Mayhem, Birmingham Barfly, 26th February 2008

Last night we travelled from Liverpool to see Mayhem at the Birmingham Barfly.

There had been a change in the bill; support was just meant to be one band but were "treated" to two support bands instead. The first band we arrived at the end of their set; so I couldn't tell you who they were or really what they sounded like.
The second band....whoah. They were called Dimension something or other, wore body armour, had fans blowing their hair everywhere, kept asking if we were "having fun yet" and played a Prodigy cover.
Anyway....after a short wait, Mayhem's intro tape comes on, Silvester Anfang and the band come onstage, Atilla dressed as some form of crazed Chaplin-essque dictator, with globe surrounded by pig's heads and candles. He sings at the globe as if he's plotting the demise of the world or something, stabbing at it with an inverted patriarchal cross. Necrobutcher is over on our side of the stage, and Gorgoroth's newest member Hellhammer is thrashing away behind his kit.
We can't really see Blasphemer too well from our side of the stage because we are watching Atilla's antics.

The set is a good mix of old and new material; Deathcrush mixing well with Illuminate Eliminate and Freezing Moon, all held together with Hellhammer's amazing drumming.
There are projections being displayed on the background of cities levelled in wars and tanks and bombed out churches, all fitting in with Atilla's mad dictator look.
They finish with Pure Fucking Armageddon, Atilla smashes the crucifix into the globe, sending a piece of the cross flying into the crowd, pushes the table over and the band leave the stage.
Awesome.

After we drove home, I was sat in the front room of our house telling my girlfriend about the show when at 1am there was an earth tremor.
It's nothing to worry about, just Øystein Aarseth and Per Yngve Ohlin spinning in their respective graves thinking about the support band with the body armour.

Some more pictures:




Link: Mayhem Official Site.