By Monk and The Dark Queen
Until now, there had really been nothing particularly “good” about “Good Friday” in this particular corner of the Überverse. I mean, due to seriously out-dated licensing laws, you couldn’t buy an alcoholic drink before 5pm – and then, all the pubs had to shut again just five hours later! Which sort of made it pretty pointless in terms of organizing things like gigs… Thankfully, this weekend marked the turning over a new leaf, and the little province of Norn Iron finally caught up with the rest of the civilized world and realized that not all of us wish to mark the execution of the world’s most notorious terrorist by enforced abstinence. And what better way to celebrate this long overdue awakening than with a triple dose of some serious heavy metal riffage? No, I can’t think of one either…
We arrive just as Conjuring Fate climb onto the stage and strap on their weapons of choice. And the quintet immediately hit us square between the eyes with their invocation to ‘Burn The Witch’, with their twin guitar interplay flying around the room like sparks from her funeral pyre. Behind the kit, Niall, newly shorn, once again proves a complete and total machine, pounding out the beats with the fury of T2 on steroids, while Steve’s bass work perfectly underpins the harmonics and power of Karl and Phil’s playful interaction. On the mic, the master of disaster himself, Tommy, is in towering form, hitting the high notes with a confidence and ease I have not heard from him in a long time.
As the band rattle their way through an all-killer-no-filler set containing all the expected big pops, from an awesome version of ‘Night Of The Knives’, on which they really stab the blade into your aural cortexes, to an absolutely blinding ‘Trust No One’, Phil and Karl even manage to take time to do one of their trademark walkabouts among the admittedly disappointingly small crowd, once again exhibiting the level of fun and showmanship which the Fate lads put into each and every performance. And the evening is only just getting started…
Before we move on, I’d like to insert a brief sidebar. As we all know, any venue is only as good as the investment put into it, and this is certainly the case with Voodoo, who have invested heavily in getting maximum bang for their buck, as it were. As regular readers will know, this is one of our favourite venues and a regular haunt for the ÜRHQ team: as a judge on the annual Metal 2 The Masses competition, I virtually live there most weekends! What this year’s competition has proven is just how good Voodoo’s sound system is, and in the hands of an expert sound engineer such as Beard, it is virtually unbeatable, with that vital balance of crystal clarity and fucktons of bottom end helping to draw out every sonic nuance. Tonight was an exemplar of how it should be done in that department.
Anyways, back to the show (thank fuck for that – DQ) … I mentioned “serious heavy metal riffage” at the top of this review. Well, if you want BIG LOUD riffs, then you need not look much further than Skypilot. This trio deliver riffs that redefine the meaning of the word “riff”. They are riffs that crunch and grind and pummel their way into every fibre of your being. Deep, rumbling bass melds seamlessly with crisp, precise percussion, while Dave’s laconic vocals are all the more effective for being so.
A road-tight set highlight is new single ‘Octofuzz’, which Dave points out, with his typical dry humour, is available on CD at the merch desk, as the trio bump and bruise their way through a set beefier than a 40oz sirloin. As my good friend Ahti from Metal For Life attested, this is probably the finest set I have ever seen from the Doagh behemoths.
I must admit, I was really looking forward to Blind River’s debut appearance on these here shores. I had spent a chunk of the afternoon watching their videos, not least their hugely energetic performance at the 2019 iteration of Bloodstock, so knew roughly what to expect: more serious riffage!
And that is exactly what we got as, having briefly (but importantly) paid tribute to promoter James Loveday, they proved that they are, indeed, ‘Going Nowhere’, at least not anytime soon, with their fiery brand of pure rawk ‘n’ roll adrenaline.
With frontman Harry prowling the stage like a nomadic panther, and constantly cajoling the crowd to support local music and venues (and equally thanking them for doing so), the band are hungrier than a tiger discovering he’s been put on a vegan diet and punch harder than Wladmir Klitschko cornering Putin in a dark Kyiv alley. ‘Made Of Dirt’ is as emphatic as its message and by the time we’re ushered into the company of the ‘Resurrection Sister’ the band are really in their groove, and obviously having a helluva lot of fun being there.
Despite the relatively small crowd, the Guildford Five (sic) are enjoying themselves so much that they even premiere a new song, with Harry declaring afterwards that it’s staying in the set simply because “Belfast loved it”. Finishing their set with the trademark ‘Can’t Sleep Sober’ (can you, ‘cos I know I definitely adhere to that credo), Blind River deliver pure, unadulterated rock ‘n’f’n’ roll played with genuine spirit and spunk, just like in the good ol’ days before autotune and L’Oreal took over. Are we worth it? Of course, we fucking are!
Finally, the “good” has been put into “Good Friday”. And, lo and verily, it was a good one \m/
- PHOTO CREDIT: All photos © The Dark Queen/Über Rock. You can view our full gallery of photographs HERE.
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