October 24th 1994, Killing Joke at the Opera House

Killing Joke's show at the Opera House in 1994 was excellent, a monstrous wall of Post Punk/Goth brilliance performed by a group of legends who had made a huge impact on a variety of musical genres. Touring in support of the "Pandemonium" album, the show brought together the original line up of Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, and Youth for the first time in years, and they were an intensely tight and dynamic unit even despite having not played with each other for so long, a tremendous indication of their individual talents and their chemistry as a group. 

The show opened with the three of them walking in a line onto the stage to much applause, with Coleman wearing a large black jester's hat with bells that bobbed and shook as he walked and his eyes were lined with thick layers of kohl. It was a particularly sinister look that was more than a little unsettling, and I distinctly remember turning to my friend Bevin and telling her that I was kind of scared of him. By the end of the first song the jester's hat had been ripped off and the kohl had run in streaks down Coleman's face like tears, giving his eyes a bleeding look that was still kind of scary but looked absolutely awesome.

As far as reunion shows go it was different from the approach that most bands take where they stick to the nostalgic side of things and play old hits from back in the day. Instead Killing Joke chose to focus on their new reunion album, playing most of "Pandemonium" with a few classics thrown in, and in retrospect I think that was the best choice they could have made. This wasn't a reunion designed to celebrate past achievements, this was an effort to continue and build on their legacy, and that meant moving forward with new material that was just as strong as their earlier efforts. Newer songs like Millennium and Pandemonium all sounded great, vital and monstrous and really heavy, mixing well with older songs like Love Like Blood, Requiem and others, crafting a consistently solid show that highlighted their skill as a group and the ways that their individual talents complimented each other so well. 

It was an excellent show, a great performance that impressed me on a variety of levels, and I'll always remember it for the band's confidence and strength in their delivery, and how they didn't need to rely on the hits to be awesome...