The Dillinger Escape Plan
25th October 2017
The Kings Arms, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
Piling into Auckland’s King’s Arms on an atypical Wednesday evening, Blind Folded and Led to the Woods and the incomparable Dillinger Escape Plan; made sure it would be one we wouldn’t forget, on this, Dillinger Escape Plan’s last ever New Zealand performance before they graciously and harmoniously disband at the end of this year. There was an obvious excited electricity running through the packed out venue as the secretions of excitement from the assembled crowd members culminated to give off the aroma of sweaty burger rings mixed with stale Big Macs [Editors note: Eww.] as we waited for the night to kick off.
Without delay Christchurch’s proud death metal sons, Blind Folded and Led to the Woods took to stage, grinding it out as Nick thrashed on his bass lurching like a mad-man, fingers flying. Precise and professional, BFALTTW really put on a high-class show with their performance and lighting set up, clearly thrilled to be supporting Dillinger Escape Plan…finally. It’s one of those fun things about death metal and grind that up on stage, you can tell that these lads are most certainly really lovely dudes yet they’re playing the most vile, crushing tunes…vile, but in such a good way. Do yourself a favour and track down the video online for their track “Meth Tooth”, it’s funny, it’s well-made in that early Peter Jackson backyard sensibility and most of all it was very warmly received indeed tonight. For a quiet, somewhat subdued reception at the start of their set to having us eating out of their palms by the end of it, BFALTTW had totally won everyone over with their brutalisitc, searing guitar chugs and the aforementioned Meth Tooth, Between Dust and Bones and Arm Wrestling the Solar System gaining the most applause…nice work lads!
It’s a real privilege to experience a band’s last performance and an even greater feeling to go into the gig knowing that this will be your last opportunity to hear the strains of your beloved band for the last time. The Dillinger Escape Plan’s performance was just that. This very tangible ripple of bittersweet appreciation quaked through the crowd as the black, smoky stage held court, ready to birth our last interaction with one of the most indefinable, devastatingly catchy metal bands of the last 20 years…this gig was going to be part of history not just of Dillinger’s history, but of The King’s Arms too.
Bursting forward with an atomic rendition of Limerent Death from 2016’s Dissociation album; I’m not ashamed to say I picked my battles tonight and hot-footed it down to the safety of the back of the venue so I could see as much as I could of Greg and Team Dillinger thrash it out for us. The Dillinger Escape Plan were faultless, relentless and just perfection in everything they gave to us; with Greg proving our love for him as he held the mic high and allowed the room to scream the lyrics into it from afar, especially appropriate on Milk Lizard from 2007’s Ire Works (an album we’d hear quite a few cuts from during the evening). With those lyrics “…this feels like never ending” repelling from our mouths we all got the reference and that bittersweet happiness washed over us all again.
Greg is a vocal phantom switching between his vocal styles so effortlessly from his Jeff Buckley-esque coo to his out and out banshee scream his boundless energy led us on through this magic set of their fan favourites. Thanking us “for showing up”, Greg encourages a clap-along and hauls perspiring bodies from the soup up on stage during Black Bubblegum and his backlit, sweaty muscular frame is beyond alluring, even from right down the back as he forcibly gesticulates his demands from the crowd. “This is better than the last time” Greg jokes as he crouches down to the front row to clasp hands with people during Surrogate, as one plucky punter holds a lighter aloft during the quiet moment. Back to brutality, Ben goes into full rock god mode as he climbs the drum area and thrashes during the title track from 2013’s One of Us is the Killer. “You guys still alive in this fucking sauna? – Greg asks.
A ripper rendition of Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants assaults us as the stage is swathed in red white and blue lighting, as Greg bends backwards, head seemingly touching the back of his thighs as that trademark banshee wail escapes his lips, then as the track rounds up, Greg gives us a little Dillinger Escape Plan history lesson…
“…this song was written before the internet …well high speed internet. Ben and I lived like, fucking four hours drive apart and when we were working on the demo for that song, cause there was encrypted files for that email shit I would mail him like a physical 8-track, like the full thing, I would mail it to him and then he would work on it and then mail it back to me, if I didn’t feel like driving up to his place…” then Ben injects “…and then I was told it wasn’t good enough and he would punch the steering wheel and show up with like black and blue hands!” “I don’t remember that” Greg teases. “but hey…Hey! That’s the last time I ever demo’ed anything….it’s true. That part’s true…almost.”
Shortly after this, Dillinger left the stage and the crowd in a limbo of feedback that rang out for six full minutes as Dillinger dried off and changed shirts and as we basked in the dim amber lights from the stage, preparing ourselves for what we know will be the last jaunt with our favourite band; before we imploringly clapped them back to the stage.
“You’re still here? Even down the back? I should come down to see you…” said Greg as he used 2004’s Miss Machine track list favourite Sunshine the Werewolf as his anthem to crab walk on the hands of the crowd, parkour off the bar top to then be held aloft as he surfed down to see us at the back of The King’s Arms, giving us little finger waves as he grasped the mic and let us know “I’m going to miss you, I’m going to miss you motherfuckers…” mid-song. Then it was upon us, the last song, from the last gig of The Dillinger Escape Plan that we were ever going to see. As Greg scaled the lighting rig pole and monkeyed his way along the ceiling, Dillinger gave us 43% Burnt from 1999’s Calculating Infinity, we understood this was special, and…it was over. To the strains of the Top Gun theme, Greg, Ben and co. waved their goodbyes, shook the hands and embraced the front row before leaving us forever with our memories of this very special, final performance.
Were you there at The Kings Arms for this beautiful brutal chaos-filled show? Or have you seen Dillinger Escape Plan perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Limerent Death
- When I Lost My Bet
- Milk Lizard
- Panasonic Youth
- Black Bubblegum
- Symptom Of Terminal Illness
- Weekend Sex Change
- Fix Your Face
- Surrogate
- Happiness Is A Smile
- One Of Us Is The Killer
- Nothing To Forget
- Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants
- Farewell, Mona Lisa
- Prancer
- The Mullet Burden [encore]
- Sunshine The Werewolf [encore]
- 43% Burnt [encore]
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