January 21st 1985 – Leicester University
1984 and 1985 had some fantastic learning concerts in them!! Killing Joke had hit my radar through my bestie, Geoff (most of my punky/industrial stuff started here!).
I really loved this album, with Love Like Blood and Eighties on it, really hard for me at the time and warrior like music. This was going to be a fun concert……with a few scary additions as it turned out!!!
The crowd was wild! This was as sweaty as we had ever been and quite a violent moshpit! The thing with moshpits though, is they are strangely safe places to be. There is an etiquette to pull people up before they get hurt and for most the aim is not to hurt, but just to violently bounce around. Difficult to explain, but everyone should try it once 😉
Killing Joke started with Night Time which is always disconcerting getting a big hit out so early, we needn’t have worried! This was an introduction to the new album tracks and also a run through the big songs, like Pssyche and Requiem.
There was a flame thrower, blowing fire over the crowd! That was a bit scary…..add to that a mime artist staring madly at us all the way through and the atmosphere was hypnotic.
I’ve since seen Jaz Coleman (lead singer) speaking and he is so eloquent and yet a mad man on stage!! The heavy guitar from Youth, bass from Geordie and heavy drumming from Paul Ferguson made it scintillating.
A great introduction to sweaty dancing, heavy rhythms and atmosphere.
Some early tickets have been lost along the way, this being one of them….I fear it will never turn up as it is probably part of the fabric of the Percy Gee build at the Uni now. I still have the bootleg tape though that I got a few days later.
Set List
- Night Time
- Sun Goes Down
- Tabazon
- The Wait
- Kings and Queens
- Multitudes
- Requiem
- Bloodsports
- Love Like Blood
- Eighties
- Lust Almighty
- Pssyche
- Darkness Before Dawn
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