Karnivool

w/ Regular John and Coerce

Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree Gully – 4th December 2009

A quick run for food after checking out some rough, unofficial and slightly wrong set times, before entering a packed Ferntree Gully Hotel to the sounds of second support act, Regular John. Like many, I was crushed to hear Dredg had pulled out of the tour, but after hearing them supporting a few shows of late, the band is growing on me. The set ended, and the between sets cd started up with the same beats as the Wednesday night Palace Theatre show.

After a slightly longer than planned set change, Karnivool took to the stage. It was quite ambitious of the band to tour more remote areas than just the capitals with a big lighting set up. 1/3 of the equipment managed to fit on the stage, while leave enough room for the band, and still look better than most shows at the venue.

Enter the band, huge screams from the fans, police sirens, lights flashing, and the musical sex that is Karnivool’s aural assault starts up with Set Fire to The Hive, the first single from the epic bastard that is Sound Awake, the bands second full length release. National treasure Ian Kenny, with slicked back hair and extreme nerd glasses, works between 2 mics to distort his beautiful voice, and the sound is great, even from the back of the venue on a little platform. I was worried how the crowd would handle the new material. Its quite a bogan area, and selling out the hotel is a big bloody venue, holding close to a thousand. Despite excessive drunkenness before the band started, once they hit the stage the crowd was in fine voice, and a lot more active than on the Wednesday night.

After opening with Set Fire.. I was worried the same set list would be on show tonight, but following up with the xylophone intro to Simple Boy crushed those worries. This track show cases Kenny’s talent in the singing department, and also the capabilities of both Mark Hosking and Drew GODdard handling backing vocals brilliantly, moulding together the voices causing the friend I was with to check several times if they were using backing tapes or not. A rocking Goliath followed up, before the stand out track from Themata, and album opener, Cote. The crowd showed their enthusiasm drowning out Kenny’s vocals throughout the track, drawing appreciation from the front man between songs, calling the crowd the most active on the tour. Also giving the crowd respect for the set changeover singing of Toto’s Love isn’t Always on Time. Classy man.

Illumine was up next before, before the first notes of New Day drew massive cheers, and a choir like response from the crowd, joining me in singing along every word. Shutterspeed was the only track from the night not to be played on the Wednesday, and went down well with the sweaty fans. Latest single All I Know was a massive sing along showing the crossover appeal of the track.

Sound Awake features some incredibly epic tracks, but none more so than Deadman. This 10 minute beast features everything Karnivool is about, from the moshable to beautiful, and comes off live even better than on the album, with the track belonging to drummer Steve Judd keeping busy behind the kit.

Despite liking the cover, and it being amazing in Melbourne with Gotye joining them on stage, Id much rather hear any song of Themata instead of it, or a gem of the Persona EP, and leave it for special occasions, like last Wednesday. So after a somewhat quieter response from the crowd to The Only Way, it was back to where it belongs for Roquefort and Themata to finish off the set in fine form, leaving the crowd sweating and in need of a drink, and a breather.

Having been in Europe for the last tour, I was undecided on Change finishing off live shows after the rocking set finisher Themata, but seeing it first hand, it deserves the spot. Returning to the stage to the live sounds of Change Pt 1 from Themata, and sliding straight into the Sound Awake closer, and longest track to date, Change. The blockbuster goes through its many stages, before closing with Kenny strumming on an acoustic guitar alone, before Steve Judd brings the night to a close with the sound of his skins, with the crowd giving some ear peircing applause for the incredible last hour and a half.

If you get the chance still on this tour, definitely check Karnivool out, as its in the live arena where they shine the most. After this they are overseas to promote the tour, so it’ll be your last chance to see them headline for a while!

Photos by Heidi Takla