Killswitch Engage, Auckland NZ, 2017

Killswitch Engage & Fallujah

1st March 2017
Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand

Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Connor Crawford.

If it was the first day of autumn, then somebody forgot to tell the soupy, swampy evening weather that brought out the most very dedicated of Killswitch Engage fans to Auckland’s Powerstation for a mid-week slamfest. With the venue buzzing to life inside and out, scented by beer and Lynx spray, an excellent mixture of ages and walks of life milled around, buying up merch, hugging and slapping hands clearly vibing hard that after ten years, ‘their’ band had come back to NZ and was going to treat us to a full play through of their seminal album, Alive or Just Breathing. Enjoying the scene, it was heart-warming to see fans racing around and showing off their newly snapped pics from their V.I.P experience with Killswitch, taking place just prior to the doors opening. With many a selfie to be had, the mate that told me all about the meeting with his idols spoke of their gracious nature, pure excitement to be in New Zealand and their invitation to come find them after the show for plenty hang-outs and perhaps a cheeky few drinks or five.

With a nice chill vibe rolling over the crowd assembled, the spattering of calls for Fallujah signalled a kick off into Bay Area brutality, this was who I was keen to see rock my socks off as I never thought I’d see Fallujah play live unless I got myself over to their home state of California. Early adopters of social media to spread their metal message, Fallujah were caning MySpace back in the day and tonight they looked fresh as a daisy; arriving onstage like a uniformed aural hit-team in plain black, asides to drummer Andrew, who was clad in a printed black t-shirt and lost in creating the spine rattling beats.

Fallujah were economical in their movements as they assessed the crowd, expending little time in getting the unfamiliar members of the troop onside with their melodiously heavy tunes. Vocalist Alex displayed what an excellent frontman he is by consistently encouraging the crowd mid-song and in between their crunchy musical offerings. Letting us know that this was indeed the first time that Fallujah had played in this part of the world; instructing us to thrust our horns high on multiple occasions, inciting circle pits to life, getting us to illuminate the Powerstation space with our lighters or phone torches aloft and generally rocking right the fuck out. Alex lamented “…It’s hot as fucking balls in your country, this is fucking awesome” and then ripped off his buttoned down black ensemble to reveal a Disentomb shirt. Serving double duty to show these lads had shared a tour schedule or two with one of Aussie’s best metal outfits on stateside visits, working to further pull us onto the side of Fallujah by giving big-ups to one of our Australasian heavy brethren. Alex barked at the crowd that he’d travelled “10,000 miles to see your circle pits, do not disappoint me Oceania!” Punters immediately obeyed, throwing themselves into a human stew, tumbling and roiling as Fallujah undulated and whipped their hair in the windmill of our people.

Acknowledging that although most probably have work tomorrow, Alex invited the crowd to come “holler at ya boy” and find them for plenty whiskeys after their set. Ripping through their just under 40 minute performance, highlights included Sapphire, Prodigal Son and Scar Queen and also the little interlude that Alex asked, “…if it’s ok with you were just going to jam here for a minute, so everybody chill.” As a lad in the front row appreciatively passed his cup of water up to the stage, it was accepted, sniffed and gratefully gulped and served as a nice metaphor for the collected appreciation of Fallujah’s blistering set. They’d won us over and plan to visit again as soon as they can.

A quick equipment swap over to the hearty chants of “Killswitch, Killswitch, Killswitch” and some lusty singing along to the strains of Lemmy on the PA later, it was upon us, the decade long wait for Killswitch Engage to grace us with their metal was here and with the added bonus of original vocalist Jesse coming back into the frontlines of musical battle. Bursting onstage to a remixed version of Beastie Boys – Fight for Your Right; the pure heart of this band, Adam strolled onstage and looked as though he should have his own line of 90s themed aerobics videos with his athletic look, screaming into the mic, following it up with a civilised “Good Evening” that sent the crowd berserk. Like old friends returning, Adam, Jesse and co. leaned out into the crowd to embrace, slap hands and connect with their fans. Killswitch Engage performed their anthemic offerings with the passion of men thankful to have been doing what they love for so long. Speaking on their play through of Alive or Just Breathing on this 15th anniversary tour of the same name; Adam offered: “Do you know how fucking old [Alive or Just Breathing] is? Like 15 years old, we’re so fucking old, our dicks don’t work anymore!” Which obviously brought the laffs and it was back into the brutality. Killswitch’s pit was insanely rough to look at from the outside but, with closer inspection you could see the appreciation and respect of the punters, picking each other up, pushing people forward that were overheating and needed to get out and lifting up sweaty bodies, rising like scions from the undulation of forms circling and thrashing around the Powerstation floor; including an absolute madman in a carnival themed morph suit, seemingly naked except for the thin film of lycra stretched over his body. How he survived the night, I’ll never know.

Being Jesse’s first visit to New Zealand, he was seriously loved up and showing it back to the horde, walking on the crowd’s hands and asking them to lift him up as he poured top shelf tequila into the supplicating mouths of his fans as they thrashed beneath him. Jesse was soaking everything about his experience right up, regarding a can that was thrown onstage, he deftly summed up our nations love of the pre-mix by appreciatively scoffing; “Huh, Jack Daniels and Cola in a can? Fucking New Zealand.” To which we all chuckled at too in a self-conscious Beavis and Butthead manner. Taking time to bring it to the heart, Jesse, although constantly thanking the crowd for coming out and acknowledging that many had travelled a great distance just to see them bang out some tunes, he emoted: “when I was a little punk rock, hardcore kid, I never thought music would bring me to New Zealand, and here I am…I want you to know that love, love will always overcome hatred. Please, remember that I said that”. It was a special, wonderful salvo to this assembled bunch of Killswitch fans, which was immediately Adam’ed up as our mohawked clown of the band yelled into his mic – “well it’s taken ten years for us to get back here, thanks for staying with us. It smells like a fucking gangbang in here I fucking love it!”

With the finality of the Alive or Just Breathing run through ringing out in our ears, a brief pause lead to the blistering and personal highlight of Hate By Design and another deliciously brutal six tracks during which a lucky little punter surfed to the stage and was ‘beaten up’ by Adam in a show of his regular and delightful stage antics, causing this elastic little man to drop to his knees in a Wayne and Garth inspired display of ‘we’re not worthy’ bowing and scraping to his gods. Leaving us spent and enraptured, there really wasn’t a need for an encore we’d been so wholly satisfied but yet, never to do things by halves; Killswitch appeared back on the stage to rip through Rose of Sharyn as Jesse lying flat on his back, was passed out into the accepting hands of the crowd and lifted from person to person, screaming out his lungs, with one arm and both his legs splayed in a pseudo Jesus Christ pose. Thanking us for kicking off their anniversary tour right, Jesse let us know that “…in case you were wondering, this has been fucking amazing, thank you Auckland or where ever you’re from!” as Adam confirmed what we all secretly hoped, “We’ll be back, as soon as we fucking can!” So although you might have missed a truly raucous and joyous nice of metal reminiscence, feel comfortable in the knowledge that Killswitch Engage will in due time, return to us.

Fallujah

Killswitch Engage

Were you there at Powerstation to witness this brutal show? Or have you seen Killswitch Engage or Fallujah live somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!