Review and Photography : Stephen Brophy for MPM
Whenever there is a whisper or a chance that Corrosion Of Conformity may be coming to these shores there’s a buzz generated and the fact that their last visit ended up being cancelled due to the pandemic, you knew a good show was coming and there’s no doubt that’s what came.
There are just two bands on the bill tonight, but how refreshing is it to see a support band being given a great set length to really show what they have got, I commend COC for this and for this Tour the choice of support band will most definitely make it work. Hailing form Germany, Plainride for me were the perfect choice for this slot, their music and sound is compatible and damn can they play.
With the hour that they had to showcase material to an Irish crowd for the first time they smashed it with mostly songs from the excellent, recently released self titled album. You could both see and feel appreciation and intensifying atmosphere as the set developed.
Musically they are a mix of things, all essentially in the Rock sphere, but some Bluesey Rock, heavy riffing, a touch of psychedelic, 70’s groove and progressive rock, but it all blends into an awesome package. Singer/Guitarist Max has such a powerful set of pipes on him, Guitarist Bob can definitely shred, without a Bass player at the moment they share Bass duties and drummer Florian is a powerhouse.
With tracks like “Fire In The Sky”, “Ritual” and “Hour Of The Mûmakil”, going from not knowing a band to really looking forward to catching them again and picking up there new album, for me it’s the reason I don’t skip support bands, keep an eye out for these guys, they have something.
Arriving out on stage earlier than expected, Pepper Keenan took to the mic, but it wasn’t to introduce himself or relay any bad news, it was a pretty cool touch that he actually brought out Jimmy Coup to play some Thin Lizzy tracks before COC hit the stage. Most people on the Dublin scene know of Jimmy’s undying love for the music of Lizzy and with him also being a big COC fan it helped to get the crowd singing.
What you get from Corrosion Of Conformity is 90 minutes of brilliance, a band of top class musicians and a set of awesome music played with a great energy.
The atmosphere during their set is almost euphoric. First you get the appreciation of the crowd that the band have returned, then the appreciation of the band that a large crowd have turned out on a Bank Holiday Monday to see them.
Pepper is in great form despite the travel/customs delays that derailed their scheduled arrival, Woody (Guitar) pretty much never took the smile off his face for the whole set, Mike (Bass) is a law onto himself and tends not to stay still for long, along with Mike and Jason Patterson (Drums) forming a formidable backline.
It was one of those shows that was just such a pleasure to be at, looking around the venue it was all going on, with people really getting into the whole vibe of the show, COC spin such a groove laden form of metal and southern rock it’s addictive.
It’s almost silly to pick out highlights from the set as in reality there are no fillers tonight, all of the tracks evoke happy memories, but if you were to push me I’d probably say for me, “Wiseblood”, “Vote With A Bullet” and the stunning “Clean My Wounds” to close out the night. The performance was just so tight, were they on again tonight I’d be going again.
What a brilliant way to spend a Monday night, whenever you leave a venue and still have that buzz in you for ages afterwards means it was a great night and we can only hope that the guys return very soon and as they mentioned it would be really cool to see them playing a larger venue, not that there’s anything wrong with the Academy, far from it, the sound was great and the place was buzzing to the many grooves tonight. Was nice to see Max from Plainride out in the crowd watching COC’s set.
It the opportunity is there get to see a date on this Tour, would be a shame to miss out.
Corrosion Of Conformity Setlist –
Bottom Feeder
Paranoid Opioid
Shake Like You
Seven Days
Diablo Blvd
Señor Limpio
Wiseblood
Who’s Got The Fire
Stonebreaker
13 Angels
Vote With A Bullet
Encore
Born Again
Albatross
Clean My Wounds
