Another Point Of View: Limp Bizkit (Review By Lee Burnell)

Limp Bizkit, Crossfaith, Nekrogoblinkon & Baby Godzilla, Great Hall Cardiff

On a dampened night, nothing dampened the spirits of God knows how many people who turned up to see them in The Great Hall. With strong support coming from Nekrogoblikon and Crossfaith.

Baby Godzilla

Without a doubt the second worst band I have ever seen. This quartet of confused and I'm guessing tone deaf band haven't found their sound yet. If this was their sound, they should quit. They started off with the front man, they really aren't worth researching so no name’s to be thrown out, getting in the face of the crowd screaming and trying to play….something. Out of a 20 minute set, they managed to spend 10 of those jumping off their amplifiers and falling down, which made them watchable. They are definitely a young band because they didn't have a look… the front man looked like Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro, the guitarist looked like a ginger Misfits ripoff, the bassist, I overheard a friend that he reminded him of a butcher (Your guess is as good as mine) mixed with a fat kid dying for a dump, the later I could understand, teeth clenched throughout the set and the crowd were worried about whether or not he would/did cut one. Thankfully the smell of weed overtook the potential of any chemical warfare. If I had to say one good thing about Baby Godzilla, would be that they reminded me, granted marginally, of Minor Threat, but even I understood Minor Threat. To sum up, they should split. Absolutely garbage. At best 1/10.

Nekrogoblikon

I've listened to Nekrogoblikon’s impressive 2011 album Stench a couple of times before the gig and was told they put on a good show. Boy were they right, we were greeted by John Goblin, yes, he was actually a goblin dressed in a shirt and tie, work trousers and converse. He did a great job warming the crowd up for the band’s arrival, which they kicked off with A Feast. The vocals were even more brutal in person and I loved it, the band were tight. Nothing out of sync and they all seemed to enjoy John Goblin jumping round the ring getting the crowd going. The band took their time and played songs such as Goblin’s Ahoy! and Army Of Goblins from their debut album Goblin Island to No One Survives, Prince Of The Land Of Stench and Bear From Stench through to Powercore and Giraffe from last year’s EP Power. This is definitely a band to keep an eye out for and if you're into gimmicks and metal and never listened to this band. I suggest you do immediately! Only downside was the frontman Scorpion being noticeably drunk when trying to react to a fan throwing a bottle on the stage. Other than that, superb and I’ll definitely be seeing them again. 8/10

Crossfaith

I missed this band in May last year and have been loving their EP Zion as well as their 2013 featured release Apocalyze. I've heard great things about their energy, their performance and their showmanship and I was kind of hoping this band were worth the ticket price alone. The band took a commanding stage presence and after 90 seconds the band’s Synth/DJ/Keyboard player Tamano Terufumi stage dived into the crowd as they blasted We Are The Future. An awesome mix of metalcore and dubstep blended to perfection. They are a few bands I've seen that have perfect rhythm and timing, especially with all the synth drops but Crossfaith are definitely one of the best all-rounder bands I've seen live. They then followed up with their fantastic Monolith and they had the crowd in their hands. Bone crushing riffs, Dubstep that people didn't hate, what more could you want? By this time the crowd were lively, mosh pits were starting, raves commencing, I was very confused, even more confused when I joined in with jumping along with the rest of the crowd. There was one song that would follow suit perfectly, Jagerbomb, which they went immediately into and everyone freakin’ lost it! This was certainly an intense gig now! Kenta Koie, the lead singer then asked the crowd to form a wall of death...yeah….they drew a good number to do it but I was lucky to not get caught in it for once before belting Countdown To Hell before asking the crowd to get down to the ground in a Corey Taylor-esque manner before the band got into Eclipse and the band finished off with their impressive track Leviathan. They were worth the £20 alone and if you’re going to the Download Festival in June, check them out! Band of the night so far, 9/10!

Limp Bizkit:

It was like 2001 had come round and I was 13 again and I was very happy. The setup was unusual, Wes had a hawaiian theme, booze in Pineapple’s, proper luau going on there and Wes took the stage with a ukulele and just playing away and singing a cheesy old timey song. The crowd weren't amused by this, he went on for far too long and people were pretty drunk now. The band came on and Fred greeted the crowd with “Keep on Rollin’ baby, you know what time it is.” Wow, right out of the block with Rollin’. Holy shit, crowd surfing, mosh pits after 10 seconds. Surely a record? Could they follow it up with something to calm the crowd down? Nope, Hot Dog. I was so happy. Sang along with the words, remembered them all and I wasn't the only one. I wonder why, needs more fuck words in there I think, only 46. It was time for the band to break it down with Bring It Back, my favourite song from Gold Cobra and you could start to tell that not many people listened to anything after Chocolate Starfish And The Hotdog Flavour Water. Fred kept teasing the crowd saying they weren't allowed to play Break Stuff in case it ensued a riot and changed the tone with Gold Cobra. A pretty tight set so far, entertaining, great setlist so far, happy days. If the crowd needed perking up (they didn't) they started playing songs from Three Dollar Bill Y'all by playing the first verse of Pollution. When they stopped and said they weren't playing the rest but were going to play another, I was disappointed. Although the second song was Counterfeit but yet again they stopped after the first verse. I didn't like that, it seemed like Fred and the band wanted to coast their way through the rest of the show now. I was proven right for the next 15 minutes after they went through My Generation, Livin’ It Up and My Way in quick succession. I don't blame Limp Bizkit for stopping for a couple of minutes after that, the venue was unbelievably hot. But they recomposed and went into Re-Arranged, happy face. I forgot Limp Bizkit did this but they cover songs in their setlist and we were treated to Killing In The Name Of by Rage Against The Machine, Fred had already mentioned they had a 70 minute set so I wonder why the didn’t play something else instead of KITNO, that kind of got to me a little bit. But Wes started playing the Take A Look Around riff and the crowd got into top gear. Well I thought that was top gear until the finished with Break Stuff and everyone just went nuts! I’m in two minds about what to give this, 13 song set list with 2 of those finishing after 90 seconds and one was a cover…. The band were solid and I was very happy to see them, I’d see them again but wouldn't be amused if they did the same again. 9.5/10 although I’m tempted to give Crossfaith band of the night.