Playing more 40th anniversary shows as part of their ongoing ‘Laugh At Your Peril’ tour, Killing Joke performed at the more intimate London venue, Subterania, which they last played back in the late ’70s when the band first formed. The show marked the end of their 40th anniversary tour in the UK.
Jaz Coleman and his band of ‘Geordie’ Walker (guitar), Martin ‘Youth’ Glover (bass), Roi Robertson (keyboards) and Paul Ferguson (drums) started their set on the band’s 1980 debut eponymous album, with ‘Tomorrow’s World’ and first single ‘Wardance’. They then played their 1984 single, ‘Eighties’, before returning to their debut again with ‘Complications’.
Killing Joke also played from their second album, ‘Whats THIS For!’, doing the opening track ‘The Fall Of Because’ followed by ‘Butcher’. Afterwards, they moved forward in time to their 2010 album, ‘Absolute Dissent’ with ‘European Super State’.
Youth’s grinding basslines were prominent in ‘Total Invasion’, from their 2003 eponymous studio album. Due to the heat, Coleman fainted at the end of the next song, after which time he had to be revived using ice. He miraculously got up and announced the following song in the set as ‘Exorcism’.
Killing Joke brought their main set to a close on their earliest material, with ‘The Wait’ and the 1980 B-side ‘Pssyche’. Because of the effect of the heat on Coleman, the band shortened their encore, playing just one song, their 1994 single ‘Pandemonium’.
10/08/19: Killing Joke @ Subterania, London.
Photo © Ayisha Khan.
© Ayisha Khan.