Monster Magnet
Metropolis
Fremantle, Western Australia
10 September 2009

All hail the monstrous and magnetic overlords of fuzzed out space rock

 

Despite Mother Nature blowing up a storm outside, the 4 hundred or so people inside Metropolis on this cold night were warm and cosy, basking in the fuzzed out heat of our favourite psychedelic and heavy space rock overlords (with impossibly cool hair).

 

The band came onstage to enthusiastic cheers which just got more raucous as the set went on. Classics Dopes to Infinity, Superjudge, Right Stuff and Megasonic Teenage Warhead all struck the right chord with the people, and we slavishly lapped up every last note, with songs appearing from throughout their near-20 year back catalogue – though strangely nothing featuring from their most recent album 4-WAY DIABLO.

 

The back projected screen showed psychedelic images and at one point a Doorsy guitar echoed over images of the helicopters from Apocalypse Now in a nicely syncopated moment. Later, a snippet of American Pie sounded like Black Sabbath devotees performing in a Doors cover band, and the Hawkwind cover Brainstorm added yet another dimension to the multi-layered sound.

 

The biggest cheers were reserved for Spacelord, Melt and Tractor, all of which showcased this exceptional band of mindwarped spacehogs, the massive sturm und drang of the rhythm section and a myriad of guitar lines swirling around and around melding in unison to fill every corner of the venue with colourful sound.

 

Lead singer Dave Wyndorf had promised of this tour that “you will swim in the sweat of a million orgies”, and whilst that may have been a slight exaggeration, from the stage, through the moshpit and up to the back the crowd screamed, danced and sweated along to every song tonight, before exiting once more into the cold unforgiving night.

SETLIST:-
Dopes to Infinity, Crop Circle, Powertrip, Twin Earth, Superjudge, Zodiac Lung, Radiation Day, Brainstorm, Right Stuff, Megasonic Teenage Warhead, Spacelord, Melt, Cage Around The Sun, Tractor, Spine Of God

Shane