Helmet, Auckland NZ, 2023

Helmet

14th April 2023
The Tuning Fork, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Kev Rowland. Photography by Nikita Weir.

Originally New Zealand was meant to be on the cards for 2020 until a certain pandemic got in the way so Helmet’s 30th Anniversary Tour had to be canned. Now they are back in 2023 with Best of Helmet 1989-2023 and tonight was the first date of their Australasian tour which sees them play four consecutive nights in Aotearoa before heading over the ditch. Page Hamilton (lead guitar, lead vocals) has steered the band through a few personnel changes and a break, but this line-up with Kyle Stevenson (drums, backing vocals), Dan Beeman (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Dave Case (bass, backing vocals) have been a solid unit for more than a dozen years and continue to tour heavily although they have only released one album since 2010. Helmet, and more specifically Hamilton, has been cited as a major influence on multiple bands and genres over the years, and while they are often referred to as alternative metal, they bring in elements of noise, post hardcore, experimental, progressive, jazz, avant-garde and much more, so it is no wonder they have been referred to as a “thinking man’s metal band”. Tonight, to allow for as much of their own material as possible, they were playing with no support, something the sell-out crowd at The Tuning Fork were definitely looking forward to.

I was able to grab a copy of the setlist beforehand, and a quick scan of the 23 songs on offer had me realise that only four were newer than 1997, so tonight really was going to be about the ones which made them famous. This also meant we had nothing at all from two albums, 2004’s Size Matters and 2006’s Monochrome, which I thought was a shame as I would have loved to have heard Crashing Foreign Cars played live.

A country and western song started playing, then a cheer from those at the front let everyone else know the band were on the stage, with Page and Dan stage right and left, Dave in the middle, and soon they were into the groove-laden bass-led Role Model with Dave having the filthiest bass sound around since Chris Squire was alive. Page may be mostly stuck behind the microphone, all the time producing those strident riffs and driving solos, but Dan and Dave are up there having a blast, moving as much as the stage allowed. Without a pause for breath, the guys segued straight into Renovation, which turned into a speedfest by the end as everyone kept going that little bit more quickly, daring Page to fall over in the solo (never going to happen). The intensity of their performance drags everyone in, and when Page started wrenching out the opening chords to Wilma’s Rainbow there were shouts of recognition, and then The Tuning Fork started to bounce with the syncopated riffs creating a sound which means everyone must move, no choice.

Page is the master innovator and conductor, and while the rest of the guys create the solid platform, he uses that as a base to go wherever the muse takes him, creating complex solos over the top of music which is often in strange time signatures and tunings. They went all the way back to the debut with Blacktop, which saw Page spitting the lyrics with venom and consistently driving the solos in different directions. More distortion and Page led the guys into Street Crab, the fifth song in the set and the second from Betty, and still there had been no room for speaking to the audience as this was all about consistently providing high intensity music which was all-encompassing with no distractions whatsoever. There was a much more melodic feel to Bad News, quite different in some ways to what had gone before, but given there was more than 20 years between that and the song previous perhaps that is no surprise. It certainly gave Kyle the opportunity to show just how hard he had been hitting the kit, attempting to drive through the kit as opposed to playing on top of it, and not for the first time tonight I was reminded of Idles who were obviously influenced by these guys.

We were soon taken back in time to the classic Meantime with Give It – we were now more than a quarter of the way through the set and the band had yet to take a break, just rolling straight from one song into another. Listening to these guys play one can hear just how much influence they have had on genres such as nu-metal, and it is a surprise they are not more widely known, but those here tonight certainly knew the material and just the riffs to Bad Mood had shouts of recognition. Downtuned, often with minor chords, this is music which could be used as a weapon yet is also highly melodic and one can certainly recognise the many jazz influences and nuances even if they are wrapped around a baseball bat. There was a very short break here, and I thought Page was going to talk to the crowd, but he just opened up with more riffs and the band were into Tic. There may not have been any mosh pits taking place (average age of the audience was probably 40), but everyone was feeling the intensity of what was being delivered from the stage and reacting physically to it. Dave was at the front of the stage for the introduction to Unsung, daring everyone to get involved, and this soon became the first singalong of the night. Helmet are one of the tightest bands on the circuit, something which only comes from countless hours of sharing the same stage, and even though their music is massively complex they somehow make it seem simple while also creating huge grooves.

