Crowbar & Ingested, The Globe
The Globe has been getting some great bands in recently. Even with the quality gigs they have been putting on, getting a legendary doom/sludge band like Crowbar on a Saturday night is a bit of a coup. This fact was confirmed by the huge number of people who were there long before either band was due to take the stage.
First on the stage it was support band Ingested (7). The Manchester based slamming death metal band erupted on to the stage with massive amounts of energy. The band played a hugely tight set of breakdown heavy death metal. The crowd went suitably nuts, and a rather impressive moshpit then ensued. The sound was fantastic throughout the gig, loud but clear and full. This helped the band pretty much destroy the audience. Ingested played with passion and technical precision, musically they were impressive, and I also thought that frontman Jay Evans did a great job getting the crowd going and directing circle pits and a wall of death at the end of the set.
There was a huge feeling of anticipation before Crowbar (9) took to the stage. The bands emergence on to the stage was greeted with an enormous roar, the band looked just as happy to see the crowd as the crowd were to see them. Crowbar then proceeded to tear The Globe apart. The bands brand of huge sludgy doom shook the rafters, as the audience went nuts, and about half of the dance-floor became a moshpit.
The setlist was culled from all of the bands career, from the beginning to the most recent album. The set was weighted in favour of Odd Fellows Rest due to it being 20 years since it’s release (didn’t see anyone complaining about that). There was a small issue with 2 idiots who were more interested in fighting than dancing or moshing. The Globe's security intervened, and the 2 dickheads were removed with the minimum amount of fuss. Living legend, Kirk Windstein was in great form all night. His friendly, affable demeanour makes Kirk an incredibly engaging frontman. At one point telling the audience to look after each other in the mosh pit, as he said “We don’t want anyone to get hurt”. On top of being a great frontman, his voice was fantastic all night, soulful and full of personality when it was needed, and raging and harsh when it wasn’t.
The set was beautifully balanced. Crowbar have several different feels to their songs. There's the fast heavy ones and the more stonery songs, which have a bit more relaxed, tuneful feel to them. So, once we’ve had a fast one, there's a slower stoner feeling track to give the crowd a breather, before bringing the intensity back with one of the heavy as anything songs. This constant ebb and flow is one of the things that make Crowbar such a great live act. They know how to construct a setlist so the audience will get the most out of the gig. What we are dealing with is a band that are masters of their craft.
Aside from the problem with the two idiots, this was a great gig. The band were so relaxed and happy on stage, their positive energy was transferred to the audience, making this a really joyful, positive experience. I and the rest of the crowd went home filled with the euphoria of happy doom, what a lovely Saturday Night!
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