient bass player than D'Arcy Wretzky and can't wait to hear what she brings to the table on 'Oceania'), but also for her backing vocals during the new tracks.

The encore which included 'Zero' and 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings' came complete with the warmest crowd reception of the night. Feedback overheard when leaving the venue was incredibly positive. I have a feeling that at least in Europe, 2012 could be a big year for this band.

On another note: during 'Siva', I'm pretty sure Billy ad-libbed the line "Billy Corgan's bald and can not sing". I'm not sure though.