Ten songs in, and finally Page took the opportunity to speak to the crowd, saying that as usual there was an overabundance of women at a Helmet show, and his girlfriend had nothing to be afraid of. With the comment, “this is a fancy chord”, we were back in the swing of it with a blistering Welcome to Algiers which somehow sounds punk, djent, nu-metal, melodic and hardcore all at the same time. We were back into segues as they went straight into Rollo, with those dynamic hard-hitting rolls around the kit being a real highlight, although Page’s solo on this song was rather special, it must be said, with plenty of distortion. Drunk in the Afternoon brought us back up to date again (if you can call an album which is seven years old recent), somewhat slower, and the break in the middle certainly caught out a lot of people. In some ways this is doom, or what it would be if it were played staccato, with that sledgehammer feel. We were more than halfway through the set now, but apart from a few minutes, once, the band had not stopped to take a breath and now we were blasting through Birth Defect. Helmet have produced some great albums over the years but there is nothing to compare with seeing these guys at a live show, as nothing else comes close to capturing the intensity and power of the band.

Even the falsetto on Driving Nowhere had an edge to it, all while the guitars were creating strange syncopated musical patterns and the rhythm section kept everything tight, loud, and heavy. Ironhead had the filthiest most evil riff of the night so far, yet somehow it is so inviting, making people smile even though it is totally uncompromising in every way. They actually took a quick break after this to drink some water and check tuning, sixteen songs into the set, which is incredible given the intensity of the music they had been delivering. Everyone took a breather while Page introduced the band, and then told us it had taken them 36 hours to get to Auckland and they made it here at midnight last night. Page then offered a guitar pick to anyone who could say what the time signature was for the next song, but given it was Better I don’t think there were any winners, as yet again they demonstrated just how much influence they have had on so many different genres. (High) Visibility is another where it is kicked off by a filthy bassline, before the guitars come chopping, and there were many people trying to dance to this, which was incredibly impressive. They were not able to do that to In Person, which was the quickest song of the night to date, providing a wall of sound yet also with a nice drum break to provide variety.

Turned Out is a syncopated monster, with Page full of venom and everyone locked in tight, and by now we were 20 songs in and the band sounded like they could play like this all night – who needs water and checking everything is in tune? Just lock it down and get on with it, and the crowd were still reacting even though we were being blasted into the arena behind us. The finale behind this was just brutal, and seemed as if the band were just getting going as opposed to having been working at this tempo for the last 80+ minutes. But this was the end of the set so they left the guitars feeding back and vacated the stage so we could go through the charade of them coming back when we had shouted enough. Mind you, at Tuning Fork that means they not only left the stage but the venue, and getting some fresh air must have been like paradise for them.

Eventually they were convinced to come back onto the stage, and added to the distortion until Kyle counted them in and we were into the classic Milquetoast. This is a classic headbanging number, staccato and powerful, with the instruments working as one, allowing Page to provide yet another masterful display. They dragged out the ending, with the crowd wondering if that was the final number but then they crunched into Just Another Vision and everyone gained a new lease of life. They ended the night with In the Meantime, a song now more than 30 years old which is still as menacing, complex and brutal as it has ever been, allowing the audience one last chance to lose their dandruff.

Helmet are an incredible live act, and if you enjoy your metal that little bit out of the ordinary then seeing them is just essential.

Were you there at The Tuning Fork for this magnificent alt metal gig? Or have you seen Helmet perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. Role Model (1992 Meantime)
2. Renovation (1997 Aftertaste)
3. Wilma’s Rainbow (1994 Betty)
4. Blacktop (1990 Strap It On)
5. Street Crab (1994 Betty)
6. Bad News (2016 Dead To The World)
7. Give It (1992 Meantime)
8. Bad Mood (1990 Strap It On)
9. Tic (1994 Betty)
10. Unsung (1992 Meantime)
11. Welcome to Algiers (2010 Seeing Eye Dog)
12. Rollo (1994 Betty)
13. Drunk in the Afternoon (2016 Dead To The World)
14. Birth Defect (1997 Aftertaste)
15. Driving Nowhere (1997 Aftertaste)
16. Ironhead (1992 Meantime)
17. Better (1992 Meantime)
18. (High) Visibilty (1997 Aftertaste)
19. In Person (2010 Seeing Eye Dog)
20. Turned Out (1992 Meantime)
21. Milquetoast (1994 Betty) [encore]
22. Just Another Victim (1993 single with House of Pain from Judgement Night) [encore]
23. In the Meantime (1992 Meantime) [encore]

_{Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only.}

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