Overkill, Artisan Concert
Average Rating: 5 Skulls
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Overkill, Artisan Concert
Average Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Death's Review (9/21/05, Whisky a Go Go, Hollywood, CA):
Overkill are one of the only 80's metal bands that never broke up, and never sold out. Instead, Blitz, D.D., and a revolving cast of characters have been churning out the riffs and the moshing mania for approximately two decades, never missing a beat, with nary a misstep (I even liked I Hear Black). But in the last decade they have been primarily an east coast phenomenon. Which is something I realized when I moved to Los Angeles from New York (and which, frankly, was something I actually had to take into consideration) - I was giving up the twice yearly Overkill show, and couldn't be sure exactly when I would see them live again.
So imagine my surprise when I learned that Overkill would, in fact, be coming to L.A. Hollywood, to be precise, to perform a weekday set at the world-famous Whisky a Go Go, right in the heart of Sunset Strip. Sure, I was bummed that there would not be a national act on the bill in the support slot, instead just a bunch of local/regional bands, but beggars can't be choosers, and I was psyched. Since the show was confirmed months in advance, I spent the intervening weeks telling all of my L.A. friends who would listen how great Overkill were live. Before I knew it, the night of the show was upon us - the first Overkill show in L.A. in approximately ten years. Wow.
Photos by Hel
OverkillOur anticipation got the better of us, and Hel and I arrived at the venue way too early. We checked in on some local band and decided to walk around outside the venue. At some point we came back inside and watched some of the local band known as Artisan, who performed a competent and interesting brand of thrash/prog/power and are worthy of your attention if you are so inclined toward that type of material. We then went back outside and got some pizza at Frankie and Johnnie's down the street, before getting back in time for the main event.
ArtisanOverkill delivered on all accounts. The set list had all of the standard, expected tracks, but it had been over three years since I had seen any of this stuff and it was all new again. Blitz was in great shape and sounded killer, and I went nuts to old favorites like "Powersurge" and "Rotten to the Core," and enjoyed watching my west coast friends experience the mighty 'Kill. There were some interesting additions to the set though, like "Blood and Iron," which I do not think I had ever seen live, and one of my all time favorite Overkill tunes, "Nice Day for a Funeral." The new material sounded great live too. The band played for a very, very long time, ending at some ungodly hour (for a school night) like 1:20 a.m., with "Fuck You" and a cover of AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap." All in all, it was a great night, just what I expected. Overkill satiated the thirsty crowd and made a lot of new fans this night. Let's hope it's not another ten years before these east coast thrash masters return to tear up Sunset Strip once again.
Hel's Review (9/21/05, Whisky a Go Go, Hollywood, CA):
To call this a highly anticipated show would be an understatement. And I don't mean just for me. You see, it had been over ten years since the last time Overkill played L.A. I actually found out about this from a Ticketmaster newsletter, of all places, about six months before the show, so I had this date burned into my brain. Plans were made well in advance - there was no way I was missing this show.
OverkillBecause I had moved out here from New York, it had only been three years since I last witnessed the mighty 'Kill, so it is accurate to say that most of the audience was even more excited for this show that I way. And that is really a very strong statement, since you all know this is my favorite band of all time. Their live show is a huge reason for that.
OverkillI think everyone reminisces about the first time they saw a band leading up to getting to see them again for the first time in awhile. So I spent a lot of time trying to recall if it was 1991 or 1992 when I first saw them tear apart the Lost Horizon in Syracuse, NY. It may have been both, since I seem to recall seeing them play there twice. Damn, that was a long time ago...
Death and I arrived in a timely fashion, to find that things were running late. Artisan was about to take the stage, so I urged him to go inside and watch. He and I met Mike at the very first show we went to when we moved here, and have seen him at almost every one since it seems. And each and every time he urges us to check out his band, who often had been on the bill earlier in the night but we'd missed them. This guy is constantly busting his ass for his band, and here was our chance to finally check them out. Overall, I was pretty impressed. Of course the gig was awhile ago, and details are a little hazy, yet I seem to recall there being some melodic clean singing that I didn't find very pleasant, but I really liked the death vocals and the songs. Really, the whole mixing clean vocals with death thing is played out at this point, so I don't see why bands continue to persist in this. Stick with the death vocals, and you guys definitely have a good thing going.
OverkillThere was some other band after Artisan, but they had a name (Rattlehead or something?) that had us convinced they were probably a Megadeth cover band, so we decided to go up the street for some pizza instead. Once we returned they were over, and things were at long last being set up for Overkill to take the stage. Chants of "Overkill - Overkill - Overkill" abounded and the fans were getting pretty rabid at this stage of the game. I was determined to shoot the band without getting myself killed, so I calculated that my best bet would be on D.D.'s side of the stage and I climbed up onto the stairs next to the stage hoping that security would be too busy on the other side to bother with me, a gamble that paid off.
I was able to sit on the stairs in relative comfort with a perfect view while everyone else in the venue was being crushed, couldn't see, or constantly being told to move by security. Sure, I wasn't able to get any pictures at all of their newest guitarist, who was farthest from me, and shooting Blitz was a challenge, but it could have been much worse. Actually, the worst part was the band's fondness for their smoke machine. Now, I know every band thinks the smoke looks badass, but let me tell you, smoke is a photographer's worst enemy. If you try to use a flash, the light is reflected and you get nothing, if you go without a flash, it makes otherwise dark, grainy photos even darker and grainier. It is a lose-lose scenario. So bands who would like to have publishable pictures to go with show reviews could do themselves a favor by laying off the smoke machine during the second song to give photographers a chance at some clear shots. One song, that's all I ask.
OverkillOverkill delivered a great show, as they always have. I was a little concerned that Blitz seems to need to duck offstage to smoke at every opportunity - that can't possibly be good for him - even displaying a little East Coast audacity and brought the cigarette onstage with him for part of a song toward the end of the set. It otherwise was the same high-quality performance delivered with the soaring level of intensity I've come to expect from the band. I was thrilled to have a great place to watch the show from and grateful that at one point Blitz took the time to flip my camera off. He also looked over as if to say "are you ready?" just before taking his leap into the crowd at the end of the evening, as he has at every show I've ever been to. Sadly, the stage dive is the hardest shot of all to get, and the "perfect shot" eluded me...
This was certainly an enjoyable evening, and I was elated to finally have a chance to see Overkill in a live venue once more. The packed house at the Whiskey obviously agreed with me with one of the most enthusiastic reactions I have ever seen from a L.A. audience. The consistently amazing live show Overkill can be counted on to deliver is one of the strongest aspects of the band and it was great to see them finally bring it back to the West Coast. I hope they make it back again very soon.
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