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THE THRILL KILL KULT |
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Jill Williams |
| On June 20, 1997, "My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult" landed
at "The Newport," in Columbus, OH, with a bang! "Thrill Kill"
fans from all walks of life filled the venue to see the band, now on tour
in support of their new album, "A Crime For All Seasons." Unfortunately, the acoustics in the venue left something to be desired. There was a fair amount of echo, and the house speakers were woefully lacking in clarity. A few songs, ones I knew the lyrics to, were almost indistinguishable, and some songs I couldn't make out at all. Since "Thrill Kill" uses a lot of sampling from different movies and television shows in their music, this is where the acoustics hurt the most. It was nearly impossible to understand the words when they played the clips. Normally it's a really interesting, fun, addition to the music, but here it seemed more like noise. Despite the poor quality of sound provided by the venue, it didn't hurt the performance of the band itself. They were incredible to listen to, even though I didn't always know what song I was dancing to. Since it's a fairly small venue, I managed to get about 30 feet from the stage, and I had a great view of what was going on. The opening band, "Radio Iodine," took the stage and rocked out! I wasn't familiar with this band, but their music was very danceable, and a great compliment to "Thrill Kill." The lead singer was female, and sounded a little like a louder, cooler, "Alanis Morrisette" mixed with "The Nymphs." Their style is hard to put a name to - something like Techno/Gothic/Punk, but that description doesn't really do them justice. I'm not familiar with their songs, but their last one, "These Boots Were Made For Walking," a cover of the Nancy Sinatra hit, went over well, and they were a lot of fun to listen to. In preparation for "Thrill Kill's" entrance, props were placed at the back of the stage that looked something like silver ducks in football helmets standing in front of the band logo, which in turn looked almost like an altar with the ducks were standing in front of it. It was strange, but very cool, and it made a great place for "Groovie Mann" to dance above the other band members. Since "Thrill Kill Kult" is very into performance art, I spent a good deal of the time before they hit the stage just looking at the set and trying to figure out what part it would play in the show. When "Thrill Kill" finally made their entrance, the crowd went wild. They played over half the tunes from their new album, "A Crime For All Seasons," as well as plenty of old favorites. The opening number was a song from their first album, "I See Good Spirits, I See Bad Spirits," called "X-Communication" - a good choice since this song kinda introduces the band in the lyrics "Thrill Kill Kult/ America's most dangerous cult." Next up was "Do You Fear For Your Child," from the same album. The first song from "A Crime For All Seasons" was "Fangs of Love." The crowd loved it, and so did I. It's definitely a song you need to hear live to capture the excitement of it. Just before they played "Blonde With Lobotomy Eyes," about four songs into the playlist, a very hot and scantily clad woman appeared on stage. I wasn't able to find out her name, but she danced and sang and turned the crowd on in a big way. Just one more theatrical surprise from "Thrill Kill Kult." "A Daisy Chain 4 Satan," from "Confessions of a Knife," was the first song to really get the crowd in gear. They screamed their approval, and the moshe pit got fast and furious. It's one of my favorite "Thrill Kill" songs, and it seemed like everyone else agreed! Another favorite they played, from the same album, was "Days of Swine and Roses." The entire audience was yelling out "Xians, Zombies, Vampires!" During some of their older and more popular songs, they turned a spotlight on the crowd for the typical concert sing along. The light was blinding, but strangely exciting too. This particular song was where the spotlight really did it's job. A strobe light facing the crowd during a few of the more techno numbers was a real kick. In fact, although the design of the lighting and stage was fairly simple, it was also very effective. The timing was right on through the whole show. At one point, Groovie Mann stood amid the smoke, and the combination of that and the deep purple lighting made it look like he was almost moving - caught in a storm. It totally gave the stage an almost surreal look. I've seen your basic lighting and smoke effects before, but never done quite so well. During "Glamour is a Rocky Road," the female counterpart to the band came out in a different, but equally revealing, outfit. Not only does she look great, but she can really belt out the tunes. And of course they had to play "After the Flesh," from "The Crow" soundtrack. It's never been one of their better songs, in my opinion, but with the popularity of that album, I'm sure it helped them become more noticed in the music world. Toward the end of the set, they sang "Lucifer's Flowers," also from the new album. What a great song! It's my personal favorite from "A Crime For All Seasons," and played live, it's hard not to love it even more. Their closer was "Sexy Sucker," the most danceable song on the new album, and a great song to end with. By this time the crowd was probably as worn out as the band! There were a couple of downsides not related to the actual production. After one song, some loser in audience threw a can and hit Groovie Mann in the face. Groovie took it pretty well, said "nice shot...asshole" and then went on with the next song. I was pretty impressed that "Thrill Kill" didn't let it stop the performance or cause a scene. They just went right into the next song. A little while later, everyone left the stage, and we thought they were waiting for us to cheer them on for an encore. But after quite some time, it seemed appeared something must have been lost on stage, because people kept coming out with flashlights checking the floor. The flashlight incident was sort of a nice break, 'cause we were all sweating pretty hard by then, but it took so long the "natives" were getting restless. They (and I) wanted to keep having fun. "Thrill Kill" didn't talk much during the performance, and some people in the audience complained about it, but with the lousy acoustics at this venue, it's a good bet nobody would have heard what they were saying anyway. Hell, I came to hear the music! The lack of conversation didn't bother me a bit! I don't think I've ever had a better time at a concert. "My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult" live, sounds just as good, if not better, than their albums. Throughout the show, I couldn't stop dancing. Even during the slower songs, I swayed and sang. The moshe pit was pretty tame, with the usual crowd surfing and bouncing around, but it didn't get violent. Everyone was just having a good time. There was no real encore, but they did play a long set, and I was having too much fun to notice the time. Although most of the people I talked to had never actually heard more than a few songs by "My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult," they all enjoyed the concert. If you get a chance, go see them live. I guarantee it's worth it! |
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