Words by Simon Russell-White
Pix by Rashid Alkamraikhi
Although I have lived on the North side of Brisbane for almost 10 years now, it will never not feel strange to call the Eatons Hill Hotel “my local”. You see I come from a really small town, and as a young person, Tuesday nights were boot-scooting nights in my little hometown of Merrigum, Victoria. With a population of 600 and about the same amont of deers, cows and fruit orchards, there wasn’t much live music, especially the type that with fill my ears tonight.
With the regularity of gigs being held at Eatons Hill Hotel turning back to “normal” and seeing as though we’re all “living with the virus”, some stunning bands are again passing though my actual local!
With a lot of the punters, including myself, still sporting a bang over and some form of sunburn to boot from the Good Things Festival, Brisbane only some 60 hours earlier, the crowd was amped and ready to witness what we’d all enjoyed on Sunday, but in a more intimate and cooler temperature setting.
Italian quintet Lacuna Coil are like no other, seasoned veterans at their craft, and given their amazing set at Good Things Festival it certainly wasn’t a surprise to see them refilled, refuelled and ready to attack our eardrums at this exclusive Brisbane side show with the almighty Gojira!.
If you know Lacuna Coil then you already know the type of presence and sheer forestry the band can bring, with a fresh rerecording, not remastered, a rerecorded version of their hit album Comalies, entitled Comalies XX, to mark 20 years since the release. Side note, be sure to check out Jimmy from Heavy’s review of this album in the Album Review section of the website, it’s a really in-depth review worth reading!
With songs like Heaven’s a Lie, Our Truth and Trip the Darkness being served up tonight the sing-alongs are locked and loaded and serve a fantastic warm-up to what was to follow. Andy and Cristina (singers) command our attention from beginning to end tonight, but this is what we’ve come to love about this Italian metal machine.
A solid performance, matched with the booming sound quality that sat in the room really well.
Now, these smoke (and confetti) cannons that sit affront of the stage, they looked huge at Good Things Festival but jeez do they look huge on stage tonight! Hell did they add to the atmosphere of the entire Gojira set, wowsers!
One thing I love about Gojira is they don’t fuck around, they’re punctual and rip straight in with no fluff, just pure raw hard-hitting metal. There’s a tone with Gojira, oh and a volume that ripples, like literally ripples through the room, it’s mesmerising and downright entertaining!
Opener Born For One Thing builds and pounds, though expected the sound exiting the P.A can be felt on my chest, just like 2 days earlier, and I tell you it’s transfixing!
Witnessing a band simply enjoy playing their songs live is something that Gojira so naturally does, it even feels weird writing that as it seems contrived to do so. To explain further, Jean-Michel Labadie (bass) whips around the stage like a man who’s high on his own supply of rich bass sound, and rightfully so as standing in front of it is an experience in itself.
There were the expected songs tonight, like Stranded, Silvera and Another World but another that always rocks my jocks is The Cell, with Mario Duplantier (drums) wildly placed snare during the intro riff is (somehow) even better live, his precision and pure skill to place his beats is brain busting, but seeing him actually play those drums made me appreciate (even more) his position within the greatest drummers of all time conversation, in my opinion at least.
Joe Duplantier (guitar/ singer) has an unassuming way about him, making Gojira one of the most visually equal bands in the world as they’re truly one on stage. His addresses to the crowd are sincere, especially when asking for the crowd’s participation in The Chant, though the band strives for perfection on a musical level, when dealing with us mob Joe is patient and appreciative, as are the other guys! Look, we didn’t nail the melody in the song, but we gave it a good darn go, bravo to all.
What can be said about Christian Andreu (guitar)? He’s a riff master who oozes riff God qualities, with a cheeky smile here and there his appreciation and love for playing is honest and full of conviction, it’s as simple as that.
Now, the song Remembrance is a mind fuck, how that’s even a thing is beyond my comprehension, a song that Pythagoras would have trouble figuring out the angles on, is that a weird sentence? Yes, it is, as my mind has been remapped since hearing that song live twice in 2 days, so please forgive me.
As part of the encore my most anticipated song was Amazonia from the latest offering from Gojira entitled Fortitude. This song has a bass line in it that carries my mind and soul into a very comfortable and warm place, and that place (for me) is musical heaven.
Gojira are a metal band where you can shut your eyes and simply drift away for a while. I became a fan after seeing them live about 6 years ago, and prior to that catching the clip To Sirius on Rage many years ago, but witnessing the four-piece live 60 hours apart has solidified my fandom for them, they’re one of the world’s best, no argument.
It’s that simple.
