The behemoth that is Machine Head rolled into Perth on Tuesday night to end their massive Australasia tour that took in Japan, New Zealand and Australia and what fitting way to close out the run of shows than in the place that the band have a great history with over the years. As Robb Flynn pointed out during one of the many memorable moments of the night, Perth has a special place for Machine Head and is the reason they keep coming back. Another packed near sell out show was proof that the band have no reason to skip the west.
An evening with Machine Head is always a special event and one that diehard fans relish, it’s nothing but the Bay Area metal veterans for a few hours (in this case, 3 epic hours!) and while it must be exhausting for the band to be on stage playing this kind of music for such a lengthy amount of time, the energy from the crowd fuels the band’s longevity on stage to the point where it’s nothing but pure adrenaline.
Kicking off with “Imperium” from 2003’s “Through The Ashes Of Empires”, a staple of the band’s set, it was all guns blazing as the legendary quartet ran through a massive 3 hour set filled with iconic songs, obscure gems, new tracks from the latest album “Catharsis” and a whole lot of crowd pleasing singalong moments. It’s those moments that standout, horns in the air, voices screamings at the top of their lungs and Machine Head on stage playing their way through each song effortlessly.
Kudos to drummer Dave McClain for putting on one hell of a performance. From start to finish, the sticksman was consistently on point for the duration of the entire show. To be doing what he does over the course of 3 hours is a massive undertaking and a challenge on the body physically. The entire band really went all out and never lost the energy even if Robb was pushing it by the tail end of the show. We certainly can’t blame him for faultering at all with those punishing vocals which mixed harsh screaming with clean melody but he gave it his all right to the end as did both Phill Demmel and Jared MacEachern on the axes. That in itself was a show but musically it was an absolute feast as we saw one great track weave it’s way in after another.
Moving onto the new stuff from “Catharsis”, as predicted in our album review, they went over super well live, much to the surprise of some. “Volatile” made it’s way in early but it blended so seamlessly into the set as if it was already a well established song. Most surprisingly was the amount of familiarity from the crowd who headbanged in all the right areas and sang along to all the right parts, it made us think that the negative criticism of the album was somewhat overblown as everyone seemed to really get into it. From a live standpoint the new songs sound amazing, “Is There Anybody Out There”, released as a stand alone track, was a highlight as was the title track which went down better than expected. Will this all change the minds of the detractors of the album? Who knows but clearly live is where it’s at for these songs.
The old shit is still brutally relevant and always goes down a treat, “Ten Ton Hammer, “Old” and crowd favorite “Davidian” all made their impact as the crowd made sure the band knew they still loved that legendary debut album and while the equally impressive material “The Blackening” always gets a lot of love in Machine Head’s setlist, this time around it seemed there was a few songs cut to make room for newer material. At this point in their career, cutting songs from the set must be a painful process but it does go to show that amount of quality songs the band have in their back catalogue.
Ending with the always welcomed “Halo”, Machine Head once again proved why they are one of the most viable forces in modern metal history. Their live shows is truly a beast of an event and for 3 hours, we got to witness the best of the band in all it’s glory. Machine Fucking Head!
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Tammie Molotov – Molotov Enterprises & Photography
