Saturday 25 April 2009

Roadburn 2009, Day 2

Ahoy land lubbers! 1st mate SJW here with another Roadburn 09 update for ye! Just surfaced after a night of slumber to a banging head and ringing eardrums... is this how Jesus felt after he woke up in the cave on Easter Sunday? If not, well, I guess that means that the resurrection that I witness last night over at the 013 Green Room was superior to the core lessons of The Holy Bible! But more about Church Of Misery in a moment!

BANDS FROM DAY 2:

ANGEL WITCH
Words fail me. I will explain better in a future update.

MONO
My 1st time watching these guys. The all-Japanese MONO are on my future gigs to watch list!

CATHEDRAL
Great seeing Dorrian & Co on the main stage at 013 yesterday. They played pretty much the same set as the Leeds "Damnation Festival" at the end of 2008, they even gave the new song "Open Mind Surgery" another airing.

SAINT VITUS
This whole day of shows was one of them days when you see 10 bands in a row and each time you think "That was the best band of the day by far!" again and again. Cathedral were great, but Vitus trumped them. They played everything you could want from their back catalogue: I Bleed Black, Clear Windowpane, Dying Inside, Born Too Late... and more. Okay, so the drum solo wasn't the best ever... so what? I keep reading that people weren't overly impressed with Vitus at Roadburn, but I bet you that these will be the very same people who will be bragging about being there in 10 years time. Saint Vitus's influence hasn't diminished with age, in fact I would recommend that all aspiring new doom bands get to a S.V. show and see how it should be done properly.

CHURCH OF FUCKING MISERY


Gig of the day. No wait, gig of thee fucking festival. My 2 brothers of THEE CLAW weren't here to witness this show, but I am going to use my Claw Vito and hail this as a landmark gig in the history of this fanzine. This is pretty much what I traveled to Tilburg for, and C.O.M. never failed to deliver. Last year we saw C.O.M. here at Roadburn (playing up in the smallest room of the venue, called "The Batcave"), with a different vocalist, a guy called Hideki. In 2008 C.O.M. tore Roadburn a new arsehole with a brilliant high-octane set, with full-on unbeatable energy. Or so we thought! For some reason Hideki San left the band (shortly after recording their latest record "Houses Of The Unholy"), leaving the band in a possible wilderness. Bring in the new vocalist, Yoshiaki Negishi. This guy is the band's original vocalist, from back in the begining, and he played his 1st show back with The Church last night at Roadburn. Would he be able to live up to the reputation of this band and give the same kind of performance as Hideki before him? Well the answer is "Yes, and then more so". Jesus fucking Presley, Church Of Misery has been reborn on this world with the most amazing of bangs. Their set began fast and wild and as the set progressed they just got faster and wilder. Within the 1st 6 songs Negi San had been in the pit with the crowd no less than 3 times (he was dragged in at one point).

Big praise to the rest of Thee Church too, of course. I don't need to say that, but it's all about manners when you are speaking about a Japan-based band, haha. Tonight I got to watch a lot of them, as I was right front and centre for their whole set (probably annoying the fuck out of the rest of the crowd with my constant camera waving). This time round I got a good look at JJ on drums, last time because of my position in the crowd and the lighting in Roadburn's Batcave I never saw too much of him. Great playing on a basic drumkit set-up, no Nicko McBrain kit here my friends! Also, as per usual, Tatsu's bass was scraping the floor, looking as cool as an I Motherfucker. and Tom Satan's amazing too. I was stupid enought to get into the pit with my camera. Pics soon!

THINGS I LEARNED YESTERDAY
There is a supermarket 5 minutes walk from my hotel. Why didn't someone tell me this 3 years ago??
Wino's belt buckle says "Clutch"
Lee Dorrian plays a left-handed air guitar
Negi from Church Of Misery is a fucking nutter

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