Karnivool @ The Gov, 19th May ’15
Karnivool returned to Adelaide playing the second of two sold out shows at The Gov and boy oh boy are they are class act.
This will go down as one of the best shows for the year for me now wishing I went to the first show as well. Karnivool play with such brut intensity and energy with a performance that was virtually faultless. Nothing is left to chance with the band achieving that perfect sound backed by a solid production. Eighteen years and with front man Ian Kenny juggling responsibilities with his other substantive concern the Birds Of Tokyo the band is going stronger than ever with a burgeoning fan base.
This tour was about commemorating the ten year anniversary of the dynamite album Themata. Hard to believe that such a good album is ten years old sounding just as good now as it did back in 2005. The set list wasn’t much of a surprise with the band playing it from start to end. Opening with the bruising C.O.T.E it didn’t take long for the sold out crowd to get in to it. Ian Kenny says “Hello Adelaide, how are you doing my friends, welcome to the show” before ripping in to the album title track. Kenny acknowledging that tonight is a celebration of their first record (and most significant one) then launched in to another crowd favourite Shutterspeed.
The intensity of the show kept building with the likes of Fear Of The Sky and Roquefort before another single off the album L1FEL1KE went down like a fine wine. Interestingly enough there wasn’t a lot of pointless banter with the crowd, which was good, letting all the music do all the talking. Scarabs, Sewen And Silent and Mauseum were absolutely fantastic as was set closer Synops. The crowd weren’t done either, chanting and making plenty of noise to get the lads back out for an encore.
The band returned for a lengthy encore with the first song being Change (Parts 1 & 2). It really did seem like people were hanging out to hear Simple Boy which got the crowd going again. We Are was the only sample from Asymmetry. Guitarist Drew Goddard made the comment that being in this band “is the best ground hog day ever”. No doubt that Karnivool are at the top of their game and can match it with the best of them. Goliath was great but the best moment of the night came by way of New Day. What a song and one that I can never get sick of hearing.
This was a brilliant show beyond all proportions, let’s hope that’s it’s not too long before a new album is on the way and we can take in the live experience again.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
