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Live Review
by SashaS
20-3-2003
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| Soufly's Max Cavalera leads the troupes |
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Live: Soulfly
Astoria, London
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Soulfly: rock-wars in the ‘free world’
We were under a ‘G-Dub’ deadline – and it turned out only six hours from the aggression’s beginning – but Soulfly were already entrenched: the stage was decked in camouflage netting and a huge chain suspended from the stage’s ceiling that also wrapped few speakers. Max Cavalera was attired in customised (more like – butchered) combat trousers; his army of three didn’t follow dress code but the message was clear.
We are at war, propaganda one, enslaved by ‘designer truth’ of our leaders. The more we protest the more the democratic process gets eroded and the nation’s feelings are ignored. Max wouldn’t address any issues but he truthfully doesn’t need to – the music and songs speak volumes. With Cavalera’s lot, every riff, every tone, every lyric feels like having been through an ideological training camp to reflect his belief that we all are the same human beings, despite any biological, theological or econo-social differences.
It was ‘tribalism’ in the Sepultura days, it is ‘One Nation’ with Soulfly. And this 15 hundred souls are definitely one – grabbed by the vibe, lifted out of their frustrated living and transported to a sonic haven where climaxing is constant. Soulfly play tonight with renewed energy, new resolve and new militancy that continually charge through the set.
The show is somehow less intense but more controlled, more concentrated and its power -- ‘deadlier’, conquering every soul, as large sounds invade every nerve in the vicinity. The stalls are turned into a tireless moshpit the instance the band started pumping its colossal tunes. This is a true rock guerrilla, these are the pure warriors of sonic enlightenment… (Apology to Max for all the military terminology, we know he is a pacifist, but – as in the old ‘Fawlty Towers’’ episode – you started it!)
Max’s always been a concerned musician who rarely allows himself much fun but there is some tonight, in particular when a drum-solo is turned into each member strapping a drum and joining into a four-way skin-feast! (They were not a quartet of Bonham’s, but it was a thrilling sight and an authentic aural bliss.) Mixing songs from the current Soulfly album, ‘3’, with tracks from Max’s other creative periods, plus a Nirvana cover, ‘Territorial Pissings’, it was one of the best gigs we’ve seen from these rock-commandos.
Max’s been on his fighting-cum-educational path for precisely 20 years but doesn’t appear to have lost a single chord of his fire. One of the Sepultura’s songs (circa 1994) was entitled ‘Slave New World’ and this was the concert for it – Rocking in the ‘free world’!
Set list::
Downstroy
Seek’n’Strike
Jump/Bring It
Brasil
Wasting Away
Headup
L.O.T.M.
Arise/Dead Embryonic Cells
Quilombo/Umba/drums
Refuse
Territory
Call To Arms
Roots
Bemimbau/Back To The Primitive
Territorial Pissings
Eye For An Eye
Tour dates (remaining):
20 March – Wulfrun, Wolverhampton
22 March – Garage, Glasgow
23 March – Academy, Manchester
SashaS
20-3-2003
Soulfly’s album ‘3’ is available now on Roadrunner
